A Path Following Lateral Control Scheme for Four-Wheel Independent Drive Autonomous Vehicle Using Sliding Mode Prediction Control

Four-wheel independent drive autonomous vehicle (4WIDAV) is constantly influenced by uncertainties, including parameter fluctuation, modeling error, and external disturbance during the path following process. If those uncertainties are not handled properly, 4WIDAV may deviate from the desired path or even become unstable. Motivated by this issue, a path following lateral control scheme based on modified sliding mode prediction control (SMPC) is proposed for 4WIDAV. First, an SMPC framework is built, which introduces the prediction process into the approaching process of sliding mode dynamic trajectory to alleviate the chattering phenomenon. Second, a lumped uncertainty term containing the modeling error, parameter fluctuation, and external disturbance is introduced in the prediction process of the SMPC framework. The accurate estimation of lumped uncertainty aforementioned is realized through an extended state observer (ESO). Third, the torque distribution method based on tire force observation is designed to ensure the driving stability of the 4WIDAV. Finally, typical driving maneuvers are performed in simulations and experiments to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Compared with the existing methods, the proposed control scheme can improve the tracking performance up to 69.4% and 52.8% in simulation and experiment, respectively. Therefore, the proposed scheme can be used as a theoretical reference for path following lateral control of autonomous vehicle.