Patent ID: 7509199

Claim:
A method for controlling the steering of a ground vehicle towing an implement to achieve a desired placement of the towed implement on a curved path, comprising: calculating an initial estimate of a required ground vehicle turning radius for the ground vehicle; calculating a steady state implement angle for the towed implement; calculating a steady state implement turning radius for the ground vehicle turn radius; adjusting the initial estimate of a required ground vehicle turning radius for the ground vehicle; determining if the initial estimate of a required ground vehicle turning radius for the ground vehicle has converged; calculating the steady state offset of the ground vehicle; calculating an instantaneous ground vehicle offset, a heading offset and a feed forward steering angle for the ground vehicle; and adjusting the path of the ground vehicle based on the instantaneous ground vehicle offset, the heading offset and the feed forward steering angle for the ground vehicle to allow the towed implement to at least substantially follow the curved path.