The CMU Robotics Institute has published a new paper by Jarrod M. Snider, "Automatic Steering Methods for Autonomous Automobile Path Tracking" (PDF format). This 78 page paper compares a variety of tracking models and control algorithms for robots with car-like steering mechanisms. Topics covered include geometric path tracking, path tracking using kinematics, and path tracking using a dynamic model. The Conclusion? "The performance results, analysis and comparison of tracking methods ultimately reveal that none of the approaches work well in all applications." The author suggests that combining several methods may give a more useful result in the real world.