ACC works like conventional cruise
control, allowing the driver of a vehicle to set the desired speed, but it
also automatically adjusts the vehicle speed to match the preceding vehicle to
maintain a predefined following distance. ACC systems are typically
radar-based systems installed in vehicles that can monitor the vehicle in
front and adjust the speed of the vehicle to keep it at a preset distance
behind the lead vehicle, even in most fog and rain conditions. These systems
can determine how fast the vehicle is approaching the vehicle ahead. For
example, when approaching a lead vehicle at a high rate of speed, the system
will activate sooner than when approaching slower.
These systems enable the drivers to set a
desired cruising speed as well as a desired following gap with respect to a
lead vehicle. If no
lead vehicle is present, then the system will regulate
the vehicle speed, as any conventional
cruise control does, but once a
lead vehicle is detected, the system will adjust the vehicle’s speed
to maintain the gap set by the driver, with no intervention needed from
the driver.