Robust control design for vehicle steer-by-wire systems

As a part of the by-wire technologies in automobile industry, the Steer-by-Wire (SbW) technology has been playing an important role in the development of modern vehicles. The basic idea of SbW systems is to use a steering motor rather than the driver to generate the steering torque to steer front wheels, and a feedback motor to generate feedback torques for drivers to have ‘road feels’. The SbW technology possesses several remarkable merits, such as the enhancement of vehicle’s stability and manoeuvrability, less environmental concerns and the elimination of the injury to a driver when there is a front-end car collision. In this thesis, a dynamic model of a vehicle SbW system is identified, several advanced and effective control methods are proposed for the SbW system, and satisfactory control performances are obtained. The work described by this thesis will contribute to the development of modern vehicle steering technologies and the development of future transportation.