This manuscript presents a control barrier function based approach to shared control for preventing a vehicle from entering the part of the state space where it is unrecoverable. The maximal phase recoverable ellipse is presented as a safe set in the sideslip angle--yaw rate phase plane where the vehicle's state can be maintained. An exponential control barrier function is then defined on the maximal phase recoverable ellipse to promote safety. Simulations demonstrate that this approach enables safe drifting, that is, driving at the handling limit without spinning out. Results are then validated for shared control drifting with an experimental vehicle in a closed course. The results show the ability of this shared control formulation to maintain the vehicle's state within a safe domain in a computationally efficient manner, even in extreme drifting maneuvers.
@article{arxiv.2503.19994,
title = {Control Barrier Functions for Shared Control and Vehicle Safety},
author = {James Dallas and John Talbot and Makoto Suminaka and Michael Thompson and Thomas Lew and Gabor Orosz and John Subosits},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.19994},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
Authors accepted manuscript for 2025 American Control Conference