Longitudinal and lateral movement control of car following maneuver using fuzzy sliding mode control

Nowadays, car following models, as the most popular microscopic traffic flow modeling, are increasingly being used by transportation experts to evaluate new Intelligent Transportation System applications. The control of the car following is essential to its safety and its operational efficiency. For this purpose, this paper builds fuzzy sliding mode control (FSMC) system for car following maneuver. The aim of designing of this FSMC system is to obtain a controller that maintain safe longitudinal distance and minimizes the lateral movement of the vehicle with its leader vehicle. These goals were reached by producing proper composite torque and steering angle in car following maneuver. This control system has both advantages of sliding mode and fuzzy logic methods. Also, a nonlinear dynamics model with three degrees of freedom has been used to define sliding surfaces in sliding mode control method. The FSMC´s performance was evaluated based on real observed traffic data. The simulation results show that the FSMC controller has a behavior much safer than that of real drivers, and it can provide a pleasant trip for passengers. The designed control system keeps a safe longitudinal distance from its leader and makes much less lateral displacement than the real driver.