Maneuver-based assistance for backing up articulated vehicles

The kinematic behavior of articulated vehicles is complex and hard to control. This coincides with the perception or unskilled drivers, e.g. when they back up their vehicle and the attached camping trailer. Typically, such situations are stressful and adequate forms of assistance would be experienced as a welcome relief. This paper proposes a simple but efficient assistance system which on one hand focusses on the kinematic properties of certain maneuvers and on the other hand is modularized in a way that it can be retrofitted to any articulated vehicle with one-axle trailer. The assistance system has been implemented in a real vehicle and first experiences are already available.