Robust H∞ path tracking control of autonomous vehicles with delay and actuator saturation

Abstract

The path tracking control problem is investigated in this paper for autonomous vehicles (AVs) with time-varying input delay and actuator saturation. Based on the Lyapunov–Krasovskii function and the characteristic of the saturation nonlinearity, a robust state-feedback path tracking controller is presented, and the corresponding control gain can be obtained by solving the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The asymptotic stability and prescribed performance conditions are studied for the closed-loop control system. To reduce the cost of control system, a static robust output-feedback controller is also proposed. In addition, the uncertainty effects of the cornering stiffness and external disturbances are included to improve the robustness of the control scheme. Simulation results are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results.