Finite-Time Robust Path-Following Control of Perturbed Autonomous Ground Vehicles Using a Novel Self-Tuning Nonsingular Fast Terminal Sliding Manifold

This work presents a finite-time robust path-following control scheme for perturbed autonomous ground vehicles. Specifically, a novel self-tuning nonsingular fast-terminal sliding manifold that further enhances the convergence rate and tracking accuracy is proposed. Then, uncertain dynamics and external disturbances are estimated by a high-gain disturbance observer to compensate for the designed control input. Successively, a super-twisting algorithm is incorporated into the final control law, significantly mitigating the chattering phenomenon of both the input control signal and the output trajectory. Furthermore, the global finite-time convergence and stability of the whole proposed control algorithm are proven by the Lyapunov theory. Finally, the efficacy of the proposed method is validated with comparisons in a numerical example. It obtains high control performance, reduced chattering, fast convergence rate, singularity avoidance, and robustness against uncertainties.