Nonlinear Model Predictive Control using Lyapunov Functions for Vehicle Lateral Dynamics

:The purpose of this paper is the development of a nonlinear model based predictive control strategy for the autonomous control of the steering system for ground vehicles. The control system is aimed to automatically steer the vehicle along a desired trajectory. The developed strategy uses control Lyapunov functions to guarantee the stability of the closed-loop control system. In order to obtain reliable results, a nonlinear vehicle dynamic model is used in the design phase of the controller. The model incorporates the tire-ground contact nonlinearities and describes with higher accuracy the real vehicle dynamics. The proposed approach is validated using simulation results and it is shown that this approach could provide good performances in practical use.