Multi-vehicle adaptive cruise control as a constrained distance bound

1 . A system, comprising:

at least one processor of an autonomous vehicle traveling on a roadway, the at least one processor configured to:

identify a second vehicle on the roadway that is traveling in front of the autonomous vehicle;

determine a speed of the second vehicle while the second vehicle travels along the roadway;

generate a distance bound between the autonomous vehicle and the second vehicle based on the speed of the second vehicle and a speed of the autonomous vehicle, the distance bound defining a maximum safe following distance between the second vehicle and the autonomous vehicle;

determine the autonomous vehicle will not arrive at the maximum safe following distance within a predetermined time period;

generate an intermediate distance bound between the autonomous vehicle and the second vehicle based on the speed of the second vehicle and the speed of the autonomous vehicle, the intermediate distance bound defining a minimum safe following distance between the second vehicle and the autonomous vehicle; and

control the speed of the autonomous vehicle to implement adaptive cruise control by causing the autonomous vehicle to decelerate to enforce the intermediate distance bound.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute an object detection model to identify the second vehicle on the roadway.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the speed of the second vehicle based on sensor data captured by one or more sensors mounted on the autonomous vehicle.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to dynamically increase the distance bound upon detecting a change in the speed of the second vehicle or the speed of the autonomous vehicle.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to dynamically adjust the distance bound upon detecting a change in the speed of the second vehicle or the speed of the autonomous vehicle.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the distance bound based on a first predicted position of the autonomous vehicle and a second predicted position of the second vehicle.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a decreased speed for the autonomous vehicle based on the speed of the autonomous vehicle and the speed of the second vehicle.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the autonomous vehicle to slow to the decreased speed based on the intermediate distance bound between the autonomous vehicle and the second vehicle.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second vehicle is a second autonomous vehicle, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit a signal to at least one second processor of the second autonomous vehicle to determine a maximum distance bound between the autonomous vehicle and the second autonomous vehicle.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a consolidated distance bound based on the distance bound and a second distance bound determined based on a third vehicle.

11 . A method, comprising:

identifying, by at least one processor of an autonomous vehicle traveling on a roadway, a second vehicle on the roadway that is traveling in front of the autonomous vehicle;

determining, by the at least one processor, a speed of the second vehicle while the second vehicle travels along the roadway;

generating, by the at least one processor, a distance bound between the autonomous vehicle and the second vehicle based on the speed of the second vehicle and a speed of the autonomous vehicle, the distance bound defining a maximum safe following distance between the second vehicle and the autonomous vehicle;

determining, by the at least one processor, the autonomous vehicle will not arrive at the maximum safe following distance within a predetermined time period;

generating, by the at least one processor, an intermediate distance bound between the autonomous vehicle and the second vehicle based on the speed of the second vehicle and the speed of the autonomous vehicle, the intermediate distance bound defining a minimum safe following distance between the second vehicle and the autonomous vehicle; and

controlling, by the at least one processor, the speed of the autonomous vehicle to implement adaptive cruise control by causing the autonomous vehicle to decelerate to enforce the intermediate distance bound.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising executing, by the at least one processor, an object detection model to identify the second vehicle on the roadway.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining, by the at least one processor, the speed of the second vehicle based on sensor data captured by one or more sensors mounted on the autonomous vehicle.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising dynamically increasing, by the at least one processor, the distance bound upon detecting a change in the speed of the second vehicle or the speed of the autonomous vehicle.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising dynamically adjusting, by the at least one processor, the distance bound upon detecting a change in the speed of the second vehicle or the speed of the autonomous vehicle.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining, by the at least one processor, the distance bound based on a first predicted position of the autonomous vehicle and a second predicted position of the second vehicle.

17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining, by the at least one processor, a decreased speed for the autonomous vehicle based on the speed of the autonomous vehicle and the speed of the second vehicle.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising causing, by the at least one processor, the autonomous vehicle to slow to the decreased speed based on the intermediate distance bound between the autonomous vehicle and the second vehicle.

19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the second vehicle is a second autonomous vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by the at least one processor, a signal to at least one second processor of the second autonomous vehicle to determine a maximum distance bound between the autonomous vehicle and the second autonomous vehicle.

20 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining, by the at least one processor, a consolidated distance bound based on the distance bound and a second distance bound determined based on a third vehicle.