Mass estimation method for intelligent vehicles based on fusion of machine learning and vehicle dynamic model

Abstract Vehicle mass is an important parameter for motion control of intelligent vehicles, but is hard to directly measure using normal sensors. Therefore, accurate estimation of vehicle mass becomes crucial. In this paper, a vehicle mass estimation method based on fusion of machine learning and vehicle dynamic model is introduced. In machine learning method, a feedforward neural network (FFNN) is used to learn the relationship between vehicle mass and other state parameters, namely longitudinal speed and acceleration, driving or braking torque, and wheel angular speed. In dynamics-based method, recursive least square (RLS) with forgetting factor based on vehicle dynamic model is used to estimate the vehicle mass. According to the reliability of each method under different conditions, these two methods are fused using fuzzy logic. Simulation tests under New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) condition are carried out. The simulation results show that the estimation accuracy of the fusion method is around 97%, and that the fusion method performs better stability and robustness compared with each single method.