Platoon Following Simulator

Slow Free-flow vehicle color = its current speed

Near lead End of platoon chart-line color = position in the platoon

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position vs. time, colored by instantaneous speed — watch a slowdown propagate backward as a shockwave

Lead vehicle

Target speed 20.0 m/s

Max acceleration 3.0 m/s²

Caps how fast the lead car can speed up or brake — it ramps toward the slider, it doesn't jump.

α — sensitivity 0.50 /s

τ — desired time gap 1.50 s

dΔx_i/dt = v_i-1 − v_i
dv_i/dt = α · [Δx_i − (g_min + τ·v_i)]
same α, τ for every follower i = 1…N

String stability, this α·τ² = –

L2 needs ατ² ≥ 2

L∞ needs ατ² ≥ 4 (the stricter test)

L — vehicle length 4.5 m

g_min — minimum gap 2.0 m

N — number of followers 10

Changing this resets the platoon to a fresh, fully-settled state.