This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been

fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2981417, IEEE Access

Date of publication xxxx 00, 0000, date of current version xxxx 00, 0000.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.Doi Number

Path Tracking Control for Active Rear Steering

Vehicles Considering Driver Steering
Characteristics
1 1 1
Han Zhang , Bo Heng , and Wanzhong Zhao.
1
College of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016 China
Corresponding author: Wanzhong Zhao (e-mail: zwz@ nuaa.edu.cn).
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB0103604)，the key R & D Plan of Jiangsu Province (Grant
No.BE2018124), and the Funding for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in NUAA (Grant No.BCXJ17-03) and Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation
Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No.KYCX17_0239).

ABSTRACT In this paper, a method considering driver steering characteristics and model predictive control
(MPC) is proposed for active rear steering vehicle to help drivers track the desired vehicle trajectory. Firstly,
the driver model is established, and based on the driver steering data, the driver parameters are identified by
the least square method. Based on driver model parameter identification, driver and vehicle models are
formed for the MPC controller design. In MPC controller design, global objective function, considering the
task performance, vehicle stability, driver’s physical workloads, mental workloads and actuator performance,
is designed to optimize the overall performance of the driver-vehicle system. On the constraint, the driver
operating limit, actuator physical limit and vehicle stability performance limit are also considered to make the
controller feasible to in the real practice. Simulation results under different conditions show that the controller
can significantly improve the system performance and reduce the driver’s workloads.

INDEX TERMS path tracking; vehicle dynamics; active steering; model predictive control

I. INTRODUCTION system is designed by Wang to improve vehicle driving

In real driving scenario, vehicles can be affected by various
external disturbances, such as road interference, surrounding
obstacles, drivers’ distractions or capability limits, and et al.
Trajectory tracking is a significant issue in advanced driver
assistant system and intelligent driving technology, such as
lane keeping assistance (LKA), collision avoidance (CA),
automatic parking (AP), and et al[1-7]. Most of these
technologies are implemented by tracking a pre-planned
qualified trajectory. For example, it is supposed that the
LKA should help vehicle run near the central line of the road
or within an expected driving zone[lks8]. The CA system
will detect the obstacles around the vehicle and then generate
a safe trajectory, avoiding contact and collision between
vehicles and obstacles[9]. The AP system should design a
trajectory based on the vehicle surroundings and the current
location, helping drivers to park properly[7].
Numerous studies related to trajectory tracking have been
reported. In existing research, active steering has been
considered as an effective way for vehicles to track the
desired path. A path planning and stability control of CA
safety[jiangjie9]. In this study, the active front steering is
implemented so the additional steering angle was used as the
control input to the system. The model parameter uncertainty
as well as system interferences are considered, so a robust
tracking controller is used to calculate the additional steering
angle to track the pre-planned CA trajectory. Salehpour
presented a vehicle path tracking by integrated chassis
control[10]. In order to follow the desired path, linear
quadratic regulator controller was developed to regulate
direct yaw moment and corrective steering angle on wheels.
Lin, Jiao and Wang proposed a path tracking strategy for a
farm vehicle based on active disturbance rejection control
technique and particle swarm optimization algorithm[11].
Similarly, active front steering was adopted to track the
desired yaw angle, which can be calculated according to the
difference between real path and pre-defined path.
Different from current active steering approaches, rear active
steering is an emerging way to improve steering
stability[12-14]. While steering at low speed, the rear wheel
steering angle can be adjusted in the opposite direction of the

