Contents I. Introduction
One of the most interesting innovations produced by technological progress in the area of traffic systems concerns the development of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). As deeply analyzed in [1], the adoption of this kind of vehicles can bring benefits in terms of efficiency and especially in terms of safety. However, the effect that the massive introduction of these vehicles in the automotive market will have is not yet completely clear and only the development of research in this area will be able to affirm whether the outcome will be positive or not. At present, one of the most promising applications of CAVs regards the implementation of truck platooning. Specifically, truck platooning consists of creating a convoy of trucks, composed of at least two vehicles, that behaves like a train on the road in which trucks travel less than one second apart thanks to the adoption of wireless communication systems, radar equipment and Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) technologies. For an overview of platoon characteristics and related planning methods, the reader can refer to [2] and references therein. The idea of platooning originated from the study of simple models reproducing the behavior of vehicles following a leading vehicle [3]. Starting from that work and with the development of high-tech vehicles, it has been possible to study strategies of both longitudinal and lateral control of vehicles (see e.g. [4]) that allow to follow the trajectory defined by the leading vehicle and maintain a preset intra-vehicular space (see e.g. [5]).
