Since their introduction, anti-lock braking systems (ABS) have mostly relied on heuristic, rule-based control strategies. ABS performance, however, can be significantly improved thanks to many recent technological developments. This work presents an extensive review of the state of the art to verify such a statement and quantify the benefits of a new generation of wheel slip control (WSC) systems. Motivated by the state of the art, as a case study, a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) design based on a new load-sensing technology was developed. The proposed ABS was tested on Toyota's high-end vehicle simulator and was benchmarked against currently applied industrial controller. Additionally, a comprehensive set of manoeuvres were deployed to assess the performance and robustness of the proposed NMPC design. The analysis showed substantial reduction of the braking distance and better steerability with the proposed approach. Furthermore, the proposed design showed comparable robustness against external factors to the industrial benchmark.

Since several decades anti-lock braking systems rely on rule-based control strategies. Extensive literature review highlighted the possibility that significant improvements could be achieved if ABS controllers were redesigned taking advantage of the technological improvements achieved in the last decade. This work aims to verify this statement and quantifying the potential improvement by design of a novel ABS algorithm. The controller, based on state-of-the-art hardware, uses a Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach and potentially available wheel information as the pillars of its design. The newly proposed ABS is then tested on Toyota's high-end vehicle simulator and benchmarked against its industrial counterpart. A comprehensive set of manoeuvres, including friction jumps and rough road braking scenarios, is deployed to assess performance and robustness of the presented design. The analysis showed substantial reduction of the braking distance and improved steering-ability. Furthermore, robustness against external factors is demonstrated to be comparable with the industrial benchmark.