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Adaptive cruise control is one of the key technologies in advanced driver assistance systems. However, improving the performance of autonomous driving systems requires addressing various challenges, such as maintaining the dynamic stability of the vehicle during the cruise process, accurately controlling the distance between the ego vehicle and the preceding vehicle, resisting the effects of nonlinear changes in longitudinal speed on system performance. To overcome these challenges, an adaptive cruise control strategy based on the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model with a focus on ensuring vehicle lateral stability is proposed. Firstly, a collaborative control model of adaptive cruise and lateral stability is established with desired acceleration and additional yaw moment as control inputs. Then, considering the effect of the nonlinear change of the longitudinal speed on the performance of the vehicle system.

Under complex and extreme operating conditions, the road adhesion coefficient emerges as a critical state parameter for tire force analysis and vehicle dynamics control. In contrast to model-based estimation methods, intelligent tire technology enables the real-time feedback of tire-road interaction information to the vehicle control system. This paper proposes an approach that integrates intelligent tire systems with machine learning to acquire precise road adhesion coefficients for vehicles. Firstly, taking into account the driving conditions, sensor selection is conducted to develop an intelligent tire hardware acquisition system based on MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) three-axis acceleration sensors, utilizing a simplified hardware structure and wireless transmission mode. Secondly, through the collection of real vehicle experiment data on different road surfaces, a dataset is gathered for machine learning training.

The performance of suspension system has a direct impact on the riding comfort and smoothness. For the traditional suspension can not effectively alleviate the impact of road surface and the poor anti-vibration performance, The dynamics model of vehicle suspension system is established, and the control model of vehicle four-degree-of-freedom active suspension is designed with fuzzy control strategy. On this basis, a comprehensive simulation model of the control model of vehicle active suspension coupled with road excitation is established. and the ride comfort of vehicles under different types of suspension are tested through Simulink. The simulation results show that compared with the passive suspension, the reduction of vehicle acceleration and dynamic deformation of the active suspension controlled by fuzzy PID can reach 33.76% and 22.45%. and the reduction of pitch Angle speed and dynamic load of the active suspension controlled by fuzzy PID can reach 16.18% and 10.72%.

This paper proposes a dynamic obstacle avoidance system to help autonomous vehicles drive on high-speed structured roads. The system is mainly composed of trajectory planning and tracking controllers. The potential field (PF) model is introduced to establish a three-dimensional potential field for structured roads and obstacle vehicles. The trajectory planning problem that considers the vehicle’s and tires’ dynamics constraints is transformed into an optimization problem with muti-constraints by combining the model predictive control (MPC) algorithms. The trajectory tracking controller used in this paper is based on the 7 degrees of freedom (DOF) vehicle model and the UniTire tire model, which was discussed in detail in previous work [25, 26]. The controller maintains good trajectory tracking performance even under extreme driving conditions, such as roads with poor adhesion conditions, where the car’s tires enter the nonlinear region easily.

As powertrain hybridization technologies are becoming popular, their application for heavy-duty military vehicles is drawing attention. An intelligent design and operation of the energy management system (EMS) is important to ensure that hybrid military vehicles can operate efficiently, simultaneously maximize fuel economy and minimize monetary cost, while successfully completing mission tasks. Furthermore, an integrated EMS framework is vital to ensure a functional vehicle power system (VPS) to survive through critical missions in a highly stochastic environment, when needed. This calls for situational awareness and dynamic system reconfiguration capabilities on-board of the military vehicle. This paper presents a new energy management and control (EMC) framework based on holistic situational awareness (SA) and dynamic reconfiguration of the VPS.

Artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced control system deployments are emerging as a viable substitute to more traditional control system. In particular, deep learning techniques offer an alternate approach to tune the ever increasing sets of control system parameters to extract performance. However, the systematic verification and validation (to establish the reliability and robustness) of deep learning based controllers in actual deployments remains a challenge. This is exacerbated by the need to evaluate and optimize control systems embedded within an operational environment (with its own sets of additional unknown or uncertain parameters). Existing literature comparisons of deep learning against traditional controllers, where they may exist, do not offer structured approaches to comparative performance evaluation and improvement. It is also crucial to develop a standardized controlled test environment within which various controllers are evaluated against a common metric.

