An improved pure pursuit path tracking control method based on heading error rate

Purpose In path tracking, pure pursuit (PP) has great superiority due to its simple control. However, when in agricultural applications, the performance and accuracy of PP are not so well; it cannot be tracked in time has slow convergence, and low tracking accuracy. Furthermore, in some severe driving scenarios, PP is insufficient to convey the effects of the tracking error. This paper aims to propose an autonomous driving controller to improve the PP model based on heading error rate (Improved PP-improved search strategy ant colony optimization [ISSACO]). Design/methodology/approach First, the heading error rate is added as the control method in the PP model. Second, the predicted heading error was selected as the objective function; the ISSACO is used to obtain the minimum value of the predicted heading error. A PP controller is integrated with the heading error rate by ISSACO to better deal with tracking error by trading off between PP and heading error rate. Third, the ISSACO was used to obtain the optimal values of PP and heading error rate weight. Finally, the error feedback adaptive dynamic adjustment of the improved algorithm is realized to reduce the convergence time and tracking error. Findings The proposed method was tested on a four-wheeled vehicle robot, and the effectiveness of its convergence was proved. Experiments show that the proposed method can effectively reduce the tracking error, increase convergence, then improve the robot’s working quality. Originality/value An adaptive improved PP path tracking control is proposed, which considers both heading error rate and parameter uncertainties. The new autonomous controller has a simple structure and is easy to implement. It can be adjusted according to the path tracking status to improve the adaptability of the system.