A Barrier-Certified Optimal Coordination Framework for Connected and Automated Vehicles

Abstract: In this paper, we extend a framework that we developed earlier for coordination of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) at a signal-free intersection by integrating a safety layer using control barrier functions. First, in our motion planning module, each CAV computes the optimal control trajectory using simple vehicle dynamics. The trajectory does not make any of the state, control, and safety constraints active. A vehicle-level tracking controller employs a combined feedforward-feedback control law to track the resulting optimal trajectory from the motion planning module. Then, a barrier-certificate module, acting as a middle layer between the vehicle-level tracking controller and physical vehicle, receives the control law from the vehicle-level tracking controller and using realistic vehicle dynamics ensures that none of the state, control, and safety constraints becomes active. The latter is achieved through a quadratic program, which can be solved efficiently in real time. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our extended framework through a numerical simulation.