Adaptive steering control for robustness to errors in estimated or user-supplied trailer parameters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10604184-B2
Application number	US-201715692569-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2017
Priority date	Aug 31, 2017
Publication date	Mar 31, 2020
Grant date	Mar 31, 2020

Abstract

A system for assisting in reversing of a vehicle-trailer combination includes a vehicle steering system and a controller. The controller outputs a steering signal based on a control parameter to the steering system to maintain the trailer along a commanded backing path, determines an error between a measured behavior of a characteristic of the vehicle-trailer combination and a predicted behavior of the characteristic, and adjusts the control parameter based on the error.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for assisting in reversing of a vehicle-trailer combination, comprising:
a vehicle steering system including steered vehicle wheels;
a curvature input device outputting a commanded curvature of the vehicle-trailer combination based on a position of the device; and
a controller:
receiving the commanded curvature;
outputting a steering signal based on the commanded curvature and at least one kinematic parameter of the vehicle-trailer combination to the steering system to converge the vehicle-trailer combination to a backing path having the commanded curvature;
calculating a predicted steering angle for the steered vehicle wheels corresponding with the backing path having the commanded curvature;
measuring an actual steering angle for the steered vehicle wheels;
determining an error between the actual steering angle and the predicted steering angle; and
scaling the commanded curvature based on the error to output a scaled curvature.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein scaling the commanded curvature based on the error compensates for an inaccuracy the at least one kinematic parameter.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the predicted steering angle is further based on the at least one kinematic parameter.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the kinematic parameters is a dimension within the vehicle-trailer model that is one of input by a user or estimated by the system.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the controller determines that the vehicle-trailer combination is in a steady-state condition before scaling the commanded curvature;
the scaled curvature is subsequently used in outputting the steering signal; and
scaling the commanded curvature based on the error converges the actual steering angle to the predicted steering angle.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller scales the commanded curvature by a function of the error to converge the error to zero.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the steering signal is further output based on a measurement of a hitch angle between a vehicle and a trailer in the vehicle-trailer combination; and
scaling the commanded curvature based on the error compensates for an inaccuracy of the measurement of the hitch angle.

8. A vehicle, comprising:
a steering system including steered vehicle wheels;
a curvature input device outputting a commanded curvature of the vehicle-trailer combination based on a position of the device; and
a controller:
receiving the commanded curvature;
outputting a steering signal based on the commanded curvature and at least one kinematic parameter to the steering system to converge a combination of the vehicle and a trailer articulably coupled with the vehicle to a backing path having the commanded curvature;
calculating a predicted hitch angle between the vehicle and the trailer corresponding with the backing path having the commanded curvature;
measuring an actual hitch angle between the vehicle and the trailer;
determining an error between the actual hitch angle and the predicted hitch angle; and
scaling the commanded curvature based on the error to output a scaled curvature.

9. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein:
the steering signal is further based on a plurality of kinematic parameters in a vehicle-trailer model; and
scaling the commanded curvature based on the error compensates for an inaccuracy in one or more of the kinematic parameters.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the predicted hitch angle is further based on the plurality of kinematic parameters in the vehicle-trailer model.

11. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the kinematic parameters is a dimension within the vehicle-trailer model that is one of input by a user or estimated by the system.

12. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the controller scalies the commanded curvature by a function of the error to converge the error to zero.

13. A method for assisting in reversing of a vehicle-trailer combination, comprising:
receiving an input of a commanded curvature of the vehicle-trailer combination from a curvature input device outputting the commanded curvature based on a position of the input device;
outputting a steering signal based on the commanded curvature and at least one kinematic parameter of the vehicle-trailer combination to a steering system of a vehicle in the vehicle-trailer combination to converge the vehicle-trailer combination to a backing path having the commanded curvature;
calculating a predicted steering angle for steered wheels of the steering system corresponding with the backing path having the commanded curvature;
measuring an actual steering angle for the steered vehicle wheels;
determining an error between the actual steering angle and the predicted steering angle; and
scaling the commanded curvature based on the error.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the predicted steering angle is further based on at the least one kinematic parameter.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein at least one kinematic parameter is a dimension within the vehicle-trailer model that is one of input by a user or estimated by the system.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the commanded curvature the commanded curvature is scaled by a function of the error and is subsequently used to output the steering signal to converge the error to zero.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Mattern Donald Jacob
• Buss Brian George
• Raad Joseph M
• Daavettila Tyler

Classifications

• B60W2710/20

  Steering systems · CPC title

• B60W30/18009 Primary

  related to particular drive situations · CPC title

• B62D13/06 Primary

  for backing a normally drawn trailer · CPC title

• B62D15/025 Primary

  Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation (B62D1/28 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B62D15/0285

  Parking performed automatically · CPC title