Common Contracts

Cooperative Agreement No. DTNH22-27016: ‘Human Factors Studies for the

Cooperative Agreement • July 31st, 1998

• Contract Type
  Cooperative Agreement
• Filed
  July 31st, 1998

Conventional cruise control, a popular convenience feature on cars in the U.S., maintains a speed selected by the driver and thus, relieves the driver of the task of maintaining a constant speed. The use of cruise control on highways, however, is becoming less effective due to congestion that prevents driving at preselected speeds for extended periods of time. Adaptive cruise control (ACC) is conceived as a driver support system that would enhance the performance of conventional cruise control and allow the system to be used under a wider range of traffic conditions than conventional cruise control. With ACC, a sensor on the front of the vehicle senses a vehicle In the path of travel (lead vehicle) and. if that vehicle IS traveling at a slower speed than the ACC vehicle, the ACC system slows down the vehicle to maintain a time headway (based on speed) or distance behind the lead vehicle. (This enhanced feature of cruise control will be referred to as distance control in this paper.) Wh