Nonlinear lateral control strategy for nonholonomic vehicles

Abstract

This paper proposes an intuitive nonlinear lateral control strategy for trajectory tracking in autonomous nonholonomic vehicles. The controller has been implemented and verified in Alice, Team Caltech's contribution to the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge competition for autonomous motorcars. A kinematic model is derived. The control law is described and analyzed. Results from simulations and field tests are given and evaluated. Finally, the key features of the proposed controller are reviewed, followed by a discussion of some limitations of the proposed strategy.