Research on trajectory tracking is crucial for the development of autonomous vehicles. This paper presents a trajectory tracking scheme by utilizing model predictive control (MPC) and preview-follower theory (PFT), which includes a reference generation module and a MPC controller. The reference generation module could calculate reference lateral acceleration at the preview point by PFT to update state variables, and generate a reference yaw rate in each prediction point. Since the preview range is increased, PFT makes the calculation of yaw rate more accurate. Through physical constraints, the MPC controller can achieve the best tracking of the reference path. The MPC problem is formulated as a linear time-varying (LTV) MPC controller to achieve a predictive model from nonlinear vehicle dynamics to continuous online linearization. The MPC-PFT controller method performs well by increasing the effective length of the reference path. Compared with MPC and PFT controllers, the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method are proved by simulations of two typical working conditions.

Lane detection plays an important role in improving autopilot’s safety. In this paper, a novel lane-division-lines detection method is proposed, which exhibits good performances in abnormal illumination and lane occlusion. It includes three major components: First, the captured image is converted to aerial view to make full use of parallel lanes’ characteristics. Second, a ridge detector is proposed to extract each lane’s feature points and remove noise points with an adaptable neural network (ANN). Last, the lane-division-lines are accurately fitted by an improved random sample consensus (RANSAC), termed the (regional) gaussian distribution random sample consensus (G-RANSAC). To test the performances of this novel lane detection method, we proposed a new index named the lane departure index (LDI) describing the departure degree between true lane and predicted lane. Experimental results verified the superior performances of the proposed method over others in different testing scenarios, respectively achieving 99.02%, 96.92%, 96.65% and 91.61% true-positive rates (TPR); and 66.16, 54.85, 55.98 and 52.61 LDIs in four different types of testing scenarios.

In this paper, an optimal torque distribution strategy (OTDS) for four-motorized-wheel electric vehicle (4MWEV) is proposed aiming at improving the tractive efficiency and braking energy recovery performance. Based on the motor efficiency map, the objective functions of tractive efficiency and braking energy recycling are established first. Under driving conditions, genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to obtain the optimal torque distribution ratio of front and rear axles considering the constraints of motor characteristics and desired torque. During braking conditions, an exhaustive search method (ESM) is proposed to improve the energy recovery performance considering the constraints of motor characteristics, battery, braking theory and ECE Regulations. For the realization of efficient and accurate computation, a control scheme of off-line optimization and on-line allocation based on the optimal torque distribution ratio map is presented, which stores the optimal ratios in all available motor operating regions into two-dimensional lookup tables. Finally, co-simulation experiments based on MATLAB/Simulink and Carsim are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed OTDS under NEDC and UDDS driving cycles. Comparing to the typical torque distribution strategy (TTDS), the simulation results demonstrate that the proposed OTDS can enhance the energy-saving performance by 7.01% under NEDC and 6.69% under UDDS.

This paper discusses an automatic parking control method based on the combination of the sliding mode variable structure control (SMVSC) and fuzzy logical control. SMVSC is applied to drive the vehicle from a random initial position and pose, to the designated parking position and pose. Then, the vehicle is driven from the designated parking position to the target parking slot using the method of fuzzy logical control, whose rules are limited to the range of the effective initial position. To combine SMVSC with the fuzzy logical control, the experimental results demonstrate that effective parking can be guaranteed, even if the initial position is out of the effective parking area of the fuzzy logical control.

Establishing a symmetrical model of surrounding vehicles and accurately obtaining the driving state of the surrounding vehicles in the driving environment can improve the safety of driving, which is an important issue that needs to be considered in the automatic driving system or auxiliary driving system. Therefore, we propose an adaptive unscented Kalman filter algorithm based on Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) theory to estimate the state of target vehicle in the high-speed driving environment. To be specific, we use the Constant Turn Rate and Acceleration (CTRA) theory to establish the target vehicle kinematics model, simultaneously, in order to overcome the problem of estimator failure when the yaw rate is close to zero, a simplified version of the CTRA model is also introduced into the estimation process. In addition, the parameter adaptation strategy is added, so the proposed estimator can overcome the uncertainty of the noise model and improve its accuracy. Finally, the effectiveness of proposed state estimation algorithm is verified on the Carsim and Simulink co-simulation platform. The results of simulations and experiments show that the accuracy and stability of IMM-based algorithm is better than the single-model algorithm in different scenarios, and the parameter adaptation strategy brings performance improvement.