Obstacle Avoidance of Semi-Trailers Based on Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

Abstract

Obstacle avoidance is a core part of the autonomous driving of off-road vehicles, such as semi-trailers. Due to the long length of semi-trailers, the traditional obstacle avoidance controller based on the circumcircle model can ensure that there is no collision between the semi-trailer and the obstacle, but it also greatly reduces the passable area. To solve this problem, we propose a new obstacle avoidance model. In this model, the distance between the obstacle and the middle line of semi-trailers is used as the indicator of obstacle avoidance. Based on this model, we design a new obstacle avoidance controller for semi-trailers. The simulation results show that the proposed controller can ensure that no collision occurs between the semi-trailer and the obstacle. The minimum distance between the obstacle center and the semi-trailer body trajectory is greater than the sum of the obstacle radius and the safety margin. Compared with the traditional obstacle avoidance controller based on the circumcircle model, the proposed controller greatly reduces the error between the semi-trailer and the reference path during obstacle avoidance.