Platooning control apparatus and method

A method for controlling a potential following vehicle in a platooning group, the method comprising:

• generating a platooning group including a leading vehicle and at least one following vehicle, wherein the leading vehicle is a first vehicle in the platooning group, and the at least one following vehicle is one or more vehicle operating in the platooning group behind the leading vehicle and connected using a V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication;
• transmitting, in the potential following vehicle, a join request to the leading vehicle included in the platooning group after generating the platooning group, prior to transmitting the join request;
• transmitting, in the leading vehicle included in the platooning group, vehicle information about the leading vehicle to the potential following vehicle, wherein the potential following vehicle joins as a new last following vehicle in the platooning group regardless of when the join request is transmitted;
• generating a new platooning group including the leading vehicle, the at least one following vehicle and the potential following vehicle, wherein the potential following vehicle is a last following vehicle in the new platooning group based on platoon management information including information related to the vehicle in the platooning group and information related to a distance for the platooning group;
• and
• beginning a cruising operation after a join process is completed, wherein the join process fails based on a planned route of the leading vehicle,
• wherein the vehicle information of the leader vehicle includes sensor model or camera model.