This document summarizes adaptive cruise control (ACC) in automobiles. ACC uses radar sensors to detect vehicles ahead and automatically adjusts speed to maintain a safe distance. It builds upon conventional cruise control by controlling braking and acceleration in response to other vehicles. The key components are control units, sensors, and actuators to brake and throttle. ACC benefits drivers by relieving control tasks in traffic and improving fuel efficiency through systematic braking and acceleration. While improving safety, fully autonomous vehicles will require changes to road laws as human control becomes less dominant.

1. 1
REVIEW ON AdAptIVE CRuIsE
CONtROl IN AutOMOBIlEs
(ACC)
Seminar by;
VISHNU SANKAR
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Toc H, Arakkunnam

2. OBJECTIVES
2
To discuss about adaptive cruise control:
HISTORY
INTRODUCTION TO ACC
CONVENTIONAL CRUISE CONTROL OPERATION
TYPES
COMPONENTS IN ACC
PRINCIPLE OF ACC
WORKING
ADVANTAGES
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES

3. HISTORY
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The idea of driver assistance was started with
‘cruise control devices’, first appeared in 1970’s in
USA.
When switched on, the device takes up the task of
accelerating or braking to maintain a constant
speed. But it could not consider other vehicles on
road.
The ACC system was developed as next generation
assisted the driver to keep a safe distance from
vehicle in front. This system is now available in
some luxury cars like merc s class,jaguar,volvo…

4. Introduction to ACC
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Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) technology automatically
adjust the vehicle speed and distance to that of a target
vehicle.
ACC uses a long range radar sensor to detect a target
vehicle up to 200 meters in front and automatically
adjusts the ACC vehicle speed and gap accordingly.
ACC automatically decelerates or accelerates the vehicle
according to the desired speed and distance settings
established by the driver.
 As per standard cruise control the driver can override
the system at any time.

5. Conventional Cruise Control Operation
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A typical Conventional Cruise Control controls the
vehicle speed by adjusting throttle position to
maintain a speed set by the driver.
A control unit compares the actual vehicle speed
and the desired set speed.
If there is a difference between this two values, a
signal is sent to a throttle position actuator to
adjust the throttle position to bring the vehicle to
set speed.

6. Two types of ACC
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• Radar-Based System :
– Three overlapping radar-beams (76-77kHz)
-- Detects moving object up to 120 m
– work in poor weather conditions
• Laser-Based System (lidar) :
– less expensive and easier to package
– light beams are narrower than water droplet
and snowflakes

7. Radar-based Adaptive Cruise Control
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 Source:http://motorola/semiconductor.com

8. Common Terms in ACC
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• Response time of the driver (t): time needed by the driver
to respond safely to any unwanted disturbance
(approximately about 2-3 sec)
• Safe distance: the minimum distance between vehicle
equipped with ACC to the leading vehicle by which the
driver is still able to respond safely in case of emergency
braking by the vehicle in front
Safe distance = Vs * t
Vs = speed of ACC vehicle
t = 2-3 sec

9. Adaptive Cruise Control - Components
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Parts related to a typical ACC system are
highlighted and colour-coded in the
illustration below:

10. Components of ACC
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CONTROL
UNIT
SENSOR
FUSIONSENSOR
RADAR
TARGET
DETECTION
TARGET
TRACKING
USER
INTERFACE
BAC
TAC TA
BA
Sensors:
Four Wheel
Sensors, Brake
Pedal Sensor,
Throttle Pedal
Sensor, Radar …
Actuators:
Brake Actuator,
Throttle Actuator.
Controllers:
High level & Low
level controller.
Communication
Medium
 Source:http://path.Berkeley.edu.

11. PRINCIPLE OF ACC
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 ACC works by detecting the distance and speed of
the vehicles ahead by using either a Lidar system
or a Radar system .
 According to this, the brake and throttle controls
are done to keep the vehicle in a safe position with
respect to the other.
 These are predominantly designed for highway
applications with rather homogenous traffic
behavior.

12. 12
• The second generation of ACC is the Stop
and Go Cruise Control (SACC) whose
objective is to offer the customer
longitudinal support on cruise control at
lower speeds down to zero velocity.
• There is a clear distinction between ACC
and SACC with respect to stationary
targets.
•The ACC philosophy is that it will be
operated in well structured roads with an
orderly traffic flow with speed of vehicles
around 40km/hour .

13. How ACC works?
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14. TRACKING IN LANES
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15. System Configuration of ACC
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 Source:http://path.Berkeley.edu.

16. Adaptive Cruise Control : Overview
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ACC is an extension of conventional cruise
control systems. An ACC system is a driver
convenience feature designed to maintain a set
following distance from the vehicle ahead. ACC is
not a collision warning or avoidance system.
An ACC system is designed to assist the driver
and is not a fully independent driving system.
 As with conventional cruise control system
manual inputs from the driver, both to
accelerator and brake, take priority over the ACC
system.

17. Adaptive Cruise Control Functions
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• Preset and maintain the car speed
• Measure the distance to the preceding car and the
relative speed
• Adjust the car speed accordingly
• Maximum deceleration = 3.5m/s^2
 Source:http://path.Berkeley.edu.

18. Contn…
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• Change gear automatically
• Function properly in poor weather condition
• Cannot pick up non-moving objects
• Effective in the speed between 30km-
180km/h

19. ADVANTAGES
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The driver is relieved from the task of careful
acceleration, deceleration and braking in congested
traffics.
A highly responsive traffic system that adjusts itself
to avoid accidents can be developed.
Since the braking and acceleration are done in a
systematic way, the fuel efficiency of the vehicle is
increased.

20. CONCLUSIONS
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The accidents caused by automobiles are injuring
lakhs of people every year.
The safety measures starting from airbags and
seatbelts have now reached to ACC,SACC and CACC
systems.
Eventhough it will probably take few decades, car
accidents will become as rare as plane accidents with
these technologies.
But the road laws will have to be changed upto an
extent, since the non-human part of vehicle
controlling will become predominant.

21. REFERENCES
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“Adaptive cruise control with stop & go function using the
state dependent non linear model predictive control
approach’’, science direct, Payman Shakouri, 15th June 2012.
“Detection of new in-path targets by drivers using stop & go
adaptive cruise control”, Neville A.stanton,18th
Aug 2010.
“Keeping car from crashing”, IEEE Spectrum, Willie D. jones,
Sep 2001.
“Introduction To RADAR Systems”, Merril I. Skolnik,Tata Mc
Grawhill ,edition 2009.
http://motorola/semiconductor.com
http://path.Berkeley.edu
http://www.computer –solutions.co.uk.

22. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
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