Vehicle Yaw Stability Control at the Handling Limits Based on Model Predictive Control

This study proposes a double linear model predictive control (DLMPC) structure to improve the tyre force utilization of active front steering (AFS) vehicle at the handing limits. The DLMPC structure consists of a linear model predictive control (LMPC) and a linear time-varying model predictive control (LTV-MPC). During normal driving conditions, the AFS adopts LMPC to control the vehicle. When vehicle running at the handing limits, the tyre force is near saturation, LTV-MPC is activated to prevent tyre force from entering unstable region. The proposed DLMPC controller can reflect the nonlinear dynamic characteristic of tyres by the expression design of tyre force. Double lane change and sine with dwell maneuver tests are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the DLMPC controller. Results corroborate that the proposed DLMPC controller can fully exploit the potential of AFS and maintain the yaw stability of the vehicle at the handling limits.