Merging support system considering the trade-off between distance and acceleration under the constraint of merging zone

Abstract

This paper presents the merging support system considering the trade-off between distance and acceleration under the constraint of merging zone. In merging, drivers consider about safety and longitudinal ride comfort. In addition, drivers must finish merging in the merging zone. To achieve these objectives, we propose the merging support system. It consists of the merging decision, the merging plan, and the vehicle controller. The merging decision compares the selectable merging positions and selects one with smallest acceleration. The merging plan generates the velocity plan to reach to the selected merging position. The vehicle controller follows the velocity plans. The performance of the proposed system is tested by simulations. In these simulations, the merging decision calculates the plan with the smallest acceleration, and the vehicle controller achieves merging in the merging zone.