A Novel Energy-Saving Steering Control Strategy Based on General Power Model for Multiaxle Steer-by-Wire Vehicles

The driving range of multiaxle steer-by-wire vehicles is significantly affected by the consumption of vehicle cornering resistance power (VCRP). This article addresses this issue by proposing a novel energy-saving steering control strategy to effectively reduce VCRP by optimizing slip angle. Initially, a general VCRP model is developed to establish a relationship between VCRP and the slip angles of each tire. Later, an adaptive nonsingular terminal sliding mode control method is proposed to balance control energy and state errors. In addition, an energy-saving steering angle optimization method is proposed based on the VCRP model, which achieves an optimal steering angle configuration by optimizing the slip angle. The efficacy of the proposed control strategy in energy-saving is evaluated by hardware-in-the-loop tests. The experimental results exhibit noteworthy reductions of more than 21% and 45% in VCRP under both high-friction and low-friction conditions of high speed, respectively, compared to the traditional Ackerman steering control strategies while maintaining excellent steering stability.