VOLUME XX, 2017 1

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
 This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2981417, IEEE Access
front wheels to reduce the steering radius. When steering at a
high speed, the rear wheel steering angle can be regulated in
the same direction of the front wheels in order to prevent
oversteer and side slip accidents. A mechanical integral
steering system was proposed in [15ars1], which was
focused on the steering box of the rear wheels, i.e. a
cam-based mechanism. This new steering system aimed to
improve the vehicle stability and handling performances by
adopting an integral steering law, which was designed in
terms of correlation between the steering angles of front and
rear wheels. A control scheme through integration of direct
yaw moment and active rear steering was developed in
[16ars3] to enhance vehicle stability. The required yaw
moment and rear steering angle were calculated in the
upper-level control structure by sliding mode controller and
the yaw moment was achieved in the lower-level control
structure by distributing the brake torques of each wheel
appropriately. The active rear steering also can be used to
accomplish the rollover prevention. In [17ars4], a pulsed
active rear steering control scheme was investigated to
reduce the likelihood of rollover for motor vehicles. Based
on rollover estimator, an on/off switch controller is used to
active the rear steering system.
The control objectives of all the abovementioned research
studies are mainly on path tracking or active steering
technology itself. For a driver assistant technology,
providing appropriate assistance to help drivers fulfill the
driving task is the core content. While in the real driving
scenario, drivers will manipulate the steering wheel and
pedals to adjust vehicle motions. In the meantime, ADAS
will generate control inputs to vehicles according to vehicle
driving states to improve vehicle stability and safety. The
driver’s reaction may vary from person to person since it is
affected by many individual factors, such as driving
experience, gender, habits, etc. [11]-[14][18-21], so it is of
great importance to consider drivers’ characteristics in the
design of ADAS. These individual differences have a
significant impact on the driving performance [15][22].
In order to help drivers track a desired path as well as
improve the vehicle stability, an active rear steering control
strategy considering drivers’ characteristics is developed in
this paper Firstly, based on the driver steering data, the
driver model c identified. Based on driver model parameter
identification, driver and vehicle models are formed for the
MPC controller design. In MPC controller design，a global
objective function, considering the task performance,
vehicle stability, driver ’ s physical workloads, mental
workloads and actuator performance, is designed to optimize
the overall performance of the driver-vehicle system. On the
constraint, the driver operating limit, actuator physical limit
and vehicle stability performance limit are also add to the
controller solution to make the controller suitable to the real
environment.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II
gives a brief description of system modeling. The
VOLUME XX, 2017
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
individualized control method based on MPC is designed in
Section III. Simulation studies based on a CarSim® vehicle
model are presented in Section IV, followed by some
concluding remarks in Section V.
II. DRIVER-VEHICLE SYSTEM MODELING
In this section, the human driver model, vehicle model and
driver-vehicle system are established for later controller
design.
A. Driver model
In the process of driving, the driver manipulate the steering
wheel according to the lateral displacement deviation between
the preview point of the desired path and the predicted
position of the vehicle, which can be described by driver
steering models[23].
Predict position
 L
Yp  Y
Preview
distance Preview point
L
Y
X
Fig.1 Schematic view of preview driver model
As shown in Fig.1, this lateral displacement deviation can be
described as
Y  s   Yd  s  e p  Y  s   L  s 
 s
(1)
where Yd  s  e s stands for the lateral displacement of the
p
desired path preview point and τp is the preview time; L
denotes the preview distance which can be approximated as
vx  s  p ; vx  s  is the longitudinal velocity.   s  and
Y  s  stand for the current vehicle heading angle and lateral
displacement, respectively. Therefore, Y (s)  L (s)
describes the lateral displacement of the predicted position
for the vehicle at time t   p . The driver’s steering wheel
angle to track desired path can be simplified as a first-order
driver model with lead-lag elements and time delay [30],[31].
Thus the driver model can be described as
Gh 1   L s  e d 1s
 sw  s   Y  s  (2)
1   d 2s
where  sw ( s) is the driver’s steering angle; Gh is the steering
proportional gain;  d 1 and  d 2 are the pure delay time and
the delay time constant representing driver’s response,
respectively;  L is the derivative time constant.
Usually,  L and  d 1 are significantly less than 1s.
Therefore, 1   L s can be considered as the approximation of
e Ls . (1   L s)Y (s) can be approximated as the lateral
displacement deviation between the preview point of the
desired path and the predicted position of the vehicle at time
t   L   p . In addition, the pure time-delay e d 1s can be
approximated as 1/ (1   d 1 s) . With above approximation, in
order to facilitate the design of the controller, the driver
model can be rewritten in the form of differential equations
9
 This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2981417, IEEE Access

1 
v y  vx  m  Fyf  Fyr   d1
Td Gh 1
 sw   sw   sw  [Yp  (Y  TpVx )]  d 4 (3)
 d 1 d 2  d 1 d 2  d 1 d 2

where Tp=τL+τp is the preview time; Yp and Y+TpVxφ denote 
   aFyf  bFyr   d 2
1
(7)
the lateral displacement of the desired path preview point and  Iz
the predicted position for the vehicle at time t+τp. Y  v   v  d
 x y 3

B. Vehicle model
where
As shown in Fig.2, a two-degree-of-freedom lateral dynamics
 1
model schematic diagram of 4WS vehicle is presented for d1  m  Fyf (cos  f  1)  Fyr (cos  r  1) 
controller design. 
 a
a d 2   Fyf (cos  f  1)  Fyr (cos  r  1)  (8)
b  I z
f d 3  vx (sin    )  v y (cos   1)
Vy f 
 r Fxr 

