Longitudinal control of heavy trucks: environmental and fuel economy considerations

We design, analyze, simulate and experimentally test longitudinal vehicle following controllers for heavy trucks with different spacing policies and evaluate their performance in mixed traffic with passenger vehicles. A new vehicle following controller for trucks is developed that has better properties than existing ones with respect to performance and impact on fuel economy and pollution during traffic disturbances. Validated emission models for passenger vehicles and trucks are used to investigate fuel economy and emission benefits in mixed traffic in the presence of traffic disturbance. The simulation models used are validated using experiments with actual vehicles.