Analysis and Prevention of Chain Collision in Traditional and Connected Vehicular Platoon

Vehicle chain collision is considered to be one of the main causes that lead to serious casualties and reduce traffic efficiency. In this paper, the dynamic process of chain collision is investigated based on the virtual mass-spring-damper (MSD) model, and the ideal values of virtual spring constant and damping coefficient are determined for collision avoidance by optimization method. Simulations have been performed when a vehicle slows down suddenly on a single-lane road, and the causes that lead to chain collision have been discussed. It can be seen from the simulation results that connected vehicles break the trend of decreasing inter-vehicle spacing as it propagates down the line of platoon, and the probability of chain collisions in the vehicular platoon is reduced and the overall safety of the platoon is improved.