Abstract: In order to reduce the occurrence of rear-end collisions and other traffic accidents, while enhancing the stability, economy, and ride comfort during vehicle following, an adaptive cruise control (ACC) strategy with a hierarchical control structure was proposed. The upper controller was used to calculate the expected acceleration output for the vehicle based on the model predictive control (MPC), adjusting between speed and spacing control according to the switching of driving conditions. The lower controller was used to optimize the switching strategy between driving and braking based on the established an inverse longitudinal dynamics model of a battery electric vehicle, along with drive motor and braking models, and the expected motor torque or brake pipeline pressure was obtained by calculating the from the desired acceleration output of the upper layer. The acceleration and speed of the vehicle was controlled to achieve the goal of speed or spacing control. Four typical driving conditions were set up in CarSim/Simulink for simulation tests to verify the performance of the proposed ACC strategy. The results show that under both constant-speed cruise and follow cruise conditions, the vehicle can quickly and stably follow the preset initial speed while maintaining a safe distance from the preceding vehicle. Under emergency braking conditions, the vehicle can quickly decelerate and maintain a safe distance from the preceding vehicle.Under complex working conditions, the vehicle travels along the expected path smoothly and tracks the preceding vehicle with good dynamic response.The proposed control strategy ensures accurate and safe tracking of the target vehicle across different driving conditions, balancing the requirements for economy and comfort.