Online Learning-Informed Feedforward-Feedback Controller Synthesis for Path Tracking of Autonomous Vehicles

High-performance path tracking is a key technology for autonomous vehicles. Feedforward-feedback control architectures are suitable for accurate path tracking with adequate margins of stability. For system modelling in the feedforward component, the learning-based method has been proven to be a promising approach owing to its model-free framework. However, the offline-learned data model trained with collection data is confined by its feature space, resulting in insufficient generalization. As a solution, in this study, we introduce an online learning network – the recurrent high-order neural network (RHONN) – to characterize vehicle behaviors. The RHONN is used to feature vehicle behaviors in a timely manner with a high fidelity and flexible form. The equilibrium at the preview point on the desired path is found based on the online-identified RHONN model, and its induced steering angle is taken as the feedforward command. For the feedback steering controller, the preview point position-based control law incorporating the steady vehicle sideslip angle is adopted to enhance the stability performance. Finally, in the CarSim/Simulink environment, the performance of the designed RHONN-informed feedforward and feedback controller is validated in two typical scenarios – double-lane change and single-turn. The validation results reveal that the proposed approach offers better tracking accuracy in linear and nonlinear regions than other techniques. More notably, the average execution time (3.55 ms) is less than the sampling frequency of the controller (50 ms), which further confirms the applicability and efficiency of the proposed approach.