Combined longitudinal and lateral control for automated vehicle guidance

This paper deals with the longitudinal and lateral control of an automotive vehicle within the framework of fully automated guidance. The automotive vehicle is a complex system characterised by highly nonlinear longitudinal and lateral coupled dynamics. Consequently, automated guidance must be simultaneously performed with longitudinal and lateral control. This work presents an automated steering strategy based on nonlinear model predictive control. A nonlinear longitudinal control strategy considering powertrain dynamics is also proposed to cope with the longitudinal speed tracking problem. Finally, a simultaneous longitudinal and lateral control strategy helps to improve the combined control performance. This whole control strategy is tested through simulations showing the effectiveness of the present approach.