Inter-Vehicle Distance Control Strategy for Platooning of Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Abstract

In this study, a novel method for setting a target inter-vehicle distance is developed to enable platooning between heavy-duty vehicles with different loading weight. To this end, the minimum target inter-vehicle distance for a platooning operation is computed by predicting the maximum deceleration in the longitudinal direction after considering the loading weight of all vehicles in the platoon. To prevent control error and delay that may occur due to differences in the loading weight of vehicles, the inter-vehicle distance control strategy of each vehicle is proposed, which compensates the minimum target inter-vehicle distance for longitudinal control error of the preceding vehicle in the platoon. For the longitudinal control of heavy-duty vehicles, an SMC(Sliding Mode Control)-based robust controller is designed to track the computed target inter-vehicle distance. The proposed algorithm is verified through a total of eight scenarios, including four cases in the difference in tiie loading weight of vehicles and two cases for emergency-braking and acceleration of a leading vehicle in the platoon. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can ensure the safety of platooning performance without collision between preceding and following vehicles in the platoon. These results also demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can improve the driving stability of the platoon, compared to existing strategies.