A lateral position sensing system for automated vehicle following

This paper investigates the use of photoresistive light sensor arrays as a possible lateral position sensing system for a vehicle, or several vehicles, following a lead vehicle under separate control. A brief motivation for the use of such a sensing array is followed by a derivation of an appropriate sensor layout. It is shown that the sensing array has several benefits, including cost, simplicity, redundancy, and near linearity. Experimental results are given for a scaled vehicle following maneuver using a simple lateral control strategy. The results show that the sensor array may be attractive for lateral alignment in vehicle-following maneuvers.