Adaptive path following algorithm for heavy-duty vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12420788-B2
Application number	US-202218561365-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2022
Priority date	May 25, 2021
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

A method for controlling a heavy-duty vehicle to follow a reference path (P), the method comprising obtaining the reference path (P) to be followed by the vehicle, determining a goal point (G) along the path (P) to be used as a steering reference from a vehicle location (x) in vicinity of the path (P), where the goal point (G) is distanced along the path (P) by a preview distance (Dp) measured from a reference location (x, G 0 ) associated with the vehicle location (x), where the preview distance (Dp) is determined at least partly based on a lateral deviation (y) of the vehicle location (x) from the reference path (P), such that the preview distance (Dp) increases with an increasing lateral deviation (y) from the reference path (P), and decreases with a decreasing lateral deviation (y), and controlling the vehicle on the basis of the goal point (G).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a heavy-duty vehicle to follow a reference path (P), the method comprising:
obtaining the reference path (P) to be followed by the vehicle,
determining a goal point (G) along the path (P) to be used as a steering reference from a vehicle location (x) in vicinity of the path (P), where the goal point (G) is located along the path (P) based on a preview distance (D p ) from a reference location (x, G 0 ) associated with the vehicle location (x) to the goal point (G),
where the preview distance (D p ) is determined at least partly based on a lateral deviation (y) of the vehicle location (x) from the reference path (P), such that the preview distance (D p ) increases with an increasing lateral deviation (y) from the reference path (P), and decreases with a decreasing lateral deviation (y), and
controlling the vehicle on the basis of the goal point (G).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controlling includes at least intermittently controlling the vehicle towards the goal point (G).

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the preview distance (D p ) at least partly based on a longitudinal velocity (U) of the vehicle, such that the preview distance increases with an increasing longitudinal velocity (U).

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the preview distance (D p ) also based on a first tuning parameter a, wherein a control effort for controlling the vehicle to follow the path (P) increases with an increase in the first tuning parameter a.

5. The method of claim 4 , where the first tuning parameter a is adjusted in dependence of a curvature of the reference path (P).

6. The method of claim 5 , comprising determining a centripetal lateral acceleration component associated with the reference path (P) at the reference location, and adjusting the first tuning parameter a based on the centripetal lateral acceleration component.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the preview distance (D p ) as

D
p

=

U
⁢

y

2
⁢
ay

+
b

where U is the longitudinal velocity of the vehicle ( 100 ), y is the lateral deviation, a is the first tuning parameter, and b≥0 is a second tuning parameter.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the preview distance (D p ) as

D
p

=

max
⁡
(

U
⁢

y

2
⁢
ay

+
b

,

L
0

)

where U is the longitudinal velocity of the vehicle ( 100 ), y is the lateral deviation, a is the first tuning parameter, b≥0 is a second tuning parameter, and L 0 is a minimum preview distance.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second tuning parameter b depends on the longitudinal velocity U of the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second tuning parameter is given by

b
=

(

π
180

)

2

⁢

U

2

.

11. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining a direction w of a first flow field associated with the reference path (P) as

w
1

=

t
3

+

t
1

-

t
2

2
⁢

cos
⁢

θ

where t 1 is a unit-length tangent vector to the reference path (P) evaluated at the reference location (G 0 ), t 2 is a unit-length tangent vector to the reference path (P) evaluated at the goal point (G), t 3 is a unit-length vector directed from the vehicle location (x) towards the goal point (G), and angle θ is half the angle between the two tangent vectors t 1 and t 2 , wherein the vehicle is controlled according to the direction w 1 of the first flow field.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the goal point is determined in accordance with a preview distance (D p ) for which no minimum preview distance L 0 is enforced.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the vehicle is controlled in accordance with the direction w 1 of the first flow field when the lateral deviation (y) exceeds a threshold lateral deviation (y max ), and in accordance with a direction w 2 of a second flow field, wherein the second flow field has a weaker restoring action than the first flow field.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
initially generating the second flow field by interpolating the first flow field and the tangent vector t 1 to the reference path (P) evaluated at the reference location (G 0 ).

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the second flow field is generated by interpolating the first flow field at the threshold lateral deviation (y max ) and the ta

Assignees

• Volvo Truck Corp

Inventors

• Gao Yangyan
• Rahman Shammi
• Gordon Timothy
• Henderson Leon

Classifications

• B60W2510/20

  Steering systems · CPC title

• B60W2520/125

  Lateral acceleration · CPC title

• B60W2300/125

  Heavy duty trucks · CPC title

• B60W30/045

  Improving turning performance · CPC title

• B60W2552/30

  Road curve radius · CPC title