Two-stage auxiliary drifting path tracking control for distributed driving three-axle commercial vehicles

When maneuvering corners at high speeds, commercial vehicles experience significant sideslip angles and tire force saturation, which can lead to severe traffic accidents. Incorporating intelligent driving technology to develop a controllable scheme that surpasses stability constraints and maintains the vehicle in a drift state is crucial for enhancing driving safety. Therefore, based on the model characteristics of distributed drive three-axle(DDTA) commercial vehicles, a two-stage auxiliary drift controller is proposed. In the auxiliary drift stage, time-varying model predictive control (MPC) is employed to track the desired states and achieve steady-state drift path tracking under extreme working conditions. A two-stage controller switching strategy is implemented based on road information. In the yaw stability control stage, an advanced auxiliary system facilitates cooperative control to smoothly restore tire attachment and vehicle yaw. Simulation results demonstrate that the control strategy ensures consistent path tracking performance even when adhesion of the middle and rear axle saturates and peak vehicle sideslip angle reaches 32.09°. After completing the drifting, vehicle yaw successfully returns to a stable state. Subsequently, miniaturized vehicle tests qualitatively analyze relevant conclusions by elucidating transient instability evolution in vehicles subjected to steering and distributed drive. The controllable stability boundary of the vehicle is thus expanded, thereby enhancing the engineering feasibility of drift technology.