STUDIES OF COLLISIONS IN VEHICLE FOLLOWING OPERATIONS

In Automated Highway Systems (AHS), vehicles are automated to maintain a desired speed and a safe distance from the preceding vehicles. The vehicles also maintain their position within a lane or their designated path. One of the safety concerns for such systems is the consequences in failure or malfunctioning events when collisions occur. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the responses of vehicles in collisions, especially when they are closely spaced. A two-dimensional simulation software is used in this study. The simulation program enables us to examine the longitudinal and lateral translation as well as the rotational motion of vehicles on a horizontal plane in vehicle collisions. This study is a deviation and an extension from several previous studies on this subject which has emphasized the one-dimensional dynamics of vehicle impacts. The addition of vehicle motions in other axes provides a more meaningful representation of real-world crashes.