Flocking-based cooperative autonomous driving using vehicle-to-everything communication

Current autonomous driving relies on sensors that can only observe the vehicles in the line of sight (LoS), rendering the driving decisions to hinge on the physical movements of the visible vehicles in proximity. Furthermore, it is practically impossible to sense their intentions. Consequently, driving decisions that account for non-LoS vehicles and the intentions of neighbouring vehicles are hard to achieve. This Letter shows the potential of combining vehicular communication with autonomous driving. In particular, the authors show how vehicular communication can assist autonomous driving decision, with a case of a controller that mimics the flocking behaviours in nature.