ABSTRACT This paper addresses the heterogeneous vehicular platoon system composed of second‐order and third‐order vehicle dynamics, proposing an adaptive fixed‐time sliding mode control (AFTSMC) method with prescribed performance. An improved constant time headway (ICTH) strategy is adopted, effectively eliminating the impact of non‐zero initial errors on system performance. The designed sliding surface integrates coupled sliding‐mode variables with a prescribed performance function. An adaptive mechanism dynamically adjusts the control gain, effectively suppressing system uncertainties while guaranteeing the tracking accuracy and platoon stability of the vehicles. Concurrently, fixed‐time stability theory is introduced to ensure the system states converge to the equilibrium point within a fixed time. Theoretical analysis demonstrates the fixed‐time stability of the closed‐loop system and verifies strict string stability conditions. Finally, numerical simulations validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Hu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.