“V” shaped and wide platoon formations

A method for controlling reorganization of associated platooning vehicles comprising an associated leading vehicle and a plurality of associated following vehicles cooperatively travelling as a linear column platoon in an associated geographical area on an associated roadway in a first direction from the linear column platoon to a non-linear platoon, the method comprising:

• providing a platoon control unit in the associated leading vehicle, the platoon control unit comprising a processor, a non-transient memory device operatively coupled with the processor, and logic stored in the non-transient memory and executable by the processor to selectively reorganize the platooning vehicles;
• receiving, by a communication receiver operatively coupled with the platoon control unit, performance capability signals from the plurality of associated following vehicles, the performance capability signals comprising performance data representative of one or more performance characteristics of the plurality of associated following vehicles;
• receiving, by a global position sensor receiver operatively coupled with the platoon control unit, a global position signal from an associated source of global position information, the global position signal comprising global position data representative of a position of the associated leading vehicle relative to the associated geographical area;
• responsive to receiving a reorganization initiate signal, selectively transmitting to a first set of first and second following vehicles of the plurality of following vehicles, by a first communication interface of a communication transmitter operatively coupled with the platoon control unit:
• a first lateral offset distance signal comprising first lateral offset distance data representative of first lateral offset distances on opposite sides of a forward path of the associated leading vehicle and in directions perpendicular to the first direction to be maintained in the non-linear platoon by each of the first and second vehicles;
• and
• a first longitudinal overlap distance signal comprising first longitudinal overlap distance data representative of first longitudinal overlap distances in a direction along the first direction to be maintained in the non-linear platoon by the each of the first and second vehicles of the first set interleaved in the first direction relative to the leader vehicle;
• responsive to receiving the reorganization initiate signal, selectively transmitting, to a second set of third, fourth, and fifth following vehicles of the plurality of following vehicles by a second communication interface of the communication transmitter:
• a second lateral offset distance signal comprising second lateral offset distance data representative of second lateral offset distances on opposite sides of the forward path of the associated leading vehicle an in directions perpendicular to the first direction to be maintained in the non-linear platoon by each of the third, fourth, and fifth following vehicles of the second set;
• and
• a second longitudinal overlap distance signal comprising second longitudinal overlap distance data representative of longitudinal overlap distances in a direction along the first direction to be maintained in the non-linear platoon by the each of the third, fourth, and fifth following vehicles of the second set interleaved in the first direction relative to the first and second vehicles of the first set;
• and
• executing the logic of the platoon control unit the processor to generate the first lateral offset distance data, the first longitudinal overlap distance data, the second longitudinal overlap distance data, and the second lateral offset distance data in accordance with a predetermined combination of the global position data representative of the position of the associated leading vehicle relative to the associated geographical area, the performance data representative of the one or more performance characteristics of the plurality of associated following vehicles, and the reorganization initiate signal.

A system controlling reorganization of a plurality of associated platooning vehicles from travelling as a linear column platoon formation to travelling as a V-shaped formation, the system comprising:

• a platoon control unit disposed in an associated leading vehicle leading the plurality of associated following vehicles cooperatively travelling as the linear column platoon on an associated roadway in a first direction, the platoon control unit comprising:
• a processor;
• a non-transient memory device operatively coupled with the processor;
• and
• logic stored in the non-transient memory and executed by the processor to generate first and second lateral offset distance data, and first and second longitudinal overlap distance data based on a reorganization initiate signal received by the platoon control unit from the associated leading vehicle;
• and
• a communication transmitter operatively coupled with the platoon control unit, the transmitter comprising:
• a first communication interface, the first communication interface being responsive to the reorganization initiate signal to selectively transmit, to a first set of first and second following vehicles of the plurality of associated following vehicles:
• a first lateral offset distance signal comprising the first lateral offset distance data representative of first lateral offset distances on opposite sides of a forward path of the associated leading vehicle and in directions perpendicular to the first direction to be maintained in the V-shaped platoon formation by each of the first and second vehicles;
• and
• a first longitudinal overlap distance signal comprising the first longitudinal overlap distance data representative of first longitudinal overlap distances in a direction along the first direction to be maintained in the V-shaped platoon formation by the each of the first and second vehicles of the first set of associated following vehicles interleaved in the first direction relative to the associated leading vehicle;
• and
• a second communication interface operable to transmit, to a second set of third, fourth, and fifth following vehicles of the plurality of associated following vehicles:
• a second lateral offset distance signal comprising the second lateral offset distance data representative of second lateral offset distances in directions perpendicular to the first direction and offset from the forward path of the associated leading vehicle to be maintained in the V-shaped platoon formation by each of the third, fourth, and fifth following vehicles of the second set;
• and
• a second longitudinal overlap distance signal comprising the second longitudinal overlap distance data representative of second longitudinal overlap distances in a direction along the first direction to be maintained in the V-shaped platoon formation by the each of the third, fourth, and fifth following vehicles of the second set interleaved in the first direction relative to the first and second vehicles of the first set.