Shared Control between Driver Steering and Differential Drive Assistance System Considering Driver’s Characteristics

In this paper, a driver-vehicle dynamics model is built by considering the driver's neuromuscular response to the differential drive assisted moment and the influence of differential drive torque on vehicle yaw rate. Then a driver-vehicle-road (DVR) model including this driver-vehicle dynamics model is proposed, in which the driver's steering characteristics are also considered. Then an MPC controller based on this DVR model is designed to assist the driver individually for path tracking. The feasibility of the proposed DVR model, and the effectiveness of the proposed path tracking controller are verified with simulations in the Matlab/Simulink-CarSim environment. Simulation results show that the proposed assistance controller can improve the performance of vehicles individually manipulated by drivers with different characteristics.