Predictive Active Steering Control for Autonomous Vehicle Systems

In this paper, a model predictive control (MPC) approach for controlling an active front steering system in an autonomous vehicle is presented. At each time step, a trajectory is assumed to be known over a finite horizon, and an MPC controller computes the front steering angle in order to follow the trajectory on slippery roads at the highest possible entry speed. We present two approaches with different computational complexities. In the first approach, we formulate the MPC problem by using a nonlinear vehicle model. The second approach is based on successive online linearization of the vehicle model. Discussions on computational complexity and performance of the two schemes are presented. The effectiveness of the proposed MPC formulation is demonstrated by simulation and experimental tests up to 21 m/s on icy roads