Driver-Automation Shared Control for Vehicle Lane Keeping Systems via Steering Torque Estimation

A new driver-automation shared control method is proposed for vehicle lane keeping systems based on driver steering torque estimation. Firstly, by a comprehensive consideration of a two-point driver steering model, the vehicle lateral motions and steering system dynamics, a global system model is established to describe the lane keeping behaviors among driver-vehicle-road. Secondly, a communication scheme is introduced to schedule the signal transmission by a preset event, which contributes greatly to save network resources. Then, a closed-loop system is presented for shared controller design, which consists of two parts. The former proposes an observer to estimate the driver steering torque, which is helpful to interpret the driver’s intention. The latter proposes an adaptive steering controller, which is effective to release the driver's load, improve the vehicle lane keeping performance and save network resources simultaneously. Finally, various driver-in-the-loop simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.