ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL OF VEHICLE WITH VISUAL FEEDBACK OF A WEBCAM

The proposed adaptive cruise control system of vehicle guidance is based on the visual feedback from the webcam mounted on the vehicle. The road lines are identified first with the help of image processing techniques based on Hugh transform. Following, the tracking system is also developed based on some simple control algorithms to make the vehicles running inside the drivable area with or without a car in front within a safety speed limit. The computing of these control algorithms can be operated at a control center which connects the vehicles via WiFi communication system or directly on the microprocessor built in the vehicles to exchange the image information and control commands. Furthermore, the control center can monitor all the vehicles in some certain area for further applications such as dynamically planning the routes for all the vehicles to avoid congestion. To simplify the experimental setup, the drivable area is confined to a superhighway with only cars allowed on the road. The experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control system.