Longitudinal Transition Maneuvers in an Automated Highway System

Abstract

The control structure for automated vehicles in an Automated Highway System is based on the idea of multiple-surface sliding control. The “upper” surface determines a desired net torque while the “lower” surface determines the required throttle angle or brake pressure needed to achieve the desired torque. This paper presents an upper surface control law for performing longitudinal transition maneuvers. The maneuvers use desired velocity trajectories which are based on maintaining safety and comfort throughout the maneuver. The control law chosen is a sliding controller due to the nonlinearities in the dynamics and the uncertainties in the parameters. Adaptive techniques were also implemented to help improve the velocity tracking. The controller was implemented on experimental vehicles and tested at highway speeds.