ON A NEW DRIVER MODEL WITH FUZZY CONTROL

I. Kageyama* and H. B . Pacejka

Nihon University, College of Industrial Technology,

Department of Mechanical Engineering

SUMMARY
This paper constitutes the first step in developing a new driver model. This model includes
mental influence as a risk from the environment which a driver uses to decide his course
and also to decide the inputs to the vehicle, not only steering but also fore and aft force. A
fuzzy control method is used to decide the risk level, and to control the vehicle as an expert
system.
The calculation results show that this driver model is able to control a mathematical
vehicle model such as an ordinary driver-vehicle system, and is useful for the investigation
of vehicle handling and stability.
1. Introduction

Recently, for shortening the development period and development of some new complex
additional systems for vehicle handling, for example the 4WS system, torque controlled
4WD, ABS, traction control, active suspension systems, and also these integrated in a
control system, not only stability checks of the total vehicle system including the driver, but
also evaluation for matching the parameters of these systems, are required. Moreover, the
evaluation of the matching of fundamental parts of the vehicle, such as tires, suspension,
etc.. are also required.
Also, it is necessary to have a way to describe the skill level of drivers for not only the
above analysis but also analysis of traffic accidents and of safe driving instructions for
beginners.

Purpose
Fowzd . Decision of Vehicle Behavior
View the Course

: :

Fig. 1 Driving process

 As the first step in the research in these fields, theoretical analysis to use a driver model
with an expert system, is probably one of the most valid and safe methods. Many kinds of
driver model have been developed and used for this purpose. However, most of these are
too simple to use for total evaluation of the driver-vehicle system. One of the main reasons
for this is the lack of nonlinearity in the description of the driver task, and another reason is
the absence of the mental influence on the driver from environment, for example from
obstacles, road width, the boundary condition of the road shoulder, road curvature, etc..
Therefore, this paper mes to make the first step in developing a new driver model including
these missing aspects.
The general idea of the driving process is shown in Fig. 1. In this figure, the driver's task
is separated into two parts, the course decision process and the course tracking process.
From examination of each process, this paper proposes the total driving algorithm with
some assumptions.

Vehicle Position ( rn )

Fig.2 Effects of the vehicle position from the edge of the road

Vehicle Speed ( kmh )

Fig.3 Amplitude of lateral displacement on a straight course

 I , I I I I
0 ?O 40 60 80 100 120
Vehicle Speed ( kmh )

Fig.4 Effects of vehicle speeds

2. COURSE DECISION PROCESS

When a driver decides on a course on a road with forward view, he needs to get some
information from the environment. In this paper, we assume that the main information is
the risk feeling of the driver from the forward view, called the "risk level". However, it is
impossible for us to measure the quantity of the risk level. Then, based on the assumption
that the risk level has high correlation with increased heart rate, the heart rate of the driver
is measured in several situations. Fig.:! shows increasing heart rate as the vehicle nears the
edge of the road. It seems that this quantity increases exponentially.
Fig.3 shows average values of total amplitude and their standard deviations of lateral
displacement on a straight course, by means of what resemble the "remnant". From this
figure it is clear that decrease of the average values is accompanied by increase of vehicle
speed. The increase of heart rate in the same condition is shown in Fig.4. It is found that
the quantity also increases exponentially, and the average value of the lateral position is just
at the center of this road which has 3.5m width set on the center of a flat test ground ( 30m
width ). This result means that driver selects the course with the minimum risk level.
According to these results, the risk level on a forward view is adopted in the course deci-
sion process, and is classified into 4 parts, from the left hand side of the road shoulder, from
the right hand side, from the farther view such as curves, and from obstacles, as shown in
Fig.5. These risk levels are described by exponential functions, and parameters of the
function, such as amplitude, time constant, etc., are functions of velocity, boundary condi-
tion, road width, road condition, etc., and are decided by fuzzy reasoning. The desired
course is described by minimum risk level. As an example of risk level on a road, a calcu-
lation result for contour line of risk level on a 90-degree-turn course is shown in Fig.6.

