Kinematic Model and Active Steering Control for a Robotic Mechanically Linked Transport Vehicle Platooning

In this paper, a kinematic model of a mechanically connected platoon of two car-like vehicles for cooperative driving is developed. The kinematic equations of motion are obtained in the form of a nonlinear driftless control system, which is affine in the control inputs and can be employed for the design of different types of low-speed steering controllers for automatic driving of the following vehicle in the platoon. A feedback steering control for the following vehicle is designed. Computer simulation tests using the derived kinematic equations of motion of the robotic vehicle platoon are carried out, in order to evaluate the validity of the developed kinematic model and active steering control for the mechanically linked transport vehicle platooning.