Emergency Control of Vehicle Platoons: Control of Following-Law Vehicles

This work presents a dynamical analysis of platooned following-law vehicles under longitudinal control proposed in 1. It is shown that controller gains selected for normal operation give inadequate performance in emergency operation. Dangerous spacing in platoons moving at lower than design speed and delayed target velocity update effects are investigated. Stability of the vehicle system in emergency operation is related to controller gains, and simulations for various emergency contingencies are presented.