Autonomous vehicle control for emergency maneuvers: The effect of topography

When attempting to drive collision-free paths in emergency situations, automobiles are limited by the amount of force their tires can produce through friction. A road´s topography affects the tire forces, so the ability of an autonomous vehicle to follow a desired path depends on the shape of the path in three, not two, dimensions. In this paper, a model that captures the effects of road topography on tire forces is derived and used to compute the speeds at which a given path can be followed. Experimental evidence is used to support the conclusion that accounting for topography, particularly the vertical curvature of the road, is critical for good path tracking performance even with a conservative estimate of maximum friction.