Automatic control of moving body, e.g. automobile - uses camera to monitor road to allow comparison of vehicle position with required path for steering control

摘要

The automatically steered vehicle (W) has front wheel steering (6) provided by a control system that depends upon a video camera (1) to provide road information to a processor (2) coupled to an identification unit (3). This connects via a target path unit (4) to the control computer (5). The target path is defined in the form of a curve and points on this are related to actual position. Distances and angles are determined and used to generate a command for the steering input. ADVANTAGE - Accurate control of vehicle path. Vehicle does not meander about target path.