Design of lane tracking controller for motorcycles

This study examines a lane tracking control system for motorcycles to develop a lane keeping assistance system. We apply the optimal control theory based on a model-based control to the controller to follow a desired lane. By examining computer simulation using a simplified vehicle model, a good lane tracking performance is realized by evaluating the lateral displacement of gravity in the cost function of the optimal control. The tracking performance is improved by increasing the weight for the lateral displacement of the center of gravity. Furthermore, evaluating the lateral displacement at the virtual point ahead of the vehicle, which is defined by synthesizing the lateral displacement of the vehicle gravity and the yawing angle, copes with both lane tracking performance and convergence with suppressing undesirable yawing motion.