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The Steer-by-Wire (SbW) system is probably the most significant innovation among drive-by-Wire technologies in the automotive industry. Without the mechanical link, the most challenging issue is to control the wheels to closely follow the driver’s command. To improve the robustness of the model predictive control (MPC) in the presence of modeling uncertainties and disturbances in the steering control processes, a sliding mode predictive tracking control (SMPC) strategy for a SbW system with uncertain dynamics is proposed. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed SMPC tracking controller is superior to both SMC and MPC methods for the steering angle tracking task.

Automated lane changing is a vital component of the steering control system for automated vehicles. The most important requirements of such maneuvers are smoothness and robustness. Look-down sensing systems face the challenge of having to bridge the gap whenever reference lines of the respective lanes are not measurable. This paper discusses two methods that were successfully employed in the platoon scenario of the 1997 National Automated Highway Systems Consortium Feasibility Demonstration in San Diego, USA: infrastructure-guided lane changes using an additional cross-over marker reference, and free lane changes using a yaw rate sensor for dead reckoning. Both systems achieved good passenger comfort and exhibited high reliability. Similar techniques were applied to the entrance and exit ramps of the automated highways.

The optimisation of non-linear control systems by genetic algorithm is studied in this paper. It involves the performance of two systems for regulating the motion of a ship model. These systems allow Course Changing and Track Keeping through the implementation of a sliding mode controller. The genetic algorithm is used to optimise the performance of the complete system under various operating conditions by optimising the parameters of the sliding mode controller. The type of vessel considered is an oil tanker. ( 2000 Elsevier Science ‚td. All rights reserved.