Using CCD cameras for car following algorithms

This paper is investigating the theoretic possibility of using CCD images directly for the car following algorithms. We assume that we are already disposing of a pattern recognition software able to spot the image of the previous car. The proposed solution is very simple, and consists in three operations: the estimation of the distance between the cars by the aria of the CCD image (in pixels), the validation of the estimated distance by stereoscopy and the control of the distance by a PD fuzzy-interpolative controller, which is accepting as inputs the CCD image aria and its change.