Reverse Path Following Method of a Tractor-Trailer Vehicle in Real-World Implementation.

The tractor-trailer vehicle is a typical model of unmanned logistics vehicle in factories. The reverse movement of tractor-trailer vehicles is open-loop unstable, which limits its scope of use. In this paper, a practical tractor-trailer vehicle system is designed to realize the automatic reverse path-tracking task for unmanned tractor-trailer logistics vehicles. Firstly, an estimation system based on a single-line LiDAR is designed to measure the link angle. Then, a tracking system based on a cascade control is designed to track the reverse path accurately. Finally, the entire system is configured on a real tractor-trailer vehicle. The experimental results of the real tractor-trailer vehicle show that the system can track any reverse path that meets the kinematic constraints. And the mean absolute error (MAE) of the tracking path is within 25cm after the system is stabilized.