Fxf

r
Vx Assuming that the ratio of the steering wheel angle to the

front tire steering angle of the vehicle is Rg, thus the front
Fyf
wheel angle coming from the driver’s operation to the
steering wheel can be described as δf =Rgδsw. Let
T
Fyr x  vy   Y  sw  sw  be the system state vector,
Fig.2 Schematic diagram of vehicle model w  Yp  be the disturbance input of the system, and
Considering the lateral, and yaw motion of the vehicle and u   r  be the control input vector to be designed.
assuming that vehicle longitudinal velocity is constant, the Combining (3), (5)-(8), the driver-vehicle system model for
equations of motion for this model can be described as tracking the desired path can be defined as
  x  Ax  B1 w  B2 u  d
v y  vx  m  Fyf  Fyr 
1
 (9)
  y  Cx

   aFyf cos  f  bFyr cos  r 
1 (4) where
 I  k f  kr ak f  bkr Rg k f 
z
 v x  0 0  0 
Y  v sin   v cos   mvx mvx m 
 x y
 ak f  bkr a 2 k f  b 2 kr 
  0 0 
aRg k f
0 
where m is the total mass of the vehicle, Iz is the vehicle yaw  I z vx I z vx Iz 
A 0 1 0 0 0 0 
inertia; a and b are the distances from the vehicle center of 
gravity to the front and rear axles, respectively; vx , vy and   1 0 vx 0 0 0 
 
are the longitudinal velocity, lateral velocity and yaw angle  0 0 0 0 0 1 
 GhTp vx 1 
of the vehicle, respectively;  f is front tire steering angle  0 0  
Gh

1
 
and  r is rear tire steering angle; Fyf and Fyr are front and rear   d 1 d 2  d 1 d 2  d 1 d 2  d 1 d 2 
T
 Gh 
T
lateral tire forces, respectively, which can be defined as
,B  k bkr  ,
B1  0 0 0 0 0    r 0 0 0 0
 Fyf  k f  f   
d1 d 2 
2
 m Iz 
 (5)
 Fyr  kr r 1 0 0 0 0 0
where kf and kr are the cornering stiffness of the front and 0 0 1 0 0 0 

rear tires, respectively;  f ,  r are the slip angles of front d   d1 d2 0 d4  , C  0
T
0 d3 0 0 1 0 0
and rear tires, respectively, which are described as  
 v y  a 0 0 0 0 1 0
 f   f  0 0 0 0 0 1 
 vx
 (6)
    v y  b III. PERSONALIZED CONTROLLER DESIGN
 r r
 vx As shown in Fig.3, the overall control strategy of the
C. Driver-vehicle augmented system personalized controller mainly consists of the following five
Combining the driver model with the vehicle model, a modules, Environmental perception modules, Sensor and
driver-vehicle augmented system is obtained. In order to Estimator module, Driver model parameter identification
express the driver-vehicle model in the form of state space, module, MPC controller module and Rear steering motor
assuming that the front and rear tire steering angle is small module. Environmental perception module perceives the road
and the vehicle heading angle is not large, the equation (4) is environment information and gets the desired path Yp. Driver
rewritten in the following form model parameter identification module identifies the driver

VOLUME XX, 2017 9

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
 This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2981417, IEEE Access

parameters according to Yp, δsw,  and  . Then MPC

controller module gets the target rear wheel angle according
 sw (s) 
Gh
(1   d 1 s)(1   d 2 s)

e p f ( s)  (1  Tp s) y( s)
T s
 (10)
to the information obtained from the above modules. Finally, The transfer function to be identified is
the rear steering motor controls the rear wheel to steer Gh
according to the target rear wheel angle. Driver model G0 ( s)  (11)
(1   d 1 s)(1   d 2 s)
parameter identification and MPC controller design will be
introduced in detailed in the next. Details of analyses about In this study, the recursive least square algorithm is used to
the Environmental perception module and Rear wheel identify driver model parameters[24]. Before identifying the
steering motor module are discussed in [24] and [25]. parameters, the transfer function G0(s) should be discretized.
The discrete function G0(z) is as follows
 sw r
y (k ) b1 z 1
G0 ( z )   (12)
u (k  1) 1  a1 z 1  a2 z 2
 sw T T
 
Driver model parameter 
T

T
(
T

T
) G (e  d 1  e  d 2 )
identification where a1  e  d 1  e  d 2 , a2  e d1 d 2
, b1  h ,
Environmental
Yp θˆ (k )  θˆ (k  1)  K (k )[ y (k ) ,   d1   d 2

perception   φT (k )θˆ (k  1)]

P (k  1)φ(k )
T is sample time.

