Research on steering-by-wire mode switching and control method of corner module vehicle

The steering forms such as crab steering and four-wheel steering that can be realized by corner module vehicles have not been smoothly switched and efficiently utilized in the actual driving process. This paper proposes a multi-steering mode switching and control method for corner module vehicles. The steering mode switching method of corner module vehicle based on instantaneous steering center switching is established, and the smooth switching between different steering modes is realized. A model predictive control method based on nonlinear tire model (LTV–MPC) is designed for four-wheel steering, and an integral sliding mode control method (ISMC) is designed for crab steering to track yaw rate and sideslip angle in real time. The steering mode switching and control method of the proposed corner module vehicle is verified by Simulink–CarSim co-simulation. The results show that the proposed steering mode switching and control method can realize the smooth switching of the steering mode of the corner module vehicle and can effectively control the yaw rate and sideslip angle of each steering mode.