Direct Yaw Moment Control of Distributed-Drive Electric Vehicles via Multi-Agent Full-Order Terminal Sliding Mode

Abstract

To improve the yaw-stability tracking accuracy and torque smoothness of distributed-drive electric vehicles (DDEVs) under high-speed double-lane-change maneuvers and crosswind disturbances, this paper proposes a multi-agent-system (MAS)-based direct yaw moment control (DYC) method using full-order terminal sliding mode (FOTSM) control. First, based on the vehicle yaw dynamics model and the vector superposition principle, the whole-vehicle yaw-rate and sideslip-angle responses are decomposed into the local contributions of four wheel agents. A leader–follower MAS tracking framework is then established, in which the yaw-stability reference model acts as the virtual leader, and the four wheel agents act as followers. Second, the yaw-rate error and sideslip-angle error are combined into an aggregated tracking error, thereby transforming yaw-stability control into a second-order nonlinear MAS tracking problem. A FOTSM DYC law is designed, and Lyapunov analysis proves that the closed-loop error system reaches the sliding surface and converges within finite time. Finally, hardware-in-the-loop experiments are conducted under double-lane-change maneuvers with and without crosswind disturbance. Compared with the uncontrolled case and a conventional MAS-based linear sliding mode controller, the proposed method reduces yaw-rate and sideslip-angle deviations, improves trajectory-tracking performance, maintains yaw stability under crosswind disturbance, and suppresses wheel-driving-torque chattering.