 K ( k ) 
 1  φT (k ) P (k  1)φ(k ) G0(z) can be expressed as controlled auto-regressive model
(CAM), as follows
Yp  L ,  d1 ,  d 2  sw ,  , 
A( z 1 ) y(k )  B( z 1 )u(k 1)   (k ) (13)
MPC controller
Control object Control mode Constraints where  (k ) denotes white noise signal, and
1. path-following

 A( z 1 )  1  a1 z 1  a2 z 2
2.yaw and lateral stability 1. ARS angle range
3. reduce the driver's 2. human maximum
workloads
ARS
steering capability
 (14)
 B( z )  b1 z
Rear wheel 1 1
steering motor
Q  diag (WY ,W ,WVy ,W fd ,W fd ) R  diag (W r )  r*
The equation (13) can be written in the form of least square.
Np Nc 1
min J ( x(n), u(n))  min( ηdyn (t  i | t)  ηdyn,ref (t  i | t)   udyn (t  i | t)   )
2 2 y(k )  a1 y (k  1)  a2 y(k  2)  b1u (k  2)
Q R
2
(15)
 φT (k )θ  ξ( k )
i 1 i 1

Subject to: Umin  U (k )  Umax , k  t, , t  Nc  1

Ymin    Ψt ξ (t | t)  Θt U(t)  Ymax   ,   0

where φ(k ) is data vector, θ is parameter vector to be

Fig.3 Overall control scheme estimated, and

A. Driver model parameter identification φ(k )  [ y (k  1), y(k  2), u (k  2)]T

 (16)
θ  [a1 , a2 , b1 ]
In order to facilitate the driver model parameter T

identification, according to the processing of the driver

According to recursive least square theory, the recursive
model before, a simplified closed-loop driver-vehicle system
formula of the estimated parameter vector θˆ (k ) is
model is established. The block diagram of this system
θˆ (k )  θˆ (k  1)  K (k )[ y (k )  φT (k )θˆ(k  1)]
model is shown in Fig.4. 
 sw (t ) f ay  P (k  1)φ(k )
f (t ) + Gh 1 1 y (t )
 K (k )  (17)
 (k ) P (k  1)φ(k )
Tp s
e
(1   d 1 s)(1   d 2 s) Rg
Vs
s2  1 φT

-
 P (k )  [ I  K (k )φT (k )] P (k  1)

1  Tp s
After the parameters a1, a2 and b1 are obtained, the identified
Fig.4 Driver preview optimal curvature model diagram results can be used to calculate the parameters Gh , d 1 , d 2 .
structure In order to collect the data needed for driver parameter
As shown in Fig.4, the system input signal f(t) stands for the identification, the driving experiment is carried out on
lateral displacement of the desired path and the system hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform. The environment
output signal y(t) is the lateral displacement of the actual scene is double lane-change trajectory and the speed is
path, δsw(t) is the steering wheel angle signal. The Vs denotes 15m/s. The results of parameter identification are shown in
the the transfer function between lateral acceleration ay and Fig.5
front wheel angle δf.
The parameters to be identified in the driver model are
Gh ,  d 1 and  d 2 . Due to the steering wheel angle δsw(t) can be
measured, driver parameters can be identified by desired
path signal f(t), actual path signal y(t) and steering wheel
angle signal δsw(t). From the system block diagram the
equation (10) can be obtained

VOLUME XX, 2017 9

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
 4 f(t) 1 the discrete-time system model can be described as
y(t) follows[25]
Lateral displacement (m)

Steeing wheel angle(rad)

3
δsw(t)
0.5  x (k  1)  Ak ,t x (k )  B1k ,t w (k )  B2 k ,t u(k ) (10)

 y(k )  Ck ,t x (k )
2

where Ak ,t  e AT , B1k ,t  B1  e A d , B2 k ,t  B2  e A d ,
Ts Ts
1 0 s

0 0

0 Ck ,t  C
-0.5 .
-1 For the convenience of implementing simultaneously the
-2 -1
constraints on the actuator’s actuation rate and system state
0 1 2 3 4 5 responses, a new state variable ξ (k ) is introduced by
Time(s) augmenting the original system state variable at time k,
a. Driver data which can be described as
 x (k | t ) 
ξ (k | t )   
 u(k  1| t )  (11)
Parameter values

Then, the discrete-time system model (10) can be rewritten

as

ξ (k  1| t )  Ak ξ (k | t )  B1k w (k | t )  B2 k u(k | t )
 (12)
η(k | t )  C k ,t  (k | t )

