Comfort Oriented Robust Adaptive Cruise Control in Multi-Lane Traffic Conditions

Abstract The increasing complexity of nowadays traffic situations requires further development of already existing Advanced Driver Assistant Systems (ADAS). In the case of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) such enhancements concern the consideration of lane change and/or multi-vehicle scenarios. Such lane change maneuvers may lead to switching processes for the controller which often lead to undesired and intense braking with detrimental effects on comfort, fuel economy and safety. This paper proposes an ACC approach within a multi-vehicle scenario which considers lane change maneuvers of surrounding traffic participants in a robust and predictive way with the objective to increase driving comfort. Robustness is addressed by considering worst case profiles concerning lane change behavior of preceding vehicles. Simulation results compare the robust controller to a nominal one and show significant improvement of the proposed approach by means of a comfort oriented performance index.