Path-following control of 4WIS/4WID autonomous vehicles considering vehicle stability based on phase plane

In order to ensure the following accuracy and improve the operational stability of four-wheel independent driving and four-wheel independent steering autonomous vehicles, this paper proposes a path-following control strategy based on the β−[Formula: see text] phase plane. First, based on the kinematic relationship between the vehicle and the reference path, the linear matrix inequality theory is used to design the H∞ controller to obtain the wheel steering angle. Then, the vehicle steering system is subjected to nonlinear analysis according to phase plane theory, and a partition region controller is designed. In the unstable region, the instability degree of the vehicle is predicted by quadratic polynomial extrapolation and the particle swarm optimization PID controller is designed to determine the required yaw moment to restore the vehicle to the stable region. In the stable region, a fuzzy sliding mode controller is adopted to determine the required yaw moment so that the actual state variable of the vehicle follows the ideal state variable. Finally, the optimal tire force distributor is designed such that the required forces are allocated to all four wheels. The simulation results show that the proposed method can obtain excellent path-following performance and stability performance under different driving conditions.