Effects of Electronic Control Systems on Autonomous Vehicle Performance in Granular Terrain

Jelinek, B., Dickerson, W., Card, A., Henley, G., Mason, G. L., Salmon, J. E., Gibson, C. M., Hannis, T., Skorupa, T., Cole, M., Priddy, J., Figueroa-Santos, M., Boyle, S., & Mange, J. (2025). Effects of Electronic Control Systems on Autonomous Vehicle Performance in Granular Terrain. In Susan Frankenstein, Massimo Martelli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 55th Conference of the ISTVS. Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA: ISTVS. DOI:10.56884/FV0FI0QP.

Understanding the effects of electronic control systems, such as Antilock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC), and their interaction with the steering control algorithm is critical for improving mobility and maneuverability of autonomous wheeled vehicles in off-road environments. In this work, we evaluate the effects of wheel-speed based ABS and yaw-rate-following ESC on the performance of an autonomously-driven Polaris vehicle performing a double-lane-change (DLC) maneuver in granular terrain. The performance is evaluated in terms of the maximum speed at which the vehicle can pass the DLC test. Two lateral speed controllers are compared: a simple PID and a Stanley autonomous steering controller, along with the longitudinal speed controller that accelerates the vehicle to identify the maximum DLC passing speed. The simulations were conducted using the Chrono simulation package with the Soil Contact Model (SCM). The SCM parameters based on dry sand soil bin measurements were chosen from published literature. The ABS effects were found to be negligible or detrimental, while the ESC augmented the lateral steering control algorithm allowing the vehicle to achieve higher DLC passing speeds.