Robust power-slide control for a production vehicle

This paper describes a power-slide control strategy for rear-wheel driven sports cars capable of tracking a course angle reference signal while stabilising large sliding angles of the vehicle. Owing to small slip angles at the front wheels compared to the ones at the sliding rear wheels and the precise yaw rate measurement, a fairly simple control strategy can be proposed. It assigns the course angle tracking to the electric power steering. The remaining yaw motion is regulated by a first-order sliding-mode throttle controller, so that the vehicle drifts steadily at a given slip angle. The main advantage of the proposed algorithm is that mainly geometric vehicle parameters and only the measurements of the standard stock sensors are required. The performance is demonstrated on a drive-by-wire capable series production car.