Lateral Motion Control of Electronic-Four-Wheel Drive Vehicles for Enhancement of Cornering Performance

A lateral motion control to enhance the cornering performance of electronic-four-wheel drive(e-4WD) vehicles is introduced in this paper. The proposed controller aims to optimally provide the in-wheel motor(IWM) torques to each wheel assisting the vehicle in following the desired trajectories. It includes a yaw rate reference for neutral-steering, which leads to enhanced cornering performance. A smooth sliding mode controller(SMC) is utilized based on a bicycle model to generate the desired yaw moment. Lastly, a torque distribution method with the Daisy-chaining allocation is utilized within an available torque operation area of IWM. Using the CarSim software, the proposed control algorithm is simulated. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is evaluated using various driving scenarios. It is confirmed that some evaluation factors in cornering performance are improved.