In order to control the collision risk and reduce the occurrence of rear-end collision accidents related to truck platoons, the safety of truck platoons was analyzed and evaluated. Considering the road surface resistance and coordinated control, IDM (intelligent driver model) was improved. And two vehicle-following models were established: (1) IDM+ (IDM considering the road surface resistance); (2) CACC (cooperative adaptive cruise control) model. MATLAB simulation experiments are used to obtain information of trucks in a platoon. Two kinds of collision time functions, TTC (time-to-collision) and ITC (the inverse time-to-collision), are used as evaluation indicators. Taking cases about three-truck platoon under the IDM+ and CACC models as examples, results show that: (1) CACC can reduce rear-end collision risk; (2) with the speed difference between the front and following trucks increasing, collision risk tends to increase. These results can be used to evaluate safety of a truck platoon and provide collision warning.

CICTP