Design and evaluation of a unified chassis control system for rollover prevention and vehicle stability improvement on a virtual test track

This paper describes the development of a unified chassis control (UCC) scheme and the evaluation of the control scheme on a virtual test track (VTT). The UCC scheme aims to prevent vehicle rollover, and to improve vehicle maneuverability and its lateral stability by integrating electronic stability control (ESC) and active front steering (AFS). The rollover prevention is achieved through speed control, and the vehicle stability is improved via yaw rate control. Since the UCC controller always works with the driver, the overall vehicle performance depends not only on how well the controller works but also on its interactions with the human driver. Vehicle behavior and the interactions between the vehicle, the controller, and the human driver are investigated through a full-scale driving simulator on the VTT which consists of a real-time vehicle simulator, a visual animation engine, a visual display, and suitable human–vehicle interfaces. The VTT has been developed and used for the evaluation of the UCC under various realistic conditions in the laboratory making it possible to evaluate the UCC controller in the laboratory without risk of injury prior to field testing, and promises to significantly reduce the cost of development as well as the overall cycle development time.