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. INDEX TERMS Road vehicles, vehicle safety, antilock braking system, wheel slip control, model predictive control.

Over the past century, cars have become a fundamental part of our society. With the increasingly larger number of vehicles on the road, safety is, now more than ever, a topic of paramount importance. It is estimated that every year 26,000 people are killed on European roads, corresponding to a social cost of 100 billion euros. In the last two decades, awareness about this issue has however increased substantially, and great effort is now put into improving these numbers.