ConvoyNext: A Scalable Testbed Platform for Cooperative Autonomous Vehicle Systems

TL;DR

Real-world validation of cooperative autonomous vehicle systems is challenging due to safety, cost, and environmental variability. ConvoyNext provides a ROS-based, open-access, modular testbed that integrates inter-vehicle communication (BSM over UDP), a sensor–command interface via MAVROS, coordinate transformation to a common local frame, and cooperative path analysis with configurable controllers. The platform contributes an open, scalable architecture supporting heterogeneous vehicles, a communication-aware platooning pipeline, and experimental demonstrations under varying packet loss. Experimental results show near-ideal tracking at 0% packet loss, with performance degrading as loss increases, underscoring the need for loss-tolerant controllers and redundant communication channels. Overall, ConvoyNext enables reproducible benchmarking and rapid evaluation of cooperative driving strategies in realistic urban- and track-like settings.

Abstract

The advancement of cooperative autonomous vehicle systems depends heavily on effective coordination between multiple agents, aiming to enhance traffic efficiency, fuel economy, and road safety. Despite these potential benefits, real-world testing of such systems remains a major challenge and is essential for validating control strategies, trajectory modeling methods, and communication robustness across diverse environments. To address this need, we introduce ConvoyNext, a scalable, modular, and extensible platform tailored for the real-world evaluation of cooperative driving behaviors. We demonstrate the capabilities of ConvoyNext through a series of experiments involving convoys of autonomous vehicles navigating complex trajectories. These tests highlight the platform's robustness across heterogeneous vehicle configurations and its effectiveness in assessing convoy behavior under varying communication conditions, including intentional packet loss. Our results validate ConvoyNext as a comprehensive, open-access testbed for advancing research in cooperative autonomous vehicle systems.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: Block diagram of ConvoyNext Platform
• Figure 2: Subscribers and Publisher in ConvoyNext
• Figure 3: Local Cartesian frame definition. Black axes $(x_{1},y_{1})$ are aligned with due east and north; grey axes $(x_{2},y_{2})$ are rotated by the track orientation $\theta$.
• Figure 4: (a) Three‑vehicle convoy on the test site; (b) hardware layout of the autonomous buggy.
• Figure 5: Plan-View Trajectories Under V2V Packet Drop Rates.