Demonstration for STFC method

STFC here refers to our proposed spatio-temporal formation control method.

Jianghong Dong1, Jiawei Wang2, Mengchi Cai1, Yibin Yang1, Qing Xu1, Jianqiang Wang1 and Keqiang Li1
1Tsinghua University, 2University of Michigan

Experimental scenario


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Three sequential experimental scenarios encountered during continuous formation motion simulation:

1) Scenario A: A small obstacle is present in the uppermost lane of the formation.

2) Scenario B: An obstacle vehicle is present in the lowermost lane of the formation.

3) Scenario C: The formation passes the obstacle vehicle.

Continuous formation motion simulation


Initially, the formation encounters a small obstacle within the uppermost lane. The vehicles in the uppermost lane assess that they can handle the obstacle individually and proceed to avoid it through intra-lane maneuvers while maintaining good formation performance. Subsequently, the formation encounters a slow-moving obstacle vehicle ahead and triggers a formation transition. Finally, to fully utilize the road resources, the vehicles smoothly transition back from a two-lane formation to a three-lane formation.

Abstract

Formation control of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) has shown significant potential for improving traffic safety and efficiency in multi-lane traffic. However, previous work has primarily focused on spatial coordination without temporal considerations, which significantly limits their practical applicability in real-world traffic. In this paper, we propose a Spatio-Temporal Formation Control method (STFC) that integrates centralized formation generation with distributed trajectory planning. Precisely, we propose a graph-based formation maintenance representation, and show that the interlaced geometric structure is optimal for multi-lane formation. Then, we develop a distributed spatio-temporal joint formation trajectory planning method that simultaneously optimizes spatial positions and temporal duration, with consideration of multiple objectives such as formation maintenance and obstacle avoidance. Further, we design a polynomial vehicle-to-target assignment algorithm that inherently resolves conflicts. Simulation experiments demonstrate the superiority of our approach over baseline methods in terms of formation maintenance and transition.

Method framework


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BibTeX

@article{dong2025stfc,
  title={STFC: Spatio-temporal formation control for connected and autonomous vehicles in multi-lane traffic},
  author={Dong, Jianghong and Wang, Jiawei and Cai, Mengchi and Yang, Yibin and Xu, Qing and Wang, Jianqiang and Li, Keqiang},
  journal={Communications in Transportation Research},
  volume={5},
  pages={100219},
  year={2025},
  publisher={Elsevier}
}