Automatic vehicle following control system
First Claim
1. An automatic vehicle following control system comprising a leading vehicle driven by a driver and a following vehicle automatically controllable to run in follow mode to the leading vehicle,said following vehicle comprising:
- status detecting means for detecting a status of the following vehicle; and
transmitting means for transmitting the detected status of the following vehicle to said leading vehicle;
said leading vehicle comprising;
receiving means for receiving the status of the following vehicle transmitted by said transmitting means; and
indicating means for indicating a malfunction of the following vehicle if the received status of the following vehicle contains status information indicative of the malfunction.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. An automatic vehicle following control system comprising a leading vehicle driven by a driver and a following vehicle automatically controllable to run in follow mode to the leading vehicle,
said following vehicle comprising: -
status detecting means for detecting a status of the following vehicle; and transmitting means for transmitting the detected status of the following vehicle to said leading vehicle; said leading vehicle comprising; receiving means for receiving the status of the following vehicle transmitted by said transmitting means; and indicating means for indicating a malfunction of the following vehicle if the received status of the following vehicle contains status information indicative of the malfunction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An automatic vehicle following control system comprising a leading vehicle driven by a driver and a plurality of following vehicles, each comprising an electric vehicle, which are automatically controllable to run in follow mode to the leading vehicle,
each of said following vehicles comprising: -
remaining capacity detecting means for detecting a remaining capacity of a battery on the following vehicle; and transmitting means for transmitting information of the detected remaining capacity to said leading vehicle; said leading vehicle comprising; receiving means for receiving the information of the detected remaining capacity transmitted by the transmitting means of each of the following vehicles; and display means for displaying the received information of the remaining capacity of the battery on each of said following vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification