Adaptive, nonlinear, cooperative inter-vehicle distance control

A novel, adaptive, nonlinear controller is proposed for an adaptive cruise control (ACC) system, to maintain a desired distance between a leading and a following vehicle. The proposed solution takes into account unknown parameters of a nonlinear vehicle dynamics model, variable road inclination, aerodynamic resistance, and variable desired distance, as well as variable constraints on the follower’s velocity and the driving force. The stability of the system is formally proven using Lyapunov techniques. The resulting controller is tested in several simulations based on real-road scenarios, including emergency braking. It is shown that the proposed approach offers a potentially practical solution to enhance the control performance of ACC systems and is able to outperform some recently published solutions.