Lateral handling improvement with dynamic curvature control for an independent rear wheel drive EV

The integrated longitudinal and lateral dynamic motion control is important for four wheel independent drive (4WID) electric vehicles. Under critical driving conditions, direct yaw moment control (DYC) has been proved as effective for vehicle handling stability and maneuverability by implementing optimized torque distribution of each wheel, especially with independent wheel drive electric vehicles. The intended vehicle path upon driver steering input is heavily depending on the instantaneous vehicle speed, body side slip and yaw rate of a vehicle, which can directly affect the steering effort of driver. In this paper, we propose a dynamic curvature controller (DCC) by applying a the dynamic curvature of the path, derived from vehicle dynamic state variables; yaw rate, side slip angle, and speed of a vehicle. The proposed controller, combined with DYC and wheel longitudinal slip control, is to utilize the dynamic curvature as a target control parameter for a feedback, avoiding estimating the vehicle side-slip angle. The effectiveness of the proposed controller, in view of stability and improved handling, has been validated with numerical simulations and a series of experiments during cornering engaging a disturbance torque driven by two rear independent in-wheel motors of a 4WD micro electric vehicle.     

融合预瞄与势场栅格法的紧急避撞驾驶人模型

紧急避障工况下的驾驶人操作具有响应快且动作幅值较大的特点，传统预瞄驾驶人模型已不能适应紧急避障工况的需求，故考虑实际避撞场景开发相应的驾驶人模型就显得尤为必要。针对此种状况，基于驾驶模拟器，结合紧急避撞工况实际驾驶人操纵数据，提出了一种融合预瞄与势场栅格法的紧急避撞驾驶人模型。首先针对紧急避撞工况下车辆运动特点，建立车辆横、纵向耦合非线性动力学模型，并给出其状态空间方程描述；其次，离线仿真分析紧急避撞系统特征，并结合线性二次型最优控制，建立最优曲率预瞄+跟踪误差反馈驾驶人模型；再者，基于紧急避撞工况下真实驾驶人经验转向行为数据，开发基于势场栅格法的驾驶人模型，为进一步提高驾驶人模型对避障行驶工况的适应性，将基于势场栅格法的驾驶人模型与最优曲率预瞄+跟踪误差反馈驾驶人模型进行融合，并基于Sigmoid函数实现两者输出的权重分配；最后，针对所提出的融合预瞄与势场栅格法的驾驶人模型，开展基于避撞台架的驾驶人在环仿真试验以及实车试验。研究结果表明：在紧急避撞工况下，对比最优曲率预瞄+跟踪误差反馈驾驶人模型，融合预瞄与势场栅格法的驾驶人模型输出的转向动作与实际驾驶人行为较为接近，可在保证避障安全性的前提下，兼顾避障路径跟踪精度与车辆行驶的稳定性。     

Nonlinear adaptive sliding mode control for vehicle handling improvement via steer-by-wire

This paper proposes a nonlinear adaptive sliding mode control that aims to improve vehicle handling through a Steer-By-Wire system. The designed sliding mode control, which is insensitive to system uncertainties, offers an adaptive sliding gain to eliminate the precise determination of the bound of uncertainties. The sliding gain value is calculated using a simple adaptation algorithm that does not require extensive computational load. Achieving the improved handling characteristics requires both accurate state estimation and well-controlled steering inputs from the Steer-By-Wire system. A second order sliding mode observer provides accurate estimation of lateral and longitudinal velocities while the driver steering angle and yaw rate are available from the automotive sensors. A complete stability analysis based on Lyapunov theory has been presented to guarantee closed loop stability. The simulation results confirmed that the proposed adaptive robust controller not only improves vehicle handling performance but also reduces the chattering problem in the presence of uncertainties in tire cornering stiffness.     