3. COURSE TRACKING PROCESS

In the tracking task, the information from the state variables of the vehicle enables the
driver to control the vehicle in lateral, fore and aft directions. There are four kinds of
process, feedforward control, feedback control for tracking course, motion feedback control
for stabilization of the vehicle, and fore and aft control with accelerator or brake. As it
seems that the main action of the tracking tasks are feedback control for tracking, and fore
and aft control, this paper deals with these processes.

LIERIVATION OF COURSE DEVIATION AT VIEW POINT

In a tracking task, a driver needs to derive some state variables as feedback information. In
this paper, we adopt an assumption in R e f . l l which is that the driver derives an error
signal between the desired path given by the minimum risk level and the vehicle's actual
path given by textural streamer field on a viewpoint.
Fig.7 is the result of streamer field analysis using an image processor. Fig.A is a picture
of forward view at a standstill, and Fig.B is the binary data thereof. Fig.C is the binary data
of the forward view in the same place at 50 km/h taken with 1/15 second shutter speed, and

I Allowable level ' I

\: \I
I ---------J
v
( Max. Composition ) - ( Allowable level )

A- -
Result

Fig.5 Element of the risk level

4
Fig.6 Risk level on a 90-degree-turn course
the lines of the binary data indicate the vehicle's future course. As a human's recognition
speed for visual information is more than 1115 second, it seems reasonable that this assump-
tion be adopted. Then, on the visual level, it should be'easy for a driver to derive not only
the deviation but also the rate thereof as feedback information for vehicle control. As a
nonlinear function of a deviation and its rate, the information of risk level at the viewpoint
is used for the feedback.
VIEWPOINT DECISION

Normallv. in a driver -vehicle svstem, a viewooint is fixed between 2 and 3 seconds for-
u,ard orcause of totzl system stah:!lt!. llouever, on a c:lrve, sometimes i t ts impos~tbleto
ma1nt31ni t bemuse of bl~ndnesson the ro3d shoulder SIC?. Expecmentnl results ob:~~:ed in
this situation with an eye camera show that the viewpoint is~usuallyfixed at a tangential
point on the inner side of the curve. Therefore, in this model the viewpoint is fixed at this
point for driving on a curve.

(B) Binary data of the forward view (C) Binary data of the fonvard view ( 50km/h)
Fig.7 Streamer field analysis
 Disturbance
I n
I

Behnviour

Fig.8 Driver-vehicle-environment system

MANNER OF VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

In passing through a tight curve or in obstacle avoidance, normally the driver reduces the
vehicle speed for safety. This action for safety is intended to reduce the risk level at the
viewpoint and the present position. Thus we assume that the command for braking or
increasing the speed is a function of the minimum risk level at the viewpoint.
-
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF DRIVER VEHICLE ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM -
A block diagram of a driver-vehicle-environment system is shown in Fig.8. The driver
decides the desired steering angular velocity in his mind by the risk level and its rate at the
viewpoint with fuzzy control method, and controls the steering wheel by steering torque
with the desired steering angular velocity and present steering angle. The driver derives his
desired steering angular velocity by inner feedback loop. In this paper, the fuzzy control
method is introduced for a further expert driver model. The membership functions are quite
simple, with only three elements, the right hand side, the left hand side, and zero. The rela-
tionship between inputs and output is describedby quasi-linear function.
4. VEHICLE MODEL

In this paper, a vehicle model with upper and lower steering parts and a mathematical tire
model are used for some example calculations. The equations of motion of a vehicle are as
follows:

The slip angle at each wheel is as follows:

Sakai's tire model (121 is used for calculation.

5. CALCULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
RESPONSE TO SIDE-WIND GUST

Responses to side-wind gust are calculated with this driver model and are shown in Fig.9.
The only parameter of this calculation is road width of 4m, 8m and 20m. The side-wind
gust, which has 0.5kN force and 0.25kNm moment, is added for 1 second. The results on
wider road have smaller inputs, bigger lateral deviation, and longer period response be-
cause of lower risk level. In this calculation, as the initial lateral position is center of the
road, the responses to side-wind gusts at left and right side are symmetrical with respect to
the road center. However, in the ordinary situation, the driver should keep to the left-hand
side or the right-hand side on the road depending on the situation. Therefore, the values of
the risk levels toward the left and right sides are different.
Fig.10 shows the responses to left and right side wind gusts in running keeping on the
left-hand side of a 6m width road. There is enough room for the driver to escape on the
right-hand side of the road, but there is almost no room to escape on the left-hand side.
Thus the response to each side-wind gust is unsymmetrical with respect to the initial course.
From these results, it seems that this driver model expresses the ordinary driver's control
behavior in this situation.

Fig.9 Responses to side-wind gust Fig.10 Responses to side-wind gust

toward road width toward gust direction
PASSING THROUGH A 90-DEGREE-TURN COURSE

Responses from a straight course through a 90-degree-turn course to a straight course on

8m road width are calculated with this driver model and are shown in Fig.11. The parame-
ter of this calculation is the stability factor 0 s2/m2( neutral steer ), 1.5*10-3 s2jm2, and
3.0*10-3 s2jm2. Each C.G. locus on the road, yaw response, and C.G. side-slip response are
almost the same even with a different stability factor. Therefore, it is clear that the total
response of this driver - vehicle - environment system has almost the same behavior even if
the vehicle characteristics are very different. 'These results express the ordinary driver's
control qualitatively.
The next analysis is almost the same except for the coefficient of road friction, 0.4 static
p and 0.3 dynamic p. In this situation, this vehicle cannot pass through the course at 2 0 d s .
Therefore, the driver has to conaol the fore and aft force while passing through the curve.
The analytical results of this condition are shown in Fig.12. The driver can pass through
the course with control of fore and aft forces by minimum risk level. These results also
express the ordinary driver's control.

COMPARISON BETWEEN 4WS AND 2WS WITH THIS DRIVER MODEL

The results of passing through a 90-degree-turn course are almost the same even with
different steering systems, 4WS and 2WS. Therefore, both responses to side-wind gust are

Fig.11 Effects of the stability factor

shown in Fig.13. It is found that these responses controlled by this driver model are almost
the same except for a lateral displacement of C.G.. Thbdifference represents the differ-
ence of present risk level between the two systems. Therefore, these results provide the
possibility of developing the method of such evaluation.

6. CONCLUSION
This paper describes the algorithm of a new driver model using fuzzy theory. The conclu-
sions of this study can be summarized as follows:
(1) A course decision process with the risk level derived from visual information is pro-
posed.
(2) A course tracking process with risk level feedback on a viewpoint is proposed.
(3) Conbol of view length during passage through a curve is proposed.
(4) Speed control with minimum risk level is proposed.
(5) The calculation results of this driver - vehicle - environment system are similar qualita-
tively to ordinary driver control.
In the next stage, we need to decide the risk level qualitatively and quantitatively, with
experimental results, and also to establish membership functions from interviews with
many ordinary drivers.

Fig. 12 Effects of the coefficient of road friction

NOTATIONS
vehicle mass
moment of inertia of vehicle
moment of inertia of steering upper part
moment of inertia of steering lower part
longitudinal force of front tire
longitudinal force of rear tire
lateral force of front tire
lateral force of rear tire
steering torque
distance from C.G. to front axle
distance from C.G. to rear axle
trail of front tire
overall steering gear ratio
coefficient of viscosity of steering upper part
coefficient of viscosity of steering lower part
torsional spring constant of steering shaft

j o 1 2 3 4 5
Time ( s )

Fig.13 Effects of the steering system

 front wheel angle
slip angle of front tire
slip angle of rear tire
steering wheel angle
slip angle of C.G.
yaw velocity
vehicle forward velocity
vehicle lateral velocity

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