Path following controller for autonomous vehicles

Abstract

In recent years vehicles with high level of automation are becoming more popular which is expected to continue in the future. Advanced driving assistance systems are increasingly taking control of the vehicle, starting with the support of the driving task. Automated or highly automated vehicles are expected to follow a planned road safely. In this paper, the authors aim to improve the accuracy of path following by developing a new control strategy. The controller includes both pure pursuit and Stanley methods, the operation of the controller is based on the geometry of the vehicle and the path; the key is the proper weighting between two controllers. The performance of the combined path following controller was measured on a demonstration vehicle.