The role of path continuity in lateral vehicle control

Motion planning and tracking control are generally developed separately for autonomous vehicle's navigation. Paths are often designed to satisfy the kinematics of the vehicle. Geometric singularities in the reference trajectory deteriorate the performance of the path tracking controller. An integrated approach is needed in autonomous robotics research to account for the influence of the path properties on the controller behavior. The current research considers the controller performance and resulting stability and disturbances of the vehicle. The compound effect of planning and tracking control is investigated in this article. Systematic changes to the vehicle velocity, desired maneuver and tracking algorithm are made to evaluate the role of path planning continuity on the vehicle's dynamic responses and controller's performance. This research validates previous literature that showed enhancement in controller performance by using continuous reference trajectories. Our findings suggest that the use of cubic parametrically continuous spline paths improves passenger comfort and enhance vehicle's stability. The experimental results report a 90% reduction in both lateral acceleration and side slip.