A comprehensive review of the development of adaptive cruise control systems

It has been 15 years since the first generation of adaptive cruise control (ACC)-equipped vehicles was available on the market and 7 years since the ISO standard for the first generation of ACC systems was produced. Since the next generation of ACC systems and more advanced driver-assistant systems are at the verge of complete introduction and deployment, it is necessary to summarise the development and research achievements of the first generation of ACC systems in order to provide more useful experiential guidance for the new deployment. From multidimensional perspectives, this paper looks into the related development and research achievements to objectively and comprehensively introduce an ACC system to researchers, automakers, governments and consumers. It attempts to simply explain what an ACC system is and how it operates from a systematic perspective. Then, it clearly draws a broad historical picture of ACC development by splitting the entire history into three different phases. Finally, the most significant research findings-related ACC systems have been reviewed and summarised from the human, traffic and social perspectives respectively.