Vehicle following as backup control schemes for magnet-magnetometer-based lateral guidance

This paper describes the development of the backup vehicle lateral control algorithms for the magnet-magnetometer-based automated lateral guidance. Current vehicle lateral controllers rely on the use of two sets of magnetometers, one under the front bumper and the other under the rear bumper of the vehicle. The magnetometers measure the vehicle's lane following error relative to the magnets buried along the center of the highway lane. The proposed algorithms, based on a laser scanning radar sensor (LIDAR), are backup systems for current magnetometer-based controllers in case of magnetometer failure. The LIDAR sensor measures the vehicle's lateral position relative to its preceding vehicle. The paper considers two magnetometer failure scenarios, i.e., failure in only one set of magnetometers and failure in all magnetometers. Experimental results are presented.