Steeringless Drifting: Differential-Torque Control Enables 20° Sideslip on 4WID Vehicle
A new control method lets a four-wheel-drive vehicle drift without a steering wheel.
Researchers Sheng Zhao, Zexin Wu, Dongyang Zhou, Bolin Zhao, and Xiaodong Wu published a paper on arXiv (2607.24863) demonstrating that a four-wheel independently driven (4WID) vehicle can execute controlled drifts without any mechanical steering. Conventional drift control relies on steering angle and rear-tire saturation, but this approach uses only differential wheel torques to generate direct yaw moment. The team developed a double-track vehicle model incorporating four-wheel differential actuation, a drift-equilibrium calculation method, and a closed-loop drift controller.
Validation came from simulations and experiments on a 1:10-scale vehicle. Results showed steady circular drifting with a sideslip angle of approximately 20 degrees and successful figure-eight drift tracking. This research provides a new perspective on near-limit control for emerging steering-free vehicle architectures, potentially enabling simpler, lighter autonomous vehicle designs that use torque vectoring for both normal and aggressive maneuvering.
- Steering-free 4WID vehicle achieves steady circular drift with ~20° sideslip angle using only differential torque control.
- Double-track vehicle model and closed-loop controller validated on a 1:10-scale prototype.
- Demonstrates feasibility of near-limit autonomous driving without mechanical steering components.
Why It Matters
Enables simpler, lighter autonomous vehicle designs by eliminating steering hardware, using torque vectoring for all lateral control.