A path planning and path-following control framework for a general 2-trailer with a car-like tractor

Maneuvering a general 2-trailer with a car-like tractor in backward motion is a task that requires significant skill to master and is unarguably one of the most complicated tasks a truck driver has to perform. This paper presents a path planning and path-following control solution that can be used to automatically plan and execute difficult parking and obstacle avoidance maneuvers by combining backward and forward motion. A lattice-based path planning framework is developed in order to generate kinematically feasible and collision-free paths and a path-following controller is designed to stabilize the lateral and angular path-following error states during path execution. To estimate the vehicle states needed for control, a nonlinear observer is developed which only utilizes information from sensors that are mounted on the car-like tractor, making the system independent of additional trailer sensors. The proposed path planning and path-following control framework is implemented on a full-scale test vehicle and results from simulations and real-world experiments are presented.

Path tracking and stabilization for a reversing general 2-trailer configuration using a cascaded control approach

In this paper a cascaded approach for stabilization and path tracking of a general 2-trailer vehicle configuration with an off-axle hitching is presented. A low level Linear Quadratic controller is used for stabilization of the internal angles while a pure pursuit path tracking controller is used on a higher level to handle the path tracking. Piecewise linearity is the only requirement on the control reference which makes the design of reference paths very general. A Graphical User Interface is designed to make it easy for a user to design control references for complex manoeuvres given some representation of the surroundings. The approach is demonstrated with challenging path following scenarios both in simulation and on a small scale test platform.