Design and test of a cooperative adaptive cruise control system

This paper gives an overview of the design a cooperative adaptive cruise control system, that uses inter vehicle communication, in order to include preview information from vehicles further in front. Some intermediate test results are presented, showing that vehicle-vehicle communication can be used to improve traffic flows, and the system enables anticipatory braking actions, which means that upstream vehicles do not have to brake as severely when an down stream vehicle brakes, compared to the case without inter vehicle communication. This means that shock waves in the traffic can be reduced, which in turn has a positive effect on traffic flows.