Automatic vehicle following control system

Abstract

When vehicles run in a platoon, a status indicative of a malfunction or the like of a following vehicle is transmitted to a leading vehicle, so that the leading vehicle can take an appropriate action. Specifically, an automatic vehicle following control system controls a plurality of unattended following vehicles, each comprising an electric vehicle, to run in tandem in follow mode to an attended leading vehicle. Each of said following vehicles has a remaining capacity detecting unit for detecting a remaining capacity of a battery on the following vehicle, and transmitting information of the detected remaining capacity via vehicle-to-vehicle antennas to the leading vehicle. The remaining capacities of the batteries on the following vehicles are displayed on a display unit of the leading vehicle. When a remaining capacity of a battery on an electric vehicle is lowered, since the maximum output power of a motor on the electric vehicle is reduced, the electric vehicle cannot run in a platoon at a high speed. If the remaining capacity of the battery on the electric vehicle is detected as being lower than a predetermined level, then the speed of the leading vehicle is automatically lowered to enable the following vehicles to run continuously in a platoon at a relatively low speed.