Autonomous vehicles’ dynamics stability control is one key issue to ensure safety of self-driving. However, vehicle uncertainties and time-varying parameters could weaken the performance of autonomous vehicle stability control. Therefore, this article proposes a novel robust linear matrix inequality (LMI)-based $H$ -infinite feedback algorithm for vehicle dynamics stability control, and this algorithm controls vehicle steering system and brake system via direct yaw moment control (DYC) and active front steering control (AFS). The presented controller is robust against vehicle parametric uncertainties, including the vehicle mass and vehicle longitudinal velocity. A linear parameter varying lateral model is constructed utilizing polytopic uncertainty method considering time-varying vehicle longitudinal velocity and mass, where a polytope that contains finite vertices is established to contain all of the possible selections for uncertainty parameters. Then, the $H$ -infinite feedback controller integrating DYC and AFS is derived via LMI technique. Finally, experimental results based on hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) platform illustrate that the presented controller has better performance of ensuring autonomous vehicle dynamics stability than other controllers.

Vehicle-following operation is a typical scenario in the future intelligent transportation environment. Keeping a safe distance is the most important goal in the vehicle-following scenario. For a plug-in hybrid electric bus (PHEB) running in a specific urban route, the challenge will become how to realize the optimal power split in hybrid powertrain under the premise of maintaining driving safety. Considering the above issues, this paper proposes a stochastic model predictive control (SMPC) strategy for PHEBs during vehicle-following scenario. Firstly, Markov chain-based stochastic driving model is built using real-world bus driving condition data, which is applied to predict future demand torque over a finite receding horizon. And then, a sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm is adopted to solve the rolling optimization problem. Meanwhile, brake specific fuel consumption and electric motor efficiency are fitted offline to match the SMPC strategy. Furthermore, a piecewise function is given to adjust the adaptive factor that balancing fuel economy and vehicle-following in the pre-set cost function. Finally, to verify the control performance of the proposed strategy, a nonlinear model predictive control strategy with dynamic programming optimization (DP-MPC) and a rule-based (RB) strategy are employed for comparison study. Results indicate that the proposed strategy is effectiveness to the given driving condition with excellent fuel economy and vehicle-following performance. Under the driving condition of Chongqing 303 bus line in China and China typical, the fuel consumption is reduced by 20.58% and 37.89% compared with RB strategy, respectively. It is closer to the fuel consumption reduction of 16.77% and 13.11 optimized by DP-MPC. Driving safety during vehicle-following also be demonstrated in the driving condition of Chongqing 303 bus line and China typical.

To incorporate the inherent superiorities of an experienced, proficient driver, a human-like control scheme for automated steering systems is proposed in this paper based on the concept of “staying within the safety zone”. Designed in the precognitive architecture, the novel control scheme takes into account key characteristics of human steering behaviors in high-speed conditions by determining the steering activation and the steering intensity based on the inversed-time-to-lane-crossing (iTLC), generating smooth, moderate steering actions to maintain the vehicle within a predefined safety zone. The proposed control scheme provides a universal solution for steering control in multiple driving scenarios by accordingly allocating the safety zone to ensure the driving safety therein. A simulator experiment was conducted to test both the fully autonomous and the driver-in-the-loop performance of the proposed control scheme in lane keeping and lane changing. A traditional error-minimizing control algorithm was implemented as a comparison. Results indicate that the novel scheme outperforms the conventional control schemes by yielding higher steering performance, lower steering effort, and higher robustness, proving the benefits of imitating the patterns of human control behaviors in the control algorithm of an automated steering system.