Trajectory Planning Using Tire Thermodynamics for Automated Drifting

Automated vehicles need to estimate tire-road friction information, as it plays a key role in safe trajectory planning and vehicle dynamics control. Notably, friction is not solely dependent on road surface conditions, but also varies significantly depending on the tire temperature. However, tire parameters such as the friction coefficient have been conventionally treated as constant values in automated vehicle motion planning. This paper develops a simple thermodynamic model that captures tire friction temperature variation. To verify the model, it is implemented into trajectory planning for automated drifting - a challenging application that requires leveraging an unstable, drifting equilibrium at the friction limits. The proposed method which captures the hidden tire dynamics provides a dynamically feasible trajectory, leading to more precise tracking during experiments with an LQR (Linear Quadratic Regulator) controller.