Adaptive cruise control (ACC) is an intelligent form of cruise control that allows vehicles to speed up and slow down automatically in order to keep pace with the traffic ahead. In cars, either a laser or radar system is mounted within the front of the car that constantly scans the road ahead of you for other vehicles. In recent years heavy truck drivers are likely to drive more autonomous vehicles. ACC is helping the driver to drive more safely and comfortable.

 

This paper presents effect of the adaptive cruise control (ACC) usage on brake pad wear of heavy commercial vehicle by comparing pressure and temperature differences seen on three different vehicle configurations. These configurations are “adaptive cruise control with engine brake & retarder & service brake”, “adaptive cruise control with engine brake (without retarder) & service brake” and “engine brake (without ACC and without retarder) & service brake” at tractor vehicle. For all configurations same vehicle and trailer is used with configuring the software and hardware on the vehicle. The aim of this study is to compare the brake pad wear change by brake temperature and pressure differences with predefines test scenarios. Specific test procedure has been developed to get objective measurement and subjective feeling assessment on the vehicle. The test scenarios has been determined to profile the different adaptive cruise control usage scenarios as vehicle tracking and long haul drive.

 

The brake pad temperature, pressure and vehicle CAN data has been logged through of the test. Also driver perception has been rated for different adaptive cruise control, auxiliary brake system and service brake usage. The brake temperature and pressure data has been used to calculate the comparative brake pad wear change. It was seen that the adaptive cruise control usage with engine brake has positive affect on brake pad life as 2 % incremental to without ACC usage. Retarder usage has the longest pad life with ACC as expected with 23% improvement to without ACC usage. Thus adaptive cruise control usage effect to the pad life with same comparative test scenarios showed that adaptive cruise control has positive affect to the brake pad life.