Finite-time Platoon Control of Connected and Automated Vehicles with Mismatched Disturbances

Platoon control is a promising approach for connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) to reduce traffic pressure. This paper studies finite-time platoon control of CAVs subject to mismatched as well as matched disturbances. A finite-time disturbance observer (DO) is first designed to estimate the mismatched velocity disturbance and the matched acceleration disturbance, and a sliding mode controller is then proposed based on the observed vehicle states for longitudinal cooperation of CAVs. Furthermore, it is proved that the desired platoon formation can be achieved in finite time. Finally, a simulation study is conducted to verify the theoretical results. Compared with a benchmark linear controller, the proposed finite-time platoon controller has more reliable performance.