The steering control of vehicle dynamics via a sliding mode method

In this paper, we propose a steering control scheme for vehicle dynamics by using sliding mode control approach. The vehicle dynamics is known to exhibit a saddle-node bifurcation phenomenon while operating at some front wheel steering angle, which might incur spin and/or instability for vehicle systems and then cause traffic accidents. By using the proposed sliding mode control law, the vehicle dynamics will be stabilized at the bifurcation point and the stability of the vehicle system will also be guaranteed after the appearance of bifurcation phenomenon. Simulation results for an example vehicle model demonstrate the success of the proposed design.