On integrated lateral and longitudinal control of brain-controlled vehicles

A brain-controlled vehicle (BCV) is a vehicle that uses the Brain–Computer interface (BCI) to analyze the driver’s electroencephalogram (EEG) to obtain human control commands, which can help disabled people extend movement range and improve their self-independence. At this stage, research on the control of BCVs usually focuses only on the lateral control or longitudinal control, and few studies have focused on the problem of integrated lateral and longitudinal control. Given this situation, this paper investigates the integrated control of brain-controlled vehicles (BCV) in both lateral and longitudinal directions, and proposes a control method that utilizes speed as the coupling point. Firstly, the vehicle’s speed is determined by the provided road information. To control the vehicle’s longitudinal speed, a hierarchical control method based on model predictive control (MPC) is implemented. This method introduces a threshold σ to speed up the calculation process and reduce resource consumption. Then, a global controller is developed to conduct the motion control. This controller utilizes three local ANFIS intelligent controllers, employing soft-switching combinations, to generate the steering wheel angle signal. The generated steering wheel angle signal is combined with the cornering command issued by the driver. This fusion process produces the final command, which is responsible for the vehicle’s motion control. Finally, a simulation model is developed to test the integrated control of the BCV in terms of both lateral and longitudinal movements. Multiple experiments are conducted under varying conditions, and the results prove that the proposed method is able to complete the integrated control of the BCV well, which fully illustrates its effectiveness.