A B2 k ,t  B 
Data size
where Ak ,t   k ,t  B1k ,t   1k ,t 
 01x 6 I1  ,  01  ，
b. Driver parameters
4 B 
identification path
B2 k ,t   2 k ,t  Ck ,t  Ck ,t 01 
 I1  ,
lateraldisplacement(m)

actual path
3
displacement (y/m)

path deviation

2
In addition, to improve computational efficiency and control
system real-time property in implementation, it is supposeed
1 that Ak ,t  At B1k ,t  B1t B2 k ,t  B2t and
, ,
Ck ,t  Ct , k  1, , t  N  1
0
.
Lateral

In this paper, the prediction horizon is set as Np and the

-1
control horizon is set as Nc. Then the future state matrix and
-2 output matrix in the prediction horizon can be expressed
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
longitudinal displacement (x/m)
with the current state and the future control input.
Longitudinal displacement(m)
ξ (t  1| t )  At ξ (t | t )  B2t u(t | t )  B1t w (t | t )
c. Path
ξ (t  2 | t )  At2ξ (t  1| t )  At B2 t u(t | t )
Fig.5 Results of parameter identification
The Fig.5(a) show the driver data including the lateral  B2 t u(t  1| t )  At B1t w (t | t )  B1t w (t  1| t )
displacement of the desired path f(t) and the actual path y(t),
the steering wheel angle signal δsw(t). The Fig.5(b) gives the N 1
ξ (t  N p | t )  At pξ (t  1| t )  At p B2t u(t | t )
N
(13)
change curve of driver parameters in the recursive process. N p  N c 1
  At B2t u(t  N c | t )
After the recursive operation of 4000 sample data, the values N 1
of each parameter tend to converge. To verify the accuracy of  At p B1t w (t | t )   B1t w (t  N c | t )
N 1
η(t  N p | t )  Ct At ξ (t  1| t )  Ct At p B2t u(t | t )
Np
the driver model parameters identified, the path obtained by
the driver model through Matlab/simulink simulation is   Ct At
N p  N c 1
B2 t u(t  N c | t )
compared with the path measured by the experiment. As N p 1 N p  N c 1
 Ct At B1t w (t | t )   C t At B1t w (t  N c | t )
shown in Fig.5(c), the path obtained by the driver model can
well track the path measured. The driver model parameters To make the whole relationship more explicit, the output in
identified are very accurate. the prediction horizon is expressed in the form of matrix
B. MPC controller design Y (t )  Ψt ξ (t | t )  Θt U (t )  ΦW
t
(t ) (14)
In this section, the path tracking control for ARS vehicles where
T
considering driver steering characteristics is formulated as Y (t )  η(t  1| t ) η(t  2 | t ) η(t  Nc | t ) η(t  N p | t )  ,
an optimization problem under constraints. T
Ψ t  Ct At Ct At p  ,
N
For the design of MPC controller, the continuous-time Ct At2 Ct AtNc
system model (9) is discretized at a sample time of Ts, then
U (t )   u(t | t ) u(t  1| t ) u(t  Nc | t ) ,
T

VOLUME XX, 2017 9

 This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2981417, IEEE Access

W (t )   w(t | t ) w(t  1| t ) w(t  Nc | t ) , Θt T QeΘt T  Re 0 

T

where H t    , Gt  2 E (t ) QeΘt 0  ,

T

 Ct B2t 0 0 0   0  
 
 Ct At B2t C t B2t 0 0  Pt  E (t ) Qe E (t ) , Pt is a constant.
T

  In practice, there are some physical constrains for this

 ,
Θt   Ct At Nc 1 B2t Ct At Nc 2 B2t C t B2t  optimization problem that both output and control variables
 C A Nc B Ct At Nc1 B2t C t At B2t  could not violate.
 t t 2t 
  The control input increment u  [ r ] and control input
 N p 1 N p 2 N  N 1  u  [ r ] represent the speed and the angle of the rear wheel
Ct At B2t Ct At B2t C t At p c B2t 
 Ct B1t 0 0 0  steer, they all must obey the physical limit of the actuators,
  which could be expressed as
 Ct At B1t Ct B1t 0 0  U min  U (k )  U max , k  t , t  1, , t  N c -1
  
 .  k
(21)
Φt   Ct At Nc 1 B1t Ct At Nc 2 B1t Ct B1t  U min  u(t  1)   U (k )  U max , k  t , t  1, , t  N c -1
 i t
 C A Nc B Ct At Nc1 B1t Ct At B1t 
 t t 1t  where U min U min and U max denote the lower and upper
 
