Rear-end collision: Causes and avoidance techniques

Rear-end collision is one of the most frequent accidents occurring on roadways. This chapter investigates how vehicle's local parameters in a platoon of cars (i.e., perception and information collection, vehicle speed, safe distance, braking parameters) affect the global behavior of the traffic system in terms of rear-end collision avoidance (CA). In fact, microscopic car following models capture the tactical maneuvering decisions of drivers, in order to maintain a safe distance and avoid collision with the lead vehicles. Furthermore, the chapter describes how vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) wireless communication networks can be used in preventing rear-end collisions. Finally, as an example, the design and evaluation of an adaptive inter-vehicle CA communication protocol is provided. This protocol is capable of maintaining high reliability and efficiency in the face of large variations in vehicular traffic and wireless network conditions.