To address the challenges of poor stability and low traffic efficiency faced by Smart Platooning(SP) when passing through unsignalized intersections,a smart vehicle formation control approach based on multiple Virtual Leaders(VLs) is proposed.Firstly,to improve the traditional Artificial Potential Function(APF) with SP as the research object,the nonlinear relationship is utilized to describe the vehicle-vehicle forces within the SP system.Secondly,an Improved APF Flocking Control Algorithm based on multiple VLs(IAPFFCA-VLs) for SP formation control is designed according to the concept of virtual leadership,and the stability of the algorithm is tested and validated by Lyapunov stability method as well as LaSalle's invariance principle.Finally,SP forming control simulation is performed using Matlab and compared with the Flocking Control Algorithm incorporating Improved APF(FCA-IAPF).The experimental results indicate that the FCA-IAPF can realize vehicle-vehicle distance control and collision avoidance,but with the increase of vehicle number,it encounters the problem of local optimal chunking and fails to form a regular SP.Compared with the FCA-IAPF,the proposed IAPFFCA-VLs approach has been optimized in overall performance,enabling vehicles with different initial states and quantities but the same destination to maintain reasonable spacing and avoid collision while progressively achieving speed consensus.The resulting final position distance error between intelligent vehicles and their respective VLs is less than 0.1 m,the final longitudinal speed error is less than 1 m/s,and the final lateral speed error tends to 0.001 m/s.The vehicles can safely,rapidly,and stably form a regular formation and exit the unsignalized intersection,which is of great significance for improving the driving stability and traffic efficiency of SPs at unsignalized intersections.