Longitudinal control design of passenger vehicles with second order sliding modes

In this paper a simple variable structure control strategy for cruise and tracking control of vehicles is proposed. It differs from previous proposals appeared in the literature by virtue of its capability of enforcing “second order” sliding regimes, i.e., sliding modes characterized by an identically null derivative of sliding variable. In spite of its variable structure nature, the proposed strategy is designed so as to guarantee a bounded jerk and to avoid too frequent changes between the use of the accelerator and the brake. The control strategy is robust to parameters variations and uncertainties. Simulations results show that it guarantees that a comfortable motion is attained