Patent ID: 8855835

Claim:
A convoy travel apparatus disposed in a subject vehicle and in other vehicles, the apparatus comprising: a control unit generating convoy travel information of the subject vehicle, and performing convoy travel control of the subject vehicle, the convoy travel information including travel information of the subject vehicle; and a wireless communication unit performing vehicle-to-vehicle communication, the wireless communication unit regularly transmitting the convoy travel information of the subject vehicle generated by the control unit and receiving convoy travel information from the other vehicles, wherein the control unit determines whether each of the subject vehicle and the other vehicles is a follower vehicle of a convoy or a leader vehicle of the convoy, the control unit generates the convoy travel information to further include (i) leader information that allows the follower vehicle to determine the leader vehicle of the convoy and (ii) capacity information providing a current allowable number of vehicles of the convoy, when the control unit determines the leader vehicle of the convoy, the control unit performs the convoy travel control of the follower vehicle per the convoy travel information received from the leader vehicle of the convoy which includes the follower vehicle, the control unit determines whether the follower vehicle of the convoy is a wave blocker blocking a signal transmitted by the leader vehicle such that the convoy travel information from the leader vehicle is not reachable to a position of a rearmost vehicle in the convoy, when the convoy travel information from the leader vehicle includes the current allowable number of vehicles indicating that a convoy capacity has space for a new vehicle in the convoy, and when the follower vehicle is determined to be the wave blocker, the control unit designates the follower vehicle as a representative leader of the convoy and generates the convoy travel information to further include the leader information and the capacity information of the current allowable number of vehicles of the convoy.