PERFORMANCE OF A STRING OR CLUSTER OF ACC-EQUIPPED CARS

This report is one element of a cooperative agreement between NHTSA and UMTRI entitled Intelligent Cruise Control (ICC) Field Operations Test (FOT). It addresses the operation of a serial string or dense cluster of passenger cars equipped with a new automotive technology called adaptive cruise control (ACC). The string or cluster conditions are expected to arise commonly on public roadways in the future if ACC reaches high levels of penetration in the vehicle population. This report presents results derived from a very limited experimental study of string and cluster operations, as enabled by the availability of vehicles equipped with ACC systems after their use in an extensive field operational test. The experiments involved a naturalistic traffic setting but a contrived procedure for inserting a dense grouping of ACC-equipped vehicles within the traffic stream. This work also served as a probing attempt to evaluate the impact of multiple ACC-equipped vehicles on such general issues as safety, traffic flow, and interference with unequipped vehicles. Conclusions from this activity pertain both to the issue of test methodology and to the long term impacts of ACC on traffic operation.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute

  2901 Baxter Road
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109-2150

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Bogard, S
  • Fancher, P
  • Ervin, R
  • Hagan, M
  • Bareket, Z
• Publication Date: 1998-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 17 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cluster analysis; Cruise control; Field tests; Headways; Intelligent control systems; Test procedures; Traffic control; Traffic flow; Traffic platooning; Traffic volume
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment; I73: Traffic Control; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00796206
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: UMTRI-98-28,, Final Report July 1998
• Contract Numbers: DTNH22-95-H-07428
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jul 14 2000 12:00AM