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International audience; Cyber-Physical system (CPS) are now widely used in the design of smart objects. A CPS is the integration of computational elements with physical processes. One of the most widespread application of CPS is the autonomous transportation systems. This paper presents a CPS model for the design of a platoon system approach (i.e. a set of autonomous vehicles that move together without any mechanical link while maintaining a predefined configuration). The proposed approach to platoon issue can be considered to be decentralized since each vehicle perceives its environment and acts based only on its own perceptions. The proposed approach deals with different platoon formation. The vehicles of the platoon are able to maintain their position in the configuration while avoiding collision with obstacles. The paper shows some simulation and experimentation results that allow to evaluate the quality of the proposed platoon approach.

This paper presents a reactive multi-agent system for echelon platoon organization. Platoon systems are sets of vehicles that move together while keeping a predefined geometrical configuration without any material coupling. Each vehicle represents an autonomous agent that behaves based only on its own perceptions. The distributed platoon organization problem consists in defining the algorithms to be executed by each vehicle's embedded software, in order to maintain the desired platoon configuration during displacements. Platoon systems found in literature deal generally with column formations adapted to urban or highway transportation systems. Other formations such as line, echelon,... can be encountered in fields like agriculture and the military. In this paper, we focus on the platoon echelon formation. An approach based on a virtual vehicle-to-vehicle interaction model composed of two springs is proposed. Those virtual springs attach a platoon's vehicle to its local leader, another platoon's vehicle. In this work, five different spring's attachment points are evaluated, to compare them and conclude about the more suitable one, depending on platoon's trajectory. Eventually, from the evaluation results, it can be conceived to make attachment points evolve during platoon operation.

This work presents an approach to linear platoon control. Linear platoons are sets of vehicles which move while keeping a train configuration, without any mechanical coupling. Our proposal is intended for small urban vehicles, and could be the technological frame to define new urban transportation services as an alternative to individual cars, thereby contributing to the alleviation of heavy traffic conditions in downtown environments, with considerable gain in fuel consumption and better quality of air. The linear platoon control problem consists in defining the algorithms to be executed by each vehicle's embedded control, in order to maintain a correct train configuration during displacements. This involves controlling inter vehicle distance while minimizing the lateral error or, in other terms, making all vehicles to follow the same trajectory. The approach presented here bases on a virtual vehicle-to-vehicle interaction model inspired from physics. The proposed algorithms are evaluated through measurements performed on a vehicle simulation environment, capable to integrate detailed vehicle and terrain characteristics.