Automatic parallel parking and platooning to redistribute electric vehicles in a car-sharing application

Abstract : In car-sharing applications and during certain time slots, some parking parks become full whereas others are empty. To redress this imbalance, vehicle redistribution strategies must be elaborated. As automatic relocation cannot be in place, one alternative is to get a leader vehicle, driven by a human, which come to pick up and drop off vehicles over the stations. This paper deals with the vehicle redistribution problem among parking using this strategy and focuses on automatic parking and vehicle's platooning. We present an easy exit parking controller and path planning based only on geometric approach and vehicle's characteristics. Once the vehicle exits the parking, it joins a platoon of vehicles and follows it automatically to go to an empty parking space.