Substantial fuel economy improvements for light-duty automotive engines demand novel combustion strategies. Low temperature combustion (LTC) demonstrates potential for significant fuel efficiency improvement; however, control complexity is an impediment for real-world transient operation. Spark-assisted compression ignition (SACI) is an LTC strategy that applies a deflagration flame to generate sufficient energy to trigger autoignition in the remaining charge. Operating a practical engine with SACI combustion is a key modeling and control challenge. Current models are not sufficient for control-oriented work such as calibration optimization, transient control strategy development, and real-time control. This work describes the process and results of developing a fast-running control-oriented model for the autoignition phase of SACI combustion. A data-driven model is selected, specifically artificial neural networks (ANNs).

In the face of energy and environmental problems, how to improve the economy of fuel cell vehicles (FCV) effectively and develop intelligent algorithms with higher hydrogen-saving potential are the focus and difficulties of current research. Based on the Toyota Mirai FCV, this paper focuses on the short-term speed prediction algorithm based on the back propagation neural network (BP-NN) and carries out the research on the short-term speed prediction algorithm based on BP-NN. The definition of NN and the basic structure of the neural model are introduced briefly, and the training process of BP-NN is expounded in detail through formula derivation. On this basis, the speed prediction model based on BP-NN is proposed. After that, the parameters of the vehicle speed prediction model, the characteristic parameters of the working condition, and the input and output neurons are selected to determine the topology of the vehicle speed prediction model.

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) includes three modes: cruise control, car following control, and autonomous emergency braking. Among them, the car following control mode is mainly used to manage the speed and vehicle spacing approach the preceding vehicle within the range of smooth acceleration changes. In addition, although the motion information signal of the preceding vehicle can be collected by auxiliary equipment, it is still a random variable and normally regarded as a disturbance to affect the performance of vehicle controller. Therefore, this paper proposed an ACC strategy considering the disturbance of the preceding vehicle and multi-objective optimization.

Multi-material design is one of the trending methods for automakers to achieve lightweighting cost-efficiently and meet stringent regulations and fuel efficiency concerns. Motivated by this trend, the hybrid single-shot (HSS) process has been recently introduced to manufacture thermoset-thermoplastic composites in one single integrated operation. Although this integration is beneficial in terms of reducing the cycle time, production cost, and manufacturing limitations associated with such hybrid structures, it increases the process complexity due to the simultaneous filling, forming, curing, and bonding actions occurring during the process. To overcome this complexity and have a better understanding on the interaction of these physical events, a quick yet accurate simulation of the HSS process based on an experimentally calibrated numerical approach is presented here to elucidate the effect of different process settings on the final geometry of the hybrid part.

In order to improve the vehicle economy of electric vehicles, this paper first analyzes the energy-saving mechanism of electric vehicles. Taking the energy consumption of the deceleration process as a starting point, this paper deeply analyzes the energy consumption of the deceleration process under several different control modes by the test data, so as to obtain two principles that should be followed in energy-saving control strategy. Then, an intelligent deceleration energy-saving control strategy by getting the forward vehicle information is developed. The overall architecture of the control strategy consists of three parts: information processing, target calculation and torque control. The first part is mainly to obtain the forward vehicle information from the perception systems, and the user's habits information from big data, and this information is processed for the next part.

This research proposes to leverage the fast response time of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs) to compensate for crank angle resolved engine torque variations caused by cycle-by-cycle combustion variations. This method reduces powertrain vibration and enables engine calibrations with high combustion variation that produces low fuel consumption. This research integrates a Field Oriented Control (FOC) strategy with an Explicit Model Predictive Control (EMPC) to trace previewed current references. The previewed current references are computed from the engine torque difference between predicted nominal operation and the measured torque output. This research reveals that the MPC can track a d-q current reference without overshoot, rendering current magnitude constraints unnecessary in the MPC formulation. A control rate penalty is used to tune the aggressiveness of transient voltage demand and meet with the DC voltage limit.

Vehicular control systems are characterized with numerous complex interactions with a steady rise of autonomous functions, which makes it more challenging for designers and safety engineers to identify unexpected failures. These systems tend to be highly integrated and exhibit features like concurrency for which traditional verification and validation techniques (i.e. testing and simulation) are insufficient to provide rigorous and complete assessment. Model Checking, a well-known formal verification technique, can be used to rigorously prove the correctness of such systems according to design Requirements. In particular, Model Checking is a method for formally verifying finite-state concurrent systems. Specifications about the system are expressed as temporal logic formulas, and efficient symbolic algorithms are used to traverse the model defined by the system and check if the specification holds or not.