A Fuzzy Logic Direct Yaw-Moment Control System for All-Wheel-Drive Electric Vehicles

Summary In-wheel-motors are revolutionary new electric drive systems that can be housed in vehicle wheel assemblies. Such E-wheels permit packaging flexibility by eliminating the central drive motor and the associated transmission and driveline components, including the transmission, the differential, the universal joints and the drive shaft. Apart from many advantages of such a system, unequalled independent wheel control allows vehicle dynamic improvement to assist the driver in enhancing cornering and straight-line stability on slippery roads and in adverse ground conditions. In this paper a Fuzzy logic driver-assist stability system for all-wheel-drive electric vehicles based on a yaw reference DYC is introduced. The system assists the driver with path correction, thus enhancing cornering and straight-line stability and providing enhanced safety. A feed-forward neural network is employed to generate the required yaw rate reference. The neural net maps the vehicle speed and the steering angle to give the yaw rate reference. The vehicle true speed is estimated using a multi-sensor data fusion method. Data from wheel sensors and an embedded accelerometer are fed into an estimator, where a Fuzzy logic system decides which input is more reliable. The efficiency of the proposed system is approved by conducting a computer simulation. The proposed control system is an effective and easy to implement method to enhance the stability of all-wheel-drive electric vehicles.     

A Fuzzy Logic Direct Yaw-Moment Control System for All-Wheel-Drive Electric Vehicles

Summary In-wheel-motors are revolutionary new electric drive systems that can be housed in vehicle wheel assemblies. Such E-wheels permit packaging flexibility by eliminating the central drive motor and the associated transmission and driveline components, including the transmission, the differential, the universal joints and the drive shaft. Apart from many advantages of such a system, unequalled independent wheel control allows vehicle dynamic improvement to assist the driver in enhancing cornering and straight-line stability on slippery roads and in adverse ground conditions. In this paper a Fuzzy logic driver-assist stability system for all-wheel-drive electric vehicles based on a yaw reference DYC is introduced. The system assists the driver with path correction, thus enhancing cornering and straight-line stability and providing enhanced safety. A feed-forward neural network is employed to generate the required yaw rate reference. The neural net maps the vehicle speed and the steering angle to give the yaw rate reference. The vehicle true speed is estimated using a multi-sensor data fusion method. Data from wheel sensors and an embedded accelerometer are fed into an estimator, where a Fuzzy logic system decides which input is more reliable. The efficiency of the proposed system is approved by conducting a computer simulation. The proposed control system is an effective and easy to implement method to enhance the stability of all-wheel-drive electric vehicles.     

Comprehensive lateral driver model for critical maneuvering conditions

A new comprehensive driver model is presented for critical maneuvering conditions with more accurate dynamic control performance. In order to achieve a safe maneuvering mode, a new path planning scheme to maintain stability of the vehicle was designed. A new steering strategy, considering the errors of vehicle position and yaw angle between the real track and the planned path, was established to obtain the steering angle. Therefore, the vehicle can be adjusted to accurately follow the desired path with the driver model, and the stability of the vehicle and the smoothness of the steering angle input were comprehensively considered. Simulation results were used to validate the control performance in comparison with the optimal preview driver model proposed by Macadam.     

基于拓扑地图的自主泊车路径协调与优化策略

为了使全局路径与泊车路径无偏差对接,得到曲率连续的可行驶路径,为泊车模式切换提供精准位姿,提出基于拓扑地图的自主泊车路径协调与优化策略.首先,定义一种精简的停车场拓扑地图描述形式与道路拓扑设计原则,通过采集停车场内关键特征的定位数据建立停车场拓扑地图.其次,基于道路拓扑设计原则与泊车规划原则,设计"第1次平滑处理-路径...     

