Inter-Vehicle Communication with Platooning

Abstract: Today’s way of driving works very well, but there can be substantial improvements made in the road systems and in the vehicles themselves. Many of the disadvantages of current road systems and vehicles can be removed in the future by using appropriate information and communication technology. A disadvantage that has been considered to be a major problem for many years is the fossil fuel-consumption of vehicles. Hybrid-cars and all-electric cars are being developed to reduce the use of fossil-based fuels. Since it could take a long time for these new types of vehicles to replace vehicles currently using internal combustion engines, development must also seek to improve current vehicles. Fuel-savings and safety are two major aspects that researchers and vehicle manufacturers are trying to address. One approach that provides fuel-savings is driving in a convoy. Both Scania and Volvo are currently developing this approach. They aim to achieve the same goal, but in two different ways - since they do not build upon the exact same concepts. Scania is a major manufacturer of trucks and buses, while Volvo is a major manufacturer of trucks, buses, and cars. Both are seeking to improve the fuel-savings for trucks and busses, but Volvo is also seeking to improve fuel-savings for cars. Unfortunately, with every solution are new problems. Convoy driving brings advantages, but appropriate communication between the vehicles of the convoy and those seeking to join a convoy is necessary for this approach to work well. This is particularly challenging as these vehicles are in moving while communicating. For this reason, the communication needs to utilize wireless links. This thesis shows in more detail how the inter-vehicle communication works using Wi-Fi and why this is a good media to use when driving a convoy. The testing of Wi-Fi between two driving vehicles and in implementation of two model vehicles shows another perspective of Wi-Fi than today’s use of it.