Longitudinal and lateral control for autonomous ground vehicles

Robust and stable control is a requirement for navigation of self-driving cars. Some approaches in the literature depend on a high number of parameters that are often difficult to estimate. A poor selection of these parameters often reduces considerably the efficiency of the control algorithms. In this paper we propose a simplified control system for autonomous vehicles that depends on a reduced number of parameters that can be easily set. This control system is composed of longitudinal and lateral controllers. The longitudinal controller is responsible for regulating the vehicle's cruise velocity while the lateral controller steers the vehicle's wheels for path tracking. Simulated and experimental tests have been carried out with the CaRINA II platform in the university campus with positive results.