TPSQ: Trust-based platoon service query via vehicular communications

Future requirements for safer and more comfortable travel experience will lead to significant changes in the way we see vehicles driving on the road in the years to come. Hence, highway platooning of vehicles is identified as a promising framework because of its enhanced safety, increased comfort and improved highway utility. However, since the platoon service quality relies completely on the platoon head vehicles’ driving skills and manners, the platoon service users will be less comfortable or even be put in danger once they choose badly-behaved platoon head vehicles. To tackle this problem and help the platoon service users avoid badly-behaved vehicles, this paper proposes a trust-based platoon service query scheme when choosing platoon head vehicles with an objective to differentiate the well-behaved and badly-behaved vehicles. The proposed scheme integrates the unique features and requirements of user vehicles, e.g., location, destination and estimated time of arrival. Performance analysis through extensive simulations demonstrates the correctness and accuracy of our proposed scheme.