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Guo, Longxiang

Publications and source records attributed to Guo, Longxiang.

Energy-Efficient Driving in Connected Corridors via Minimum Principle Control: Vehicle-in-the-Loop Experimental Verification in Mixed Fleets

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) can plan and actuate control that explicitly considers performance, system safety, and actuation constraints in a manner more efficient than their human-driven counterparts. In particular, eco-driving is enabled through connected exchange of information from signalized corridors that share their upcoming signal phase and timing (SPaT). This is accomplished in the proposed control approach, which follows first principles to plan a free-flow acceleration-optimal trajectory through green traffic light intervals by Pontryagin's Minimum Principle in a feedback manner. Urban conditions are then imposed from exogeneous traffic comprised of a mixture of human-driven vehicles (HVs) - as well as other CAVs. As such, safe disturbance compensation is achieved by implementing a model predictive controller (MPC) to anticipate and avoid collisions by issuing braking commands as necessary. The control strategy is experimentally vetted through vehicle-in-the-loop (VIL) of a prototype CAV that is embedded into a virtual traffic corridor realized through microsimulation. Up to 36% fuel savings are measured with the proposed control approach over a human-modelled driver, and it was found connectivity in the automation approach improved fuel economy by up to 26% over automation without. Additionally, the passive energy benefits realizable for human drivers when driving behind downstream CAVs are measured, showing up to 22% fuel savings in a HV when driving behind a small penetration of connectivity-enabled automated vehicles.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Human-automated vehicle interactions

This dissertation is proposed to answer the question: how can the interactions between human and automated vehicles be used to improve the overall performance of automated driving technology? Multiple different modules in automated vehicles such as the perception, motion plan and motion control modules can potentially be benefitted from human-automated vehicle interactions. For perception module, the self-correction of faulty sensors can be achieved using human demonstration data. For motion plan and motion control modules, the performance of the low-level motion controller can be improved with the help of human demonstration, and the behavior of the motion planner can be improved using human intervention data during automated driving. Moreover, a better model for a human driver could improve the overall efficiency and comfort of vehicles in connected mixed traffic. In this dissertation, the technical research toward these goals has been completed and has resulted in several peer-reviewed publications. Optimization methods and model predictive control are used extensively to improve energy efficiency while maintaining safe and comfort driving. An inverse model predictive control (IMPC) method has been developed and it has been proven to be effective in modeling the motion of human driven vehicles. The proposed method has demonstrated its benefits in both connected automated highway driving and the bilateral adaptation of human driver and automated driving controller in human-in-the loop simulations. The proposed future research seeks to broaden the application of IMPC by considering a more comprehensive cost function design and applying it to more complex driving situations.

Guo, Longxiang↗

HUMAN-AUTOMATED VEHICLE INTERACTIONS

This dissertation is proposed to answer the question: how can the interactions between human and automated vehicles be used to improve the overall performance of automated driving technology? Multiple different modules in automated vehicles such as the perception, motion plan and motion control modules can potentially be benefitted from human-automated vehicle interactions. For perception module, the self-correction of faulty sensors can be achieved using human demonstration data. For motion plan and motion control modules, the performance of the low-level motion controller can be improved with the help of human demonstration, and the behavior of the motion planner can be improved using human intervention data during automated driving. Moreover, a better model for a human driver could improve the overall efficiency and comfort of vehicles in connected mixed traffic. In this dissertation, the technical research toward these goals has been completed and has resulted in several peer-reviewed publications. Optimization methods and model predictive control are used extensively to improve energy efficiency while maintaining safe and comfort driving. An inverse model predictive control (IMPC) method has been developed and it has been proven to be effective in modeling the motion of human driven vehicles. The proposed method has demonstrated its benefits in both connected automated highway driving and the bilateral adaptation of human driver and automated driving controller in human-in-the loop simulations. The proposed future research seeks to broaden the application of IMPC by considering a more comprehensive cost function design and applying it to more complex driving situations.

Guo, Longxiang↗