Vehicle guidance based on tractor position

A method for guiding a leading vehicle according to a desired trailing vehicle path, the method comprising:

• determining a first desired path for a rear hitch location of a designated trailing vehicle of one or more trailing vehicles of an implement train, the implement train including a leading vehicle having a front hitch location;
• generating a first direction unit vector at an instant point along the first desired path for the rear hitch location based on the instant point and one or more path points proceeding and preceding the instant point along the first desired path;
• and
• generating one or more proceeding path points for one or more intermediate locations along the implement train and the front hitch location of the leading vehicle with a propagation and transformation algorithm, generating the one or more proceeding path points with the propagation and transformation algorithm including:
• propagating a preceding path point of one of the rear hitch location or one of the one or more intermediate locations to an immediately proceeding location of one of the one or more intermediate locations or the front hitch location, wherein the first direction unit vector is a first preceding path point, and
• transforming the preceding path point according to intervening dimensional characteristics of the implement train to generate the proceeding path point;
• and
• generating a second guiding path point for the front hitch location with the propagation and transformation algorithm based on the immediately preceding path point of an intermediate location of the one or more intermediate locations closest to the front hitch location.

A system for guiding a leading vehicle according to a desired trailing vehicle path comprising:

• a map module including a first desired path for a rear hitch location of a designated trailing vehicle of an implement train including a leading vehicle;
• a dimensional characteristic module including dimensional characteristics for each of the vehicles of the implement train, the rear hitch location of the designated trailing vehicle, the front hitch location of the leading vehicle and one or more intermediate locations between the rear and front hitch locations;
• and
• a path transformation module configured to generate a second guiding path for a front hitch location of a leading vehicle based on the first desired path, wherein the designated trailing vehicle automatically follows the first desired path where the leading vehicle follows the second guiding path, the path transformation module includes:
• a propagation module in communication with the dimensional characteristic and the map modules, the propagation module configured to propagate and transform a preceding path to a proceeding path, the preceding path includes one or more of the first desired path and one or more intermediate paths associated with each of the respective one or more intermediate locations, and the proceeding path includes one or more of the intermediate paths and the second guiding path.