A predictive path-following controller for multi-steered articulated vehicles

TL;DR

This paper introduces a model predictive path-following controller for multi-steered articulated vehicles, enabling automatic low-speed steering control to prevent jack-knife states during reverse maneuvers.

Contribution

It presents a novel control approach tailored for complex multi-trailer vehicles, incorporating physical constraints and path-following capabilities.

Findings

Controller successfully follows nominal paths in simulations

Effective in handling physical constraints and steering limitations

Prevents structural instability during reverse maneuvers

Abstract

Stabilizing multi-steered articulated vehicles in backward motion is a complex task for any human driver. Unless the vehicle is accurately steered, its structurally unstable joint-angle kinematics during reverse maneuvers can cause the vehicle segments to fold and enter a jack-knife state. In this work, a model predictive path-following controller is proposed enabling automatic low-speed steering control of multi-steered articulated vehicles, comprising a car-like tractor and an arbitrary number of trailers with passive or active steering. The proposed path-following controller is tailored to follow nominal paths that contains full state and control-input information, and is designed to satisfy various physical constraints on the vehicle states as well as saturations and rate limitations on the tractor's curvature and the trailer steering angles. The performance of the proposed model predictive path-following controller is evaluated in a set of simulations for a multi-steered 2-trailer with a car-like tractor where the last trailer has steerable wheels.