Multivariable bilinear vehicle control using steering and individual wheel torques

The focus of this paper is the stabilization of vehicle motion to a prescribed path while integrating an increased subset of vehicle inputs than was previously attempted. The integration of the steering inputs and the wheel torque inputs is achieved within the context of bilinear feedback control. The bilinear terms in the model formulation are used to describe the effect of wheel steer angles on the effective moment arm associated with brake or drive torques applied at the relevant wheels. The wheel torques may assume both positive or negative values. A nonlinear state feedback controller which attempts to minimize a quadratic performance index is developed and simulations are used to evaluate the performance of the vehicle in an AHS lane tracking scenario. The simulations are performed on a previously developed nonlinear vehicle model.