STUDIES IN VEHICLE AUTOMATIC LATERAL CONTROL--THEORY AND EXPERIMENT ( APPENDIX I TO PROJECT EES-276A)

Four essential facets of automatic lateral guidance of individual ground vehicles are discussed: First, the providing of lateral position information via electronic means to each controlled vehicle; second, the processing of the received information so as to achieve an accurate indication of vehicle state which is not contaminated by the environment (e.g., steel-reinforcing materials in the roadbed); third, the identification of vehicle lateral dynamics and the design of implementable vehicle controllers; and finally, full-scale testing of the designed configurations. Substantial progress was made on each facet as was demonstrated by the successful high-speed testing of various designed controllers on both straight and curving sections of asymmetrically reinforced sections of roadway. In essence, excellent tracking (maximum lateral deviations of plus or minus 6.35 cm), a smooth ride (lateral accelerations less than 0.05 g), and good response to disturbances were obtained at speeds up to 26.3 m/sec (80 mph). A detailed account of these efforts in contained herein. /Author/