Path-Tracking for Articulated Vehicles via Exact and Jacobian Linearization

Abstract

A novel approach to the design of path-tracking controllers for a tractortrailer with off-axle hitching is presented. The novelty is in the selection of a vehicle's guide-point dependent on whether path-tracking has to be implemented in the forward direction or in reverse, and in the adoption of input-output rather than input-state linearization. This approach offers the advantage of leading to controllers that are perfectly adequate for a practical implementation and that appear to be better perfonning than otherwise obtainable on the basis of the current state of the art.