Abstract Intersection control is a critical component in traffic network. With the emerging technology of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) can enable the signal-free intersection control strategy. In this research, we apply the virtual-platooning control strategy to cooperatively regulate the vehicles approaching a signal-free, multi-lane crossing intersection. We separate the intersection into a buffer zone and a cooperative zone. In the buffer zone, we organize incoming vehicles into compatible passing sets based on their conflicting relationship, then construct the information flow topology for vehicles within and between each compatible passing sets, such that vehicles can negotiate with each other to set up desired headway distance. In the cooperative zone, we apply the distributed sliding mode control to regulate and stabilize vehicles to operate at a designate speed, as well as passing through the intersection without collisions. Numerical simulation illustrates the effectiveness of our proposed method.