A curving ACC system with coordination control of longitudinal car-following and lateral stability

The paper presents a curving adaptive cruise control (ACC) system that is coordinated with a direct yaw-moment control (DYC) system and gives consideration to both longitudinal car-following capability and lateral stability on curved roads. A model including vehicle longitudinal and lateral dynamics is built first, which is as discrete as the predictive model of the system controller. Then, a cost function is determined to reflect the contradictions between vehicle longitudinal and lateral dynamics. Meanwhile, some I/O constraints are formulated with a driver permissible longitudinal car-following range and the road adhesion condition. After that, desired longitudinal acceleration and desired yaw moment are obtained by a linear matrix inequality based robust constrained state feedback method. Finally, driver-in-the-loop tests on a driving simulator are conducted and the results show that the developed control system provides significant benefits in weakening the impact of DYC on ACC longitudinal car-following capability while also improving lateral stability.     

智能汽车路径跟踪精度及操纵稳定性耦合机理分析

针对现有智能汽车路径跟踪算法研究中存在的智能汽车路径跟踪精度与操纵稳定性相互耦合和相互制约问题,在车辆二自由度模型基础上,设计了基于传统预瞄误差模型的PID控制方法,研究了智能汽车在蛇形道路工况、定曲率变车速工况和定车速变曲率工况下,车速及道路曲率对智能汽车路径跟踪精度和操纵稳定性的影响。仿真结果表明,随着车速和道路曲率的增加,智能汽车路径跟踪精度以及操纵稳定性降低;智能汽车的路径跟踪精度提高,操纵稳定性变差。     

Development of a path planning system using mean shift algorithm for driver assistance

The longitudinal and lateral vehicle control techniques have been widely used in several active driver assistance systems. The adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistant control, vehicle platooning and stop-and-go control are typical examples of the most important applications. In this study, a novel path planning method is proposed considering the driving environment such as road shape, ego vehicle and surrounding vehicles’ movement. The relative distance and velocity between the ego vehicle and surrounding vehicles are identified with respect to the predicted lane shape in front of the ego vehicle. Based on the identified information, the road shape and surrounding vehicles are mapped into the intensity image and the desired vector for the ego vehicle’s movement is determined by the maximum intensity density tracing method. The desired vehicle path is followed by the acceleration/deceleration control and the steering assist control, respectively. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed system, simulations are conducted and compared with ACC systems.     

Lane-keeping benefits of practical rear axle steer

The classic two-degree-of-freedom yaw-plane or ‘bicycle’ vehicle model is augmented with two additional states to describe lane-keeping behaviour and further augmented with an additional control input to steer the rear axle. A simple driver model is hypothesised where the driver closes a loop on a projected lateral lane position. The driver can select the preview distance to compensate driver/vehicle dynamics, consistent with the ‘cross-over’ model found in the literature. A rear axle steer control law is found to be a function of the front axle steering input and vehicle speed that exhibits stability similar to a positive-real system, while at the same time improving the ability of the driver/vehicle system to track a complex curved lane and improving steady-state manoeuvrability. The theoretically derived control law bears similarity to practical embodiments allowing a deeper understanding of the functional value of steering a rear axle.     

Advanced Steering System Adaptable to Lateral Control Task and Driver's Intention

This paper proposes an advanced steering system that adaptively varies the static gain and dynamics of the steering system. The steering system gain is adjusted, depending on whether the driver is in an aggressive or leisurely driving mood. The steering system dynamics is so designed that the command mode of the steering system will be either a rate-command or an attitude-command according to the lateral control task performed by the driver. The recognition system for lateral control tasks, a lane-following or lane-change task is proposed. The findings of simulator tests indicate proposed advanced steering system would remarkably improve the vehicle handling qualities.     

Minimizing the Path Radius of Curvature for Collision Avoidance

When a driver is suddenly presented with an obstacle in his path, or realizes that his speed is too great for the curved road ahead, commonly he saturates both inputs of steering and braking and thereby jeopardizes his chances of successfully avoiding a collision or negotiating the turn. Although anti-lock braking systems (ABS) avoid saturation of the braking and steerability usually remains, there is evidence to suggest that the vehicle performance with this system could be greatly improved. Could the steering, in addition to the braking, be automatically controlled to improve the performance? Because these threatening situations are so variable, it is very difficult to find a controller which can override both driver inputs and is always beneficial. Using a very simple model of the vehicle, the concept of minimizing the average radius of curvature of the path through controlling both driver inputs is shown to always be beneficial, and worthwhile. The results also carry over to a more realistic model.     

