Influence of determining the normal reaction on the autonomous vehicle motion

The paper focuses on the modeling of vehicle dynamics. It presents the impact of the method used to determine normal reactions on the motion of an autonomous vehicle. A model with 5 degrees of freedom, formulated in two variants, was considered. In the first variant, normal reactions are assumed to be constant. In the second, the longitudinal roll angle θ is taken into account when determining the reactions. Computer simulations show how the normal reactions change as the vehicle moves. The results of these simulations for both variants were compared with the results from a spatial model with ten degrees of freedom. The conclusions indicate that accounting for the flexibility of the tires and suspension systems through the body roll angle and deflection improves the accuracy of the vehicle’s motion representation, while maintaining similar numerical efficiency.