Efficiency analysis of Stanley's controller applied to the autonomous ground vehicle movement control under effect of various perturbations

Abstract

The entire transport system rapidly moves towards the realization of the high level autonomous ground vehicles: SAE International constantly updates the standard that defines the six levels of driving autonomy (SAE J3016, 2014; SAE J3016, 2016; SAE J3016, 2019), different manufacturers are testing their autonomous vehicles in special facilities, various countries try to develop legal frameworks for the usage and testing of the autonomous ground vehicles in the actual traffic, etc. It is assumed that the autonomous ground vehicles are going to be the key factor that will cause positive changes in the transport system: from the more efficient road freights transportation and decreased emissions to the zero fatalities in road transport. Although there already are attempts to integrate the autonomous ground vehicles into the transport system, the legal framework is being developed, the deployment of technological innovations is growing, and all of the assumptions regarding the future of the autonomous ground vehicles are positive, the safety and convenience of the autonomous driving remain major concerns. From the technology and development point of view, autonomous ground vehicles are a multidisciplinary research object which includes such research fields as vehicle dynamics, control engineering and computer sciences. Regarding the development process, the relation between the autonomous ground vehicles and all of these research fields can be summarized as the development of the control system for the autonomous ground vehicle. According to (Amer et al., 2017) there are three basic stages and modules in the control system of an autonomous ground vehicle: Sensing and Perception, Planning and Control. Each of these modules are equally important, but the control module is the main one that is responsible for the stable, accurate and safe movement of the autonomous ground vehicle under various and changing movement conditions. Thus, the analysis of various controllers is a relevant task, which allows for closer examination of the autonomous movement by determining and objectively evaluating the impact of various factors on the results of the control process. The Stanley’s controller is one of the most promising and effective controllers, however, its performance is dependent on the movement conditions. Based on the performed simulations, this study presents an analysis of the Stanley’s controller efficiency, while in a constant radius turn moving autonomous ground vehicle was affected by various types of perturbations: steering angle, movement coordinates and movement velocity. The results of such analysis can be applied while seeking to modify the Staley’s controller in order to apply it to the autonomous ground vehicle control under various and changing movement conditions.