This research presents theoretically an automated vehicle merging control which is an
important subsystem of AHS. The goal of the system is to automatically control the
vehicle merging from ramp to the AHS lane in an efficient, smooth and safe manner.
The entire merging process is divided the a speed adjustment stage and a lane merging
stage. Three important parameters; acceptability, availability and pursuability are analyzed
to characterize the AHS lane gap features. Three control guidance laws (linear, optimal
and parabolic speed profile) are developed to describe the desired behaviors of the
merging vehicle based on the merging quality and safety consideration. The desired states
of the merging vehicle are generated through the outer loop by specified control guidance
law. The tracking errors compared with desired states are eliminated by the proper design
of controllers in the inner loop. Both longitudinal and lateral controller are designed using
the sliding mode control theory which can handle the model nonlinearities and
uncertainties of the vehicle dynamics. Two new sliding mode methods are proposed in the
design of the lateral controller. The proposed system is evaluated and validated through
computer simulations. The simulation results show that system performance is satisfactory
under the various merging conditions for a smooth, efficient and safe merging. The system
also supplies a basis for the further research on the multiple merging control system and
the lane changing control system.
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