Ottmar Gehring

Practical results of a longitudinal control concept for truck platooning with vehicle to vehicle communication

Practical results of a longitudinal control concept for truck platooning are presented. The approach is based on distance measurement between the vehicles and on vehicle to vehicle communication but does not need road infrastructure. A two layered control structure is proposed. The inner control loop includes a nonlinear acceleration controller linearizing a large part of the nonlinearities. Despite this linearisation, due to the different actuator systems the dynamic behaviour of the vehicle is different during acceleration and braking. Furthermore, each vehicle may have different power trains and loads and additional disturbances might occur. Therefore, a robust platoon controller is introduced for the outer control loop by use of sliding mode control design. Practical results of a platoon consisting of 7 trucks show that by use of the proposed control concept string stability can be achieved.

Using drive-by-wire technology to design integrated powertrain modules ntegration of the evaluation of surrounding variables

This paper presents a modular mechatronic system based on the major assemblies of the engine, transmission, axles and steering systems. The overall concept of an integrated powertrain for performing holistic movement tasks, including the propulsion, braking, steering and load-carrying functions, will be realized based on electronic actuation. The powertrain will be activated as a drive-by-wire module by specifying a movement wish (direction and acceleration) at an electronic coordination level. The paper outlines both the options for designing the system architecture and the degree of functional integration with the aim of using the smallest possible number of control units. The paper also discusses potential areas of application such as autonomous driving, sidestick and electronic drawbar, as well as applications like reversing assistance for truck-and-trailer combinations. Questions relating to the causes of accidents are discussed with a view to improving active traffic safety. The aim of future developments is to use data from predictive and reactive systems in order to avoid dangerous traffic situations before a driving command is executed. The number of accidents can be reduced by using data which has been acquired from a carefully targeted evaluation of the surrounding variables, before issuing a securely confirmed planned movement wish.