INTRA-PLATOON COLLISION BEHAVIOR DURING EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

This paper presents current research regarding intra-platoon collision dynamics for rapid decelerations. Measures of ride quality and impact severity are introduced to allow comparisons between different collis ion scenarios. In this study, the disturbance input to the platoon is assumed to be a rapid braking of the lead vehicle. Several deceleratio n rates are used to assess the overall platoon behavior and the effect of the intra-platoon collisions on the platoon passengers. The role o f the desired headway spacing on preventing the occurrence of intra-pl atoon collisions and improving rider comfort is discussed.