A Synthetic Input Approach to Slip Angle Based Steering Control for Autonomous Vehicles

A new method is presented for low-level steering control of autonomous vehicles. By tracking tire slip angle instead of steering angle, the new controller makes possible a more direct use of force-based high-level control schemes since uncertain, noisy measurements of the vehicle states do not have to be used to convert a desired tire slip angle to a commanded steer angle. Experimental data from a full-size vehicle show that this approach offers some advantages when combined with a force-based path tracking controller. Improved steering control and path tracking performance are demonstrated, particularly at the limits of tire friction, and the reasons for these improvements are briefly discussed.

Learn more on publisher's website

Publication Location

Proceedings of the American Control Conference