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Method for optimizing inter-vehicle distance and equitably sharing fuel benefits in a vehicle platoon

  • US 10,017,179 B2
  • Filed: 06/06/2016
  • Issued: 07/10/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method for optimizing inter-vehicle distance, comprising:

  • communicating at least one of a frontal area and a drag coefficient representative of a first and at least one second vehicle to a processor at an information exchange point, as the first vehicle approaches the at least one second vehicle;

    selecting, based on the at least one of the frontal area and the drag coefficient, a position in a driving order of the first vehicle with respect to the at least one second vehicle;

    transmitting the position in the driving order from the processor to at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle;

    maneuvering the first vehicle into the selected position in the driving order, wherein one of the first and at least one second vehicles moves into a lead position and another of the first and at least one second vehicles moves into a trailing position;

    recording a real-time fuel economy of both the vehicle in the trailing position and the vehicle in the lead position in the processor, as the vehicle in the trailing position moves from a maximum following distance to a minimum following distance from the vehicle in the lead position;

    selecting, based on at least the recorded real-time fuel economy, an optimal inter-vehicle distance between the vehicles in the lead and trailing positions; and

    moving the vehicle in the trailing position to the optimal inter-vehicle distance from the vehicle in the lead position.

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