Distributed Model Predictive Intersection Control of Multiple Vehicles

This paper investigates intersection control of multiple vehicles using a Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework. Vehicles follow pre-defined paths across the intersection and adjust their velocities to ensure collision-free passage while maximizing an objective. We choose a non-cooperative Distributed Model Predictive Control (DMPC) approach, where priorities need to be assigned to vehicles. The algorithm we present sets these priorities automatically by evaluating the vehicles’ time to react to stop before entering the intersection. We demonstrate our method in simulations of multiple vehicles and continuous traffic. It produces near-optimal velocity profiles and reduces the computation time in comparison to centralized MPC while avoiding vehicle collisions and deadlocks.