  Platoon formation with connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) in a mixed
traffic environment poses significant challenges due to the presence of
human-driven vehicles (HDVs) with unknown dynamics and control actions. In this
paper, we develop a safety-prioritized receding horizon control framework for
creating platoons of HDVs preceded by a CAV. Our framework ensures indirect
control of the following HDVs by directly controlling the leading CAV given the
safety constraints. The framework utilizes a data-driven prediction model that
is based on the recursive least squares algorithm and the constant time headway
relative velocity car-following model to predict future trajectories of
human-driven vehicles. To demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed framework,
we conduct numerical simulations and provide the associated scalability,
robustness, and performance analyses.
