Implementation and testing of different control strategies on a steer-by-wire research platform

The progresses in computational speed and robustness made over the last decade by the automotive industry with respect to the automatization of road vehicles, reanimates the discussions about autonomous driving and X-by-Wire systems. ThyssenKrupp Presta AG has built up a modular research vehicle and equipped it with a Steer-by-Wire system in order to investigate the requirements and challenges that come along when the mechanical connection between steering wheel and steering rack is missing. In this paper, the architecture and concepts of the vehicle are presented and an overview about possible steering feedback strategies is given. Focus of the paper, however, is the adopted nonlinear position control of the steering rack, that is able to handle parameter variations, disturbances and sudden road condition changes while still guaranteeing an asymptotic tracking error convergence in an improved manner when compared to sliding mode compensators.