Vehicle Platoon Reordering at Branch Points for Stable Speed
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing platooning technologies do not effectively manage vehicle rearrangement at branch points, leading to potential speed reductions and increased accident risks due to vehicles leaving the platoon.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device identifies branch points and distances to these points for vehicles in a platoon, rearranging them based on ascending distance order to maintain optimal platoon formation and minimize disruptions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If vehicles maintain fixed platoon order, then platoon stability is improved, but speed variations increase at branch points
Solution Approach 1:
The platoon order is made dynamic rather than fixed. The control device determines vehicle arrangement based on branch point distances, allowing the platoon configuration to adapt automatically as vehicles approach different branch points at different times, thereby maintaining stability while minimizing speed variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The control device performs preliminary arrangement of vehicles in the platoon based on their branch point distances before reaching the branch points. By pre-positioning vehicles according to their exit requirements, the system avoids last-minute maneuvers that would cause speed variations, thus resolving the contradiction between stability and speed consistency.
2Speed
If vehicles are rearranged at branch points, then speed variations are reduced, but accident risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
Rearrangement is performed in advance based on predetermined branch point distances rather than at the moment of branch point arrival. This preliminary positioning allows smooth, planned transitions without abrupt maneuvers, reducing accident risk while maintaining speed consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The control device continuously monitors vehicle positions and branch point distances, using this feedback to determine optimal arrangement. This closed-loop control ensures rearrangement decisions are based on real-time conditions, minimizing unnecessary maneuvers and associated accident risks while maintaining speed variations within acceptable ranges.
3Productivity
If platoon order is optimized for branch points, then platoon efficiency is improved, but control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each vehicle's branch point distance information serves as its own sorting key. The control device simply arranges vehicles according to these distances without requiring complex optimization algorithms, achieving efficient platoon configuration through a straightforward distance-based sorting mechanism that minimizes control complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses branch point distance as a dynamic parameter to determine platoon arrangement. By changing the arrangement based on this single key parameter rather than multiple complex factors, the system achieves improved platoon efficiency while keeping control logic relatively simple and manageable.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for platooning of vehicles includes memory storing instructions and a processor, and the instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the electronic device to identify branch points for each of the vehicles on a route of the platooning, identify distances from current positions of the vehicles to the branch points, determine an order of the vehicles in the platoon based on an ascending order of the identified distances, and based on determining that a lead vehicle in a current order of the vehicles in the platoon is different from a lead vehicle in the determined order and/or determining that a tail vehicle in the current order of the vehicles in the platoon is different from a tail vehicle in the determined order, control the vehicles such that the vehicles in the platoon are rearranged according to the determined order.