Active stabilisation of a car-trailer system by means of torque vectoring

Abstract

The addition of a trailer to a vehicle introduces significant changes to its dynamic behaviour. The lateral response of the system is of significant interest as unfavourable conditions may lead to instability in the system. The instability introduced may cause the vehicle to stray from the intended path, and in extreme situations may even cause the vehicle to topple over. This instability may be introduced by the driver or may even be triggered by external factors such as lateral forces arising because of wind. Active stabilisation systems are normally based on brakes. Electric vehicles with independent motors provide instead the opportunity to stabilise the system through torque vectoring. This paper proposes a feedback-loop control system as an active driver assistance system that enables stabilisation of the system by means of torque vectoring for an independent motor two-wheel drive electric vehicle.