Slope-climbing coordinated control strategy of trajectory tracking and stability regulation for tractor-trailer trucks

This paper proposes a coordinated control strategy according to the slope-climbing maneuver for autonomous tractor-trailer trucks, with considering tracking accuracy and underactuated trailer stability. First of all, a slope-deconstruction method is adopted to establish a coupled slope-climbing dynamics and trailer articulation model, to investigate motion characteristics and mechanical properties in the target operating condition. After that, a stability assessment is presented on the stable domain of articulation states to determine the underactuated stability. Furthermore, a hierarchical coordinated strategy can be consequently constructed to guarantee the vehicle stability during slope-climbing tracking. Specifically, feedforward model predictive control (MPC) is designed to compensate for system errors in coupled nonlinear dynamics for improved tracking performance. Besides, a robust H∞ is also introduced to govern articulation stability with coordinated braking regulation. At last, co-simulation analysis will be carried out to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the control strategy, where the practical application adjustment has been discussed to satisfy the driving operation as well.