Steeringless Drifting: Differential-Torque Control of a Four-Wheel Independently Driven Vehicle

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2607.24863v1
• Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2026 16:22:39 GMT
• Title: Steeringless Drifting: Differential-Torque Control of a Four-Wheel Independently Driven Vehicle
• Abstract summary: A steering-free four-wheel independently driven vehicle can generate direct yaw moment through differential wheel torques.<n>This paper proposes a differential-torque drift control method for such a vehicle.<n>The proposed approach is validated through simulations and experiments on a 1:10-scale vehicle.
• Score: 22.07104393992196
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Control methods for emerging vehicle chassis architectures are important for autonomous driving near handling limits. Unlike conventional drift control, which relies on mechanical steering and rear-tire saturation, a steering-free four-wheel independently driven (4WID) vehicle can generate direct yaw moment through differential wheel torques. This paper proposes a differential-torque drift control method for such a vehicle. A double-track vehicle model incorporating four-wheel differential actuation is established, based on which a drift-equilibrium calculation method and a closed-loop drift controller are developed. The proposed approach is validated through simulations and experiments on a 1:10-scale vehicle. The results show that the vehicle can achieve steady circular drifting with a sideslip angle of approximately 20$^\circ$ and perform figure-eight drift tracking. This study demonstrates the feasibility of drift control using only differential wheel torques and provides a new perspective on near-limit control for steering-free vehicle architectures.

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