Automatic path-tracking controller of a four-wheel steering vehicle

The present paper proposes an automatic path-tracking controller of a four-wheel steering (4WS) vehicle based on the sliding mode control theory. The controller has an advantage in that the front- and rear-wheel steering can be decoupled at the front and rear control points, which are defined as centres of percussion with respect to the rear and front wheels, respectively. Numerical simulations using a 27-degree-of-freedom vehicle model demonstrated the following characteristics: (1) the automatic 4WS controller has a more stable and more precise path-tracking capability than the 2WS controller, and (2) the automatic 4WS controller has robust stability against system uncertainties such as cornering power perturbation, path radius fluctuation, and cross-wind disturbance.

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