 N p 1 N p 2 N p  Nc 1  limits for control input increments vector U k , respectively;
Ct At B1t Ct At B1t C t At B1t 
U min and U max represent the lower and upper limits for
By considering the multi-objectives including path-tracking
error, vehicle stability, driver’s physical workloads, mental control input vector U k , respectively.
workloads and the control effort, inspired by the LQR For the safety and stability of the vehicle and considering the
control, the cost function is defined as

steering wheel angle  sw and steering rate  sw limits that
J   q1vy 2  q2 (d   )2  q3 (Yd  Y )2  q4 sw2  q5 sw2  R r 2 dt (15) human turn the steering wheel, the output also should be
0

where qi (i=1,2,3,4,5) and R are weighting factors, limited. The constraint can be written as
  Ymin    Ψt ξ (t | t )  Θt U (t )  ΦW (t )  Ymax   ,   0 (22)
J1   (Yd  Y )2 dt and J 2   (d   )2 dt represent the t
0 0
With all the constraints above, the optimization problem
assessment of the path-tracking performance,  d and Yd with constraints can be summed up as
denote the reference heading angle and the reference min U (t )T ,   H t U (t )T ,    Gt U (t )T ,  
T

 Ut , (23)
lateralposition of current time, respectively; J 3  0 vy 2 dt
subject to



denotes the vehicle stability performance; J 4   sw dt and U min  U (k )  U max , k  t , t  1, , t  N c -1
2
0
 k

U min  u(t  1)   U (k )  U max , k  t , t  1, , t  N c -1 (24)


J 5    sw 2 dt describe the driver’s physical and mental
0  i t
 Y    Ψ ξ (t | t )  Θ U (t )  Φ W (t )  Y  
workloads [41]-[43], respectively, and J 6    r 2 dt  min t t t max

  0
0

represents the steering rate of the rear wheel. Equation (16)

can be rewritten as By solving the proposed constrained optimization problem
Np with Matlab, the sequence of the optimal input increments
J (ξ (t ), u(t  1), U (t ))   η(t  i | t )  ηref (t  i | t )
2
Q
can be obtained
i 1 (17) Ut *  [ut * , ut 1* , , ut Nc 1* ]T
N p 1 (25)
  u(t  i | t )  
2
ut *
2

i 1
R The first sample of is used to compute the optimal
where  is weighting coefficient,  is relaxation factor, steering torque control law
Q  diag  q1 q2 q3 q4 q5  . u(t )  u(t  1)  ut *
(26)
ηref  0 d 0 0 , u    r  .
T
Yd
IV. SIMULATION STUDIES
The output deviation in the prediction time domain as
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control
E (t )  Ψt ξ (t | t )  ΦW
t
(t )  Yref (t ), (18) strategy, simulations are executed by using the co-simulation
Yref  [ref (t  1| t ), ref (t  N p | t )]T (19) platform of CarSim and Matlab/simulink. Two driver
The cost function (17) can be adjusted as models with different parameters are identified in advance.
The Driver A is an experienced and aggressive driver with
J (ξ (t ), u(t  1), U (t ))  U (t )T ,   H t  U (t )T ,  
T

(20) smaller time delay and larger steering proportional gain,

 Gt  U (t )T ,    Pt while Driver B is an inexperienced driver with longer time
delay and smaller steering proportional gain. The MPC
controllers are designed for each driver, respectively. In

VOLUME XX, 2017 9

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
 This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2981417, IEEE Access

controller design, the maximum allowable deviation of

trajectory tracking as well as the maximum human capability
of steering angle and steering rate constraints are set based
on the data given in[26].
Five quadratic integral functions are adopted to evaluate the
performance and steering work loads of a driver [27]. The
parameters of the drivers and vehicle are shown in Table I
and Table II.
Table I Parameters of Drivers
Parameter L  d1 d2 p Gh c. Rear wheel angle
DA 0.1 0.05 0.08 0.8 1.0
DB 0.1 0.085 0.15 0.65 0.6

Table II Parameters of vehicle

Parameter Meaning Value

m Vehicle total mass 1259.98 kg

Iz Vehicle yaw moment of inertia 4607 kgm2
a Distance from CG to front axle 1.14 m
d. Vehicle yaw rate
b Distance from CG to rear axle 1.64 m
kf Cornering stiffness of the front tire -143583 Nrad
kr Cornering stiffness of the rear tire -111200 Nrad
Rg Transmission ratio of steering system 1/17
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
controller for driving assistance, let Driver A and Driver B
drive the vehicle with and without the controller,
respectively, and their simulation results are compared. The
driving condition is set as double lane-change trajectory with e. Side slip angle
constant vehicle speed of 15 m/s. The simulation results are
shown in Fig.7.

