Active stabilisation of a car-trailer system by means of torque vectoring

The addition of a trailer to a vehicle introduces significant changes to its dynamic behaviour. Therefore, the response of the vehicle to driver inputs and external excitation differ and are in turn functions of the parameters of the system. The lateral response of the system is of significant interest as unfavourable conditions may lead to instability in the system. The instability introduced may cause the vehicle to stray from the intended path, and in extreme situations may even cause the vehicle to topple over. This instability may be introduced by means of manoeuvres performed by the driver, such as a lane change, or may even be triggered by external factors such as lateral forces arising because of wind. This phenomenon has been studied in-depth, and numerous active systems have been proposed. However, the systems in use exploit brake distribution in the wheels of the vehicle. Electric vehicles with independent motors provide the opportunity of achieving the same through torque vectoring. This paper proposes a feedback-loop control system as an active driver assistance system that enables stabilisation of the system by means of torque vectoring for an independent motor two-wheel drive electric vehicle.