Lateral Control of Automated Vehicles: On Degraded Mode Control Problems

Lane-keeping operation in automated vehicles used in the PATH* program, is performed with the help of two lateral error measuring sensors mounted on the front and rear bumpers of the vehicles. Prom a fault management perspective, it is natural to investigate the problem of lateral control with just one of these sensors. This paper documents the analysis, design and experimental testing of lateral controllers based on information from either one of these two sensors. In addition, this paper includes a discussion on the problem of lateral control with the help of information from just the rear sensor from a pedagogical perspective. This problem presents an application of control of a non-minimum phase system and leads to counterintuitive results.