On the handling of automated vehicles: Modeling, bifurcation analysis, and experiments

The dynamics of automated vehicles are studied and the existence and stability of steady state cornering maneuvers are investigated. Utilizing tools from analytical mechanics, namely the Appellian approach, vehicle models are constructed which incorporate geometrical nonlinearities and differentiate between front wheel drive (FWD) and rear wheel drive (RWD) automobiles. The dynamics of these models are studied using bifurcation analysis . Stable and unstable steady states are mapped out as a function of speed and steering angle . It is demonstrated that RWD and FWD vehicles exhibit different behavior, especially when they operate close to their handling limits. The theoretical results are verified experimentally using an automated vehicle performing safety critical maneuvers.