Citation

Voser C, Hindiyeh RY, Gerdes JC. Veh. Syst. Dyn. 2010; 48(Suppl 1): 317-336.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00423111003746140

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents simple analytical techniques that are used to understand and control high sideslip drift manoeuvres of road vehicles. These are manoeuvres in which a skilled driver stabilises a vehicle beyond its limits of handling, an operating regime responsible for major safety concerns in everyday driving. An analysis of the equilibria of a bicycle model with nonlinear tyres reveals the existence of unstable 'drift equilibria' corresponding to cornering at high sideslip angle in a countersteer configuration. Equipped with this information, linearisation about a desired drift equilibrium is used to design a controller that stabilises the vehicle at the equilibrium. The controller is subsequently implemented on a steer- and drive-by-wire testbed and successfully used to achieve autonomous drifts.