This paper focuses on the path following control problems for autonomous driving vehicles. Aiming at enhancing the robustness and attenuating the chattering phenomenon, a super-twisting sliding mode control algorithm (STA) is developed based on Lyapunov theory, where the proof of the stability of the control system is presented by applying the backstepping technique. Moreover, co-simulation between Matlab/Simulink and Carsim is carried out to verify the path following control performance. In this research, Stanley controller, conventional sliding mