A new adaptive cruise control (ACC) method based on the desired safety headway distance is investigated for improving the vehicle traffic safety at high speed by regulating the additional throttle opening and braking torque of driving wheels only. The selection of headway distance sensors, the determination of desired safety headway distance and desired deceleration are elaborated. The ACC flowchart and simulation, as well as signal misinformation and its resolutions are described. The simulation proves that the new ACC method is simpler and feasible. The new method is easily integrated ACC with ABS/ASR to form an organic ABS/ASR/ACC system.
The individual functions of ACC and ABS/ASR are described in the improvements of active safety while the road vehicles travel at a high speed. Being a logic extension of and many inherent connections with ABS/BSR, ACC is easily integrated with ABS/ASR to form an integrated system by adding the headway distance? detecting device to the existing ABS/ASR system and expanding the ABS/ASR software. The algorithm flowcharts and control methods of the ABS/ASR/ACC are given. The advantages of the ABS/ASR/ACC system compared with those using the stand alone systems ABS, ASR and ACC are mentioned in details.
