An adaptive cruise control system based on throttle/brakes combined control

To mitigate driving fatigue and reduce the risk of rear-end collision accidents, a layered algorithm for adaptive cruise control is proposed. In upper layer, a safe headway maintenance algorithm is devised based on driver's car-following characteristics, enabling the smooth switching of control modes according to different working conditions; while in bottom layer, a throttle controller and a brake controller are designed respectively with feed-forward and feedback control. The empirical look-up charts are created based on tests for avoiding troublesome system parameter identification, and the effective switching between controllers is achieved based on thresholds of switching acceleration. Finally tests of the sudden cut-in and emergent deceleration of front vehicle are performed to verify above control algorithm. The results show that, the developed ACC system can relieve driver's workload effectively with the active safety in vehicle-following condition improved.