Advanced Adaptive Cruise Control Based on Collision Risk Assessment

In this study, we propose the advanced adaptive cruise control for assessing the collision risk with surrounding vehicles and control the ego vehicle as a way to improve driving safety. Autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have attracted attention as solutions to accident prevention. The ability to anticipate a situation and automatically control a maneuver to avoid a collision is expected to become a reality in the near future. Our research group has focused on the requirements of such ability, particularly lane changing, which is the main factor of traffic accidents. The advanced adaptive cruise control adjusts its distance from surrounding vehicles to minimize a collision risk in advance. The proposed method estimates the intentions of the surrounding traffic participants and predicts their future actions. Based on such prediction, a collision risk assessment is performed. It was demonstrated that the proposed control method can dramatically improve driving safety over human drivers.