Robust path following control for autonomous vehicle considering actuator fault

Abstract

The development of drive-by-wire chassis technology increases the flexibility of vehicle dynamic control. However, more actuators have higher potential failure risk and lead model mismatch, which brings a severe challenge for the control precision and system robustness. Regarding to the potential failure risk of the steering actuator, this research presents a feedback gain scheduling H∞ controller for autonomous vehicle path tracking. Firstly, the linear parameter-varying (LPV) model is established considering the speed variation and potential actuator fault. Then the state feedback control algorithm is proposed to maintain the tracking performance and system robustness. The control gain matrix is optimized via linear matrix inequation (LMI). Finally, the closed loop system is proved to be asymptotic stable by Lyapunov function and the simulation results demonstrate that the proposed controller has satisfactory tracking performance under unpredictable actuator fault degree, which provides good robustness and better reliability for autonomous vehicle in complex conditions.