California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology

In this paper, a general worst case stopping scenario for vehicle following is used to develop algorithms for generating the minimum safety spacing (MSS) for collision-free vehicle following. These algorithms are used to study the effects of vehicle characteristics and other parameters on the value of the MSS. Furthermore, a case is considered where the choice of a smaller value of inter-vehicle separation leads to a rear-end collision. The effects of the various parameters on the severity of collision by using a proposed algorithm are studied. The results and algorithms developed in this paper can be used to study the effect of new technologies and automated vehicle functions on safety of vehicle following and on highway capacity.