f. Path tracking
Fig.7 Simulation results
Table III Control performance
a. Steering wheel angle J1 J2 J3 J4 J5
3.4 DA 0.021 0.015 0.978 3.40-03 0.014
Steering angle rate(rad/s)

Driver A
2.55 Driver A+CA
DA+CA 0.014 0.0117 0.085 1.40e-03 6.43-03
Driver B DB 0.061 0.0167 0.465 9.89e-03 0.040
1.7 Driver B+CB DB+CB 0.0118 0.0103 0.163 1.15e-03 4.63e-03
0.85 It can be seen from Fig.7 that, when the controller is not
0
applied, the inexperienced Driver B has greater steering
wheel angle and steering wheel angle rate than the
-0.85
experienced Driver A. Thus the response of yaw rate and
-1.7 sideslip angle of the vehicle driven by Driver B are greater
0 2 4
time(t/s)
6 8 10 than that of the vehicle driven by Driver A, and the deviation
b. Steering wheel angle rate of path tracking is larger.
In case the controller is applied, steering wheel angle and
steering wheel angle rate of the vehicle driven by Driver A
and B both decrease compared with that of the controller is

VOLUME XX, 2017 9

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
 This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2981417, IEEE Access
not applied, and the reduction of Driver B is more obvious.
As a result, the driver's physical workload and mental
workload are all reduced. Fig.7.c show the vehicle's rear
wheel angle under the work of the proposed controller.
Under the work of the controller, the rear wheel steering
direction of the vehicle driven by experienced Driver A is
the same as the front wheel, while the direction of the vehicle
driven by inexperienced Driver B is opposite to the front
wheel, so as to better track the target path. In case of vehicle
stability, when the controller is applied, the sideslip angle are
both reduced compared with that of the controller is not
applied. Thus, the stability of the vehicle is improved. In the
aspect of path tracking control, compared with no control,
the path deviation of the two drivers' driving vehicles is
reduced, and the improvement effect of the inexperienced
Driver B is more obvious.
It can be seen in Table III that, when the controller is not
applied, the task performance, physical workload and mental
workload of Driver A are all smaller than those of Driver B.
However, when the controller is applied, the three indicators
of Driver A and Driver B are all decreased, and the workload
of Driver B become smaller than those of Driver A. This
means the proposed controller can significantly improve the
driver’s task performance, decrease the driver’s workload.
V. CONCLUSIONS
A path tracking control strategy for active rear steering
considering driver steering characteristics is proposed in this
paper. The driver-vehicle augmented system is established
based on driver and vehicle model at first. The driver
characteristics are identified based on daily driving data, then
the MPC control algorithm considering the task performance,
vehicle stability, driver’s physical workloads, mental
workloads and actuator performance, is designed to optimize
the overall performance of the driver-vehicle system. The
simulation results prove that the personalized controller can
significantly improve the system performance and reduce the
driver’s workloads.
REFERENCES
[1] Basjaruddin N C , Kuspriyanto, Suhendar, et al. Lane keeping assist
system based on fuzzy logic. 2015 International Electronics
Symposium (IES). IEEE, 2015.
[2] Guo J , Luo Y , Hu C , et al. Robust combined lane keeping and direct
yaw moment control for intelligent electric vehicles with time delay.
International Journal of Automotive Technology, 2019,
20(2):289-296.
[3] Liu Y J , Zhao Y Q , Zhou X F . Design research on vehicle collision
avoidance based on artificial potential field. Applied Mechanics and
Materials, 2012, 271-272:727-731.
[4] Minguez J , Montano L . Extending collision avoidance methods to
consider the vehicle shape, kinematics, and dynamics of a mobile
robot. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2009, 25(2):367-381.
[5] Ji J , Khajepour A , Melek W W , et al. Path planning and tracking for
vehicle collision avoidance based on model predictive control with
multiconstraints. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2017,
66(2):952-964.
[6] Naitik N, Maulin Jo. An intelligent fuzzy based hybrid approach for
parallel parking in dynamic environment. Procedia Computer Science,
2018,133:82-91.
VOLUME XX, 2017
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
[7] Jelavic E, Gonzales J, Borrelli F. Autonomous drift parking using a
switched control strategy with onboard sensors. IFAC-PapersOnLine,
2017, 50(1): 3714-3719.
[8] Goodarzi, Avesta, Ghajar, et al. Integrating lane-keeping system with
direct yaw moment control tasks in a novel driver assistance system.
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part K.
Journal of Multi-body Dynamics, 2015,29(1):16-28.