In this paper, in order to avoid the frequent switching of engine operating points and improve the fuel economy during driving, this paper proposes a control strategy for the 4-wheel drive (4WD) hybrid vehicle based on wavelet transform. First of all, the system configuration and the original control strategy of the 4WD hybrid vehicle were introduced and analyzed, which summarized the shortcomings of this control strategy. Then, based on the analyze of the original control strategy, the wavelet transform was used to overcome its weaknesses. By taking advantage over the superiority of the wavelet transform method in multi signal disposition, the demand power of vehicle was decomposed into the stable drive power and the instantaneous response power, which were distributed to engine and electric motor respectively. This process was carried out under different driving modes.

The platooning of connected automated vehicles (CAV) possesses the significant potential of reducing energy consumption in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). Moreover, with the rapid development of eco-driving technology, vehicle platooning can further enhance the fuel efficiency by optimizing the efficiency of the powertrain. Since road grade is a main factor that affects the energy consumption of a vehicle, the estimation of the road grade with high accuracy is the key factor for a connected vehicle platoon to optimize energy consumption using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. Commonly, the road grade is quantified by single consumer grade global positioning system (GPS) with the geodetic height data which is rough and in the meter-level, increasing the difficulty of precisely estimating the road grade.

To reduce the interference and conflict of human-machine cooperative control, lighten the operation workload of drivers, and improve the friendliness and acceptability of intelligent vehicles, a personalized human-machine cooperative lane-change trajectory tracking control method was proposed. First, a lane-changing driving data acquisition test was carried out to collect different driving behaviors of different drivers and form the data pool for the machine learning method. Two typical driving behaviors from an aggressive driver and a moderate driver are selected to be studied. Then, a control structure combined by feedforward and feedback control based on Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) and model-based optimum control was introduced. LSTM is a machine learning method that has the ability of memory. It is used to capture the lane-changing behaviors of each driver to achieve personalization. For each driver, a specific personalized controller is trained using his driving data.

The ever-growing concern to reduce the impact of transportation systems on environment has pushed automotive industry towards fuel-efficient and sustainable solutions. While several approaches have been used to improve fuel efficiency, the light-weighting of automobile components has proven broadly effective. A substantial effort is devoted to lightweighting body-in-white which contributes ~35% of total weight of vehicle. Closure systems, however, have been often overlooked. Closure systems are extremely important as they account for ~ 50% of structural mass and have a very diverse range of requirements, including crash safety, durability, strength, fit, finish, NVH, and weather sealing. To this end, a carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite door is being designed for an OEM’s mid-size SUV, that enables 42.5% weight reduction. In this work, several novel composite door assembly designs were developed by using an integrated design, analysis and optimization approach.

This paper presents a hierarchical control architecture to coordinate a group of connected vehicles on signalized intersection roads, where vehicles are allowed to change lane to follow a prescribed path. The proposed hierarchical control strategy consists of two control levels: a high level controller at the intersection and a decentralized low level controller in each car. In the hierarchical control architecture, the centralized intersection controller estimates the target velocity for each approaching connected vehicle to avoid red light stop based on the signal phase and timing (SPAT) information. Each connected vehicle as a decentralized controller utilizes model predictive control (MPC) to track the target velocity in a fuel efficient manner. The main objective in this paper is to consider mandatory lane changes. As in the realistic scenarios, vehicles are not required to drive in single lane. More specifically, they more likely change their lanes prior to signals.

Modern turbocharged spark-ignition engines are being equipped with an increasing number of control actuators to meet fuel economy, emissions, and performance targets. The response time variations between engine control actuators tend to be significant during transients and necessitate highly complex actuator scheduling routines. Model Predictive Control (MPC) has the potential to significantly reduce control calibration effort as compared to the current methodologies that are based on decentralized feedback control strategies. MPC strategies simultaneously generate all actuator responses by using a combination of current engine conditions and optimization of a control-oriented plant model. To achieve real-time control, the engine model and optimization processes must be computationally efficient without sacrificing effectiveness. Most MPC systems intended for real-time control utilize a linearized model that can be quickly evaluated using a sub-optimal optimization methodology.

Non-linear model predictive engine control (nMPC) systems have the ability to reduce calibration effort while improving transient engine response. The main drawback of nMPC for engine control is the computational power required to realize real-time operation. Most of this computational power is spent linearizing the non-linear plant model at each time step. Additionally, the effectiveness of the nMPC system relies heavily on the accuracy of the model(s) used to predict the future system behavior, which can be difficult to model physically. This paper introduces a hybrid modeling approach for internal combustion engines that combines physics-based and machine learning techniques to generate accurate models that can be linearized with low computational power. This approach preserves the generalization and robustness of physics-based models, while maintaining high accuracy of data-driven models. Advantages of applying the proposed model with nMPC are discussed.