Research on Collaborative Control of Differential Drive Assisted Steering and Active Front Steering for Distributed Drive Electric Vehicles

A collaborative control strategy for distributed drive electric vehicles (DDEVs) focusing on differential drive assisted steering (DDAS) and active front steering (AFS) is proposed to address the issues of sudden torque changes, reduced steering characteristics, and weak collaborative control capabilities caused by the coupling of the AFS and DDAS systems in DDEVs. This paper establishes a coupled dynamic model of the AFS and DDAS systems and, on this basis, designs AFS controllers for yaw velocity feedback control and DDAS controllers for steering wheel torque control, respectively. Additionally, it analyzes the interference factors of the two control systems and develops a collaborative control strategy for DDAS and AFS; this control strategy establishes a corner motor correction module, steering wheel torque correction module, and assistance correction module. Co-simulation is carried out on Matlab/Simulink and the Carsim platform to verify the correctness of the model under typical working conditions; to reduce the sudden change in the steering wheel torque caused by AFS additional angle interventions; to improve the poor steering characteristics caused by DDAS, introducing additional yaw torque; to greatly enhance the collaborative control effect; and to meet the requirements for vehicle handling stability, portability, and safety.