[9] Yan W C , Wanzhong Z , Zhijiang X U , et al. Path planning and
stability control of collision avoidance system based on active front
steering. Science China(Technological Sciences), 2017(08):113-125.
[10] Salehpour S , Pourasad Y , Taheri S H . Vehicle path tracking by
integrated chassis control. Journal of Central South University, 2015,
22(4):1378-1388.
[11] Z. Lin, X. Jiao and Z. Wang, "ADRC-Based active front steering
strategy for path tracking of a farm vehicle," 2019 3rd Conference on
Vehicle Control and Intelligence (CVCI), Hefei, China, 2019, pp. 1-5.
[12] Richard, L, Roebuck, et al. An automatically reconfigurable
software-based safety system for rear-steering multi-unit vehicles.
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D:
Journal of Automobile Engineering, 2015, 229(2) 143–162.
[13] B Zhang, A Khajepour, A Goodarzi. Vehicle yaw stability control
using active rear steering: Development and experimental validation.
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part K.
Journal of Multi-body Dynamics, 2017, 231(2) 333–345.
[14] Marco Völker, Stadie W . Electrohydraulic rear axle steering systems
for agricultural vehicles. Atzoffhighway Worldwide, 2017,
10(4):22-27.
[15] Cătălin, Alexandru. A mechanical integral steering system for
increasing the stability and handling of motor vehicles. Proceedings of
the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of
Mechanical Engineering Science, 2017, 231(8) 1465–1480.
[16] Bin Li, Subhash R,Ying F. Enhancement of vehicle stability through
integration of direct yaw moment and active rear steering.
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D:
Journal of Automobile Engineering, 2016, 230(6) 830–840.
[17] Y Zhang, A Khajepour, X Xie1. Rollover prevention for sport utility
vehicles using a pulsed active rear-steering strategy. Proceedings of
the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of
Automobile Engineering, 2016, 230(9) 1239–1253
[18] G. Li, S. Li, B. Cheng, "Field operational test of advanced driver
assistance systems in typical chinese road conditions: the influence of
driver gender, age and aggression," International Journal of
Automotive Technology, vol. 16, no. 5, pp: 739-750, 2015.
[19] M. Flad, C. Trautmann, G. Diehm, et al, "Individual driver modeling
via optimal selection of steering primitives," IFAC Proceedings
Volumes, vol. 47, no. 3, pp: 6276-6282, 2014.
[20] L. Saleh, P. Chevrel, F. Mars, et al, "Human-like cybernetic driver
model for lane keeping," IFAC Proceedings Volumes, vol. 44, no. 1,
pp: 4368-4373, 2011.
[21] J. M. Choi, Shih-Yuan Liu and J. K. Hedrick, "Human driver model
and sliding mode control - road tracking capability of the vehicle
model," 2015 European Control Conference (ECC), Linz, 2015, pp.
2132-2137.
[22] F. Wang, H. Chen and D. Cao, "Nonlinear coordinated motion control
of road vehicles after a tire blowout," in IEEE Transactions on Control
Systems Technology, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 956-970, May 2016.
[23] M. Plöchl, J. Edelmann, "Driver models in automobile dynamics
application," Vehicle System Dynamics, vol. 45, no. 7-8, pp: 699-741,
2007.
[24] Yong S , Bo J . Multi-sensor information fusion based on the
combination of optimal weight and recursive least square algorithm.
Journal of Transcluction Technology, 2004, 17(4):630-629.
[25] Yong S , Bo J . Multi-sensor information fusion based on the
combination of optimal weight and recursive least square algorithm.
Journal of Transcluction Technology, 2004, 17(4):630-629.
[26] S. Taheri, S. Rakheja, and H. Hong, “Influence of human driving
characteristics on path tracking performance of vehicle,” in Intelligent
Robotics and Applications. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 2012,
pp. 207–216
[27] P Bolia, T Weiskircher, S Müller. Driver steering model for
closed-loop steering function analysis. Vehicle System Dynamics,
2014, 52(sup1):16-30.
9
 This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2981417, IEEE Access

Han Zhang received the B.S. in Vehicle engineering

from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, Nanjing, China, in 2014. She is
currently a Ph.D. candidate with the Department of
Vehicle Engineering, Nanjing University of
Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China. Her
research interests include vehicle system dynamics
and control systems.

Bo Heng is currently a graduate student in the

Department of Vehicle Engineering, Nanjing
University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing,
China. His research interests include vehicle system
dynamics.

Wanzhong Zhao is currently a professor and the

director in the Department of Vehicle Engineering,
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Nanjing, China. His research interests include
vehicle system dynamics.

VOLUME XX, 2017 9

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.