Motion planning for autonomous rendezvous with vehicle convoys

This paper presents a novel method for efficient rendezvous of an autonomous vehicle with a moving convoy in the presence of traffic on a highway. The problem is addressed by utilizing a prediction based obstacle-avoidance algorithm augmented with a rendezvous-guidance algorithm. The proposed method can deal with fast-maneuvering obstacles (i.e., other vehicles) by automatically deciding when to perform collision avoidance, while achieving a desired separation with the lead vehicle and matching its velocity. Simulation results, some of which are presented herein, clearly demonstrate the tangible efficiency of the proposed rendezvous method