基于稳定性和宏观交通流模型的车辆路径规划

为了提升车辆的安全性和能量利用率,从路径规划的层面出发,针对避免车辆遇到极端工况及低效率工况的问题,提出将车辆稳定性判据模型和交通流模型相结合的方法来规划车辆路径,使得车辆在路面湿滑情况下实现快速、安全的行驶。使用交通流模型预测车辆未来将要面临的交通环境变化,再使用稳定性判据模型评估未来交通的安全性,以便为混合动力车辆规划出最快且最安全的路径。具体来讲,为了预测混合动力车辆未来将要面临的车速及车流密度的变化,使用通量矢量分裂格式求解广义Aw-Rascle-Zhang（GARZ）宏观交通流模型。此外,使用驾驶人在环仿真平台PreScan,收集了同一驾驶人在不同车速及不同相对前车距离时给出的前轮转向角响应。基于前轮驱动（FWD）前轮转向（FWS）车辆和全轮转向（AWS）分布式驱动车辆（DDV）的Simulink模型,给出了不同前轮转向角对应的轮胎力饱和因子（δ_TFSC）响应。使用人工神经网络训练不同车速和车流密度对应的δ_TFSC,建立了车辆的稳定性判据模型。使用新建立的稳定性判据模型对交通流模型预测的参数（车流速及车流密度）进行稳定性评估。然后,基于以上的方法优化了车辆行驶路径,以确保车辆在湿滑路面上的行驶安全。最后,使用US-101真实交通流数据来验证交通流模型的预测结果。经实例验证得出：交通流模型与车辆横向稳定性判据模型相结合可以从路径规划的层面保证车辆安全行驶并提升交通系统的通行效率。     

Advanced Steering System Adaptable to Lateral Control Task and Driver's Intention

This paper proposes an advanced steering system that adaptively varies the static gain and dynamics of the steering system. The steering system gain is adjusted, depending on whether the driver is in an aggressive or leisurely driving mood. The steering system dynamics is so designed that the command mode of the steering system will be either a rate-command or an attitude-command according to the lateral control task performed by the driver. The recognition system for lateral control tasks, a lane-following or lane-change task is proposed. The findings of simulator tests indicate proposed advanced steering system would remarkably improve the vehicle handling qualities.     

Vehicle dynamics and road curvature estimation for lane departure warning system using robust fuzzy observers: experimental validation

This paper describes a new approach to estimate vehicle dynamics and the road curvature in order to detect vehicle lane departures. This method has been evaluated through an experimental set-up using a real test vehicle equipped with the RT2500 inertial measurement unit. Based on a robust unknown input fuzzy observer, the road curvature is estimated and compared to the vehicle trajectory curvature. The difference between the two curvatures is used by the proposed lane departure detection algorithm as the first driving risk indicator. To reduce false alarms and take into account driver corrections, a second driving risk indicator based on the steering dynamics is considered. The vehicle nonlinear model is deduced from the vehicle lateral dynamics and road geometry and then represented by an uncertain Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy model. Taking into account the unmeasured variables, an unknown input fuzzy observer is proposed. Synthesis conditions of the proposed fuzzy observer are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities using the Lyapunov method.     

Experimental evaluation of a vehicle steering assist controller using a driving simulator

Human-in-the-loop driving simulator experiments are conducted to evaluate a proposed robust steering assist controller that is designed on the basis of driver uncertainty modelling. A nominal controller (NC) that is designed without consideration of driver model uncertainty is also tested for comparison. Two types of experiments are proposed: a long driving task with nominal configurations and a short driving task with initially large lateral position error. The data are analysed using both time domain and frequency domain metrics. In the time domain, the standard deviation of lateral position error and percentage of road departure are used. In the frequency domain, the stability margins and crossover frequency are used. The driving simulator results indicate that statistically, the designed robust controller shows improvements in the short driving experiments. The improvements in the long driving experiments are less evident because of driver adaptation. The non-robust NC suffers from high gain and should be avoided. The benefits of considering driver model uncertainty in the design of vehicle steering assist controllers are, therefore, justified.     

