Torque-vectoring control in fully electric vehicles via integral sliding modes

This paper discusses an integral sliding mode algorithm for yaw rate control of a torque-vectoring fully electric vehicle with individually controlled motor drives. The overall control structure is presented and the integral sliding mode formulation is derived starting from the yaw moment balance equation of the vehicle. The performance of the controller, continuously active in order to track a set of reference understeer characteristics, is evaluated against that of the baseline vehicle (i.e. the vehicle without yaw rate control) in ramp steer and step steer maneuvers. Simulation results show a good tracking of the reference yaw rate deriving from the adoption of the integral sliding mode controller. Moreover, ease of implementation and robustness against model uncertainties make this controller particularly suitable for this type of application.