Smart autonomous vehicles can cooperatively drive as platoons offering benefits like enhanced safety, traffic efficiency, and fuel conservation. While traditionally platoons have followed a single-lane, train-like structure they face challenges when scaling that include communication range limitations and lane-change difficulties. In this article, we propose a new paradigm of multi-lane platoons that spreads platoons across multiple lanes. We explore the characteristics of multi-lane platoons particularly focusing on communication parameters. Additionally, we propose a cross-layer mechanism to seamlessly integrate this concept within the existing communication standard, ETSI. Our work significantly enhances platoon communication performance in mixed traffic scenarios and we propose optimizations to improve its effectiveness.