Lateral stabilization of vehicle trailer combinations by means of sliding mode control

Automotive engineering studies amongst other research fields deal with traffic safety increase by means of control engineering methods. The Institute for Traffic Safety and Automation Engineering (IVA) at the Technische Universitat Braunschweig discusses the potential of a sliding mode controller (variable structure control) for stabilization and lateral control of vehicle-trailer-combinations. It is shown that this control principle delivers a good robustness against model uncertainties and ensures safe tracking. Therefore, in the future it will be useful for active steering support both in the passenger car and the commercial vehicle area.