基于线性路径跟踪控制的换道避撞控制策略研究

为实现车辆自主避撞,改善道路交通安全状况,提出一种基于线性路径跟踪控制的换道避撞控制策略。为实时确定制动和换道时机,获取跟车状态下自车和前车车速、加速度、相对距离以及驾驶人制动反应时间计算制动安全距离和换道安全距离,并在此基础上分别引入制动危险系数B和换道危险系数S评估制动与换道风险,使得车辆发生追尾碰撞的危险程度和主动干预阈值更直观。根据车辆期望横向加速度和期望横向位移的变化特性,采用5次多项式法规划符合驾驶人换道避撞特性的避撞路径。为保证换道避撞过程中驾驶人的安全舒适,采用最大横向加速度约束换道避撞轨迹。为实现对换道避撞路径的线性跟踪控制,保证车辆的操纵稳定性和横摆稳定性,基于车辆稳态动力学模型建立前馈控制,结合线性反馈控制消除换道路径的位置和横摆角偏差,修正参考路径实现直车道场景追尾避撞控制。仿真和实车交叉验证试验表明：根据车辆期望横向加速度和期望横向位移建立的符合驾驶人换道避撞特性的五次多项式换道路径与驾驶人实际换道避撞路径基本吻合,结合碰撞时间和车间时距的制动避撞控制策略能够在保证车辆行驶安全舒适性的同时有效避免车辆追尾碰撞,减少交通事故的发生。     

A new shared control for lane keeping and road departure prevention

In recent years, the driver's active assistances have become important features in commercialised vehicles. In this paper, we present one of these features which consists of an advanced driver assistance system for lane keeping. A thorough analysis of its performance and stability with respect to variations in driver behaviour will be given. Firstly, the lateral control model based on visual preview is established and the kinematics model based on visual preview, including speed and other factors, is used to calculate the lateral error and direction error. Secondly, and according to the characteristics of the lateral control, an efficient strategy of intelligent electric vehicle lateral mode is proposed. The integration of the vehicle current lateral error and direction error is chosen as the parameter of the sliding mode switching function to design the sliding surface. The control variables are adjusted according to the fuzzy control rules to ensure that they meet the existence and reaching condition. A new fuzzy logic-based switching strategy with an efficient control law is also proposed to ensure a level of continuous and variable sharing according to the state of the driver and the vehicle positioning on the roadway. The proposed control law acts either at the centre of the lane, as a lane keeping assistance system to reduce the driver's workload for long trips, or as a lane departure avoidance system that intervenes for unintended lane departures. Simulation results are included in this paper to explain this concept.     

Road curvature estimation for vehicle lane departure detection using a robust Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy observer

In this paper, a lane departure detection method is studied and evaluated via a professional vehicle dynamics software. Based on a robust fuzzy observer designed with unmeasurable premise variables with unknown inputs, the road curvature is estimated and compared with the vehicle trajectory curvature. The difference between the two curvatures is used by the proposed algorithm as the first driving risk indicator. To reduce false alarms and take into account the driver corrections, a second driving risk indicator is considered, which is based on the steering dynamics, and it gives the time to the lane keeping. The used nonlinear model deduced from the vehicle lateral dynamics and a vision system is represented by an uncertain Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy model. Taking into account the unmeasured variables, an unknown input fuzzy observer is then proposed. Synthesis conditions of the proposed fuzzy observer are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities using Lyapunov method. The proposed approach is evaluated under different driving scenarios using a software simulator. Simulation results show good efficiency of the proposed method.