Adaptive fuzzy control for inter-vehicle gap keeping

There is a broad range of diverse technologies under the generic topic of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) that holds the answer to many of the transportation problems. In this paper, one approach to ITS is presented. One of the most important research topics in this field is adaptive cruise control (ACC). The main features of this kind of controller are the adaptation of the speed of the car to a predefined one and the keeping of a safe gap between the controlled car and the preceding vehicle on the road. We present an ACC controller based on fuzzy logic, which assists the speed and distance vehicle control, offering driving strategies and actuation over the throttle of a car. The driving information is supplied by the car tachometer and a RTK differential GPS, and the actuation over the car is made through an electronic interface that simulates the electrical signal of the accelerator pedal directly to the onboard computer. This control is embedded in an automatic driving system installed in two testbed mass-produced cars instrumented for testing the work of these controllers in a real environment. The results obtained in these experiments show a very good performance of the gap controller, which is adaptable to all the speeds and safe gap selections.