Longitudinal distance control for vehicle following model based on tracking differentiator

Vehicle following for traffic safety has been an active area of research. Longitudinal distance automate control is key for vehicle following mode in autonomous cruise system. Sliding mode control has been applied in vehicle longitudinal distance control. But most of them ignore or simplify acceleration information and control performance is reduced. Tracking-differentiator is designed and applied for the longitudinal distance sliding mode control system in this paper. It provides the relative acceleration information needed in calculating the subject vehicle desired acceleration for longitudinal distance sliding mode control system. Theoretical analysis and computer simulation prove that the designed linear tracking-differentiator can track the vehicle relative velocity measured by sensor and effectively supply the relative acceleration information for distance control.