Dynamic and real-time continuous look-ahead distance for autonomous vehicles: an explicit formulation

The advent of autonomous vehicles has brought about significant advancements in transportation technology, promising safer and more efficient means of travel. However, their full integration into society depends on the accuracy of path-tracking realised by a lateral controller. Lateral control is achieved by regulating the steering angle to minimise the lateral error between the vehicle and a target point at a look-ahead distance on the reference path. This paper investigates the look-ahead distance as it is considered a key parameter that impacts vehicle performance, stability, and energy consumption. A qualitative analysis is performed to deduct a set of rules to adapt the look-ahead distance to three parameters: vehicle velocity, road curvature, and road adherence. Then, an original explicit mathematical formulation is developed for the look-ahead distance as a function of the considered parameters. A fuzzy logic decision for the look-ahead distance is further established and compared with the formulated one. Both approaches are implemented on a look-ahead distance-based lateral controller based on the super-twisting sliding mode control. Simulation results carried out in a joint simulation between Simulink/MatLab and SCANeRTM Studio vehicle dynamics simulator demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed model on vehicle performance, stability, computational efficiency, and energy consumption.