Active trailer steering for robotic tractor-trailer combinations

Active trailer steering control can improve the manoeuvrability of (long) truck-trailer combinations during cornering. To assess the effectiveness of trailer steering control, we formulate the problem of reducing the so-called swept-path width during cornering, and that of eliminating unsafe tail swing of the trailer, as a tracking control problem. We present a kinematic tractor-trailer model including off-axle hitching, on the basis of which nonlinear control strategies solving this tracking problem are developed. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is evidenced by means of a benchmark simulation study.