California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology

One of the most challenging problems in automated vehicle control is when and how to apply the brakes. In order to deal with such a problem, a good understanding of the dynamical behavior of the braking mechanism is essential. In this report we use experimental data from a series of tests performed in collaboration with Ford research engineers to modelthe brake line pressure to tire brake force subsystem. This model will be used together with that of the master cylinder to line pressure currently under study, for developing an overall model for the braking mechanism. The brake model will later be used for longitudinal control design and automatic vehicle following.