Vehicle platooning formation controller, system including the same, and method thereof

A vehicle system comprising:

• a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication module configured to perform communication between platooning vehicles, when the platooning vehicles, including one leader vehicle and at least one or more following vehicles, are traveling;
• and a platooning controller configured to control platooning based on platooning control vehicle information transmitted and received between the platooning vehicles, monitor information associated with an energy state of each of the platooning vehicles while platooning, and adjust a platoon formation based on a change in the energy state of each of the platooning vehicles, wherein the platooning controller is further configured to, for each of the platooning vehicles:
• accumulate a total driving distance by the platooning vehicle by adding a driving distance to the total driving distance accumulated over the total driving history of the life of the vehicle whenever the vehicle is driven and store the accumulated total driving distance in the storage;
• before the platooning starts, retrieve the accumulated total driving distance from the storage and calculate an energy required per a predetermined distance based on the accumulated total driving distance;
• calculate a remaining energy based on the remaining fuel of the platooning vehicle;
• calculate a drivable distance of the platooning vehicle by dividing the remaining energy of the platooning vehicle and the energy required per the predetermined distance, after the platooning starts, recalculate the drivable distance of the platooning vehicle using the remaining energy of the platooning vehicle and the energy required per the predetermined distance based on a current platooning situation of the platooning vehicle;
• and compare the drivable distance calculated for the platooning vehicle with the remaining distance to the destination point;
• wherein the platooning controller is further configured to, when the drivable distance for at least one of the platooning vehicles is longer than the remaining distance to the destination point, move each of the platooning vehicles to adjust the platoon formation based on the drivable distance of each platooning vehicle.

A platooning control method, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving platooning control vehicle information from at least one or more following vehicles, when platooning vehicles, including one leader vehicle and the at least one or more following vehicles, are traveling;
• determining a platoon formation based on the received platooning control vehicle information and platooning control vehicle information of each of the platooning vehicles;
• monitoring information associated with an energy state of each of the platooning vehicles while platooning;
• and adjusting the platoon formation based on a change in the energy state of each of the platooning vehicles, wherein the monitoring information comprises, for each of the platooning vehicles:
• accumulating a total driving distance by the platooning vehicle by adding a driving distance to the total driving distance accumulated over the total driving history of the life of the vehicle whenever the vehicle is driven and storing the accumulated total driving distance in the storage;
• before the platooning starts, retrieving an accumulated total driving distance from the storage and calculating an energy required per a predetermined distance based on the accumulated total driving distance;
• calculating a remaining energy based on the remaining fuel of the platooning vehicle;
• and calculating a drivable distance using the remaining energy of the platooning vehicle and the energy required per the predetermined distance, and wherein the adjusting of the platoon formation comprises:
• after the platooning starts, recalculating the drivable distance of each of the platooning vehicles using the remaining energy of each of the platooning vehicles and the energy required per the predetermined distance based on a current platooning situation of each of the platooning vehicles;
• comparing the drivable distance recalculated for each of the platooning vehicles with the remaining distance to a destination point;
• and when the drivable distance for at least one of the platooning vehicles is longer than the remaining distance to a destination point, move each of the platooning vehicles to adjust the platoon formation based on the drivable distance of each of the platooning vehicles.