A Survey of Lateral Stability Criterion and Control Application for Autonomous Vehicles

The increasing requirements for vehicle driving safety improvement have led to numerous and in-depth studies on vehicle stability, especially for autonomous vehicles. The main concerns of vehicle stability research in autonomous vehicles include the vehicle stability analyzing, criterion constructing and controller designing. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art vehicle stability criterion and control application for autonomous vehicles. First, the lateral vehicle linear stability criterion and widely-used active stability control applications are introduced. Next, the nonlinear vehicle stability analysis algorithm and criterion, based on the well-known phase plane method, are discussed in detail. The stability controller design, including the activation strategy and tracking objectives, is reviewed. In addition, emerging research challenges and trends for future improvement in lateral stabilization of autonomous vehicles are finally summarized.