Vehicle posture control through aggressive maneuvering for mitigation of T-bone collisions

This work analyzes the mitigation of unavoidable T-bone collisions between two automobiles through the execution of an aggressive maneuver involving a rapid yaw rotation of one of the vehicles, in order to achieve a favorable vehicle posture prior to the collision. The maneuvering vehicle is assumed to possess torque vectoring technology at the rear wheels, allowing the generation of a direct yawing moment. The maneuver is posed as an optimal control problem, whose numerical solution yields the optimal control strategy. Several conditions involving a variety of speeds and friction coefficients are investigated.