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This article presents an autonomous steering control scheme for articulated heavy vehicles (AHVs). Despite economic and environmental benefits in freight transportation, lateral stability is always a concern for AHVs in high-speed highway operations due to their multi-unit vehicle structures, and high centers of gravity (CGs). In addition, North American harsh winter weather makes the lateral stability even more challenging. AHVs often experience amplified lateral motions of trailing vehicle units in high-speed evasive maneuvers. AHVs represent a 7.5 times higher risk than passenger cars in highway operation. Human driver errors cause about 94% of traffic collisions. However, little attention has been paid to autonomous steering control of AHVs.

Slip or relative rotation between the tire and rim is a significant concern for vehicle operation and wheel manufacturing since it leads to wheel imbalance and vibration as well as power losses. A slip situation typically occurs due to improper bead lubrication and mounting, irregularities in the bead seat, and extreme loading conditions with high torques and low tire pressures. Currently, there are relatively few published studies on the tire-rim interface, and they mainly focus on topics such as the mounting process, load transfer, and friction modelling. This leaves a gap to explore the measurement and variation of gross tire-rim slip under the dynamic conditions of a driven tire. In this paper, a previously developed and validated FEA truck tire model was modified to include a frictional contact surface between the tire and rim, and then the slip ratio between the tire and rim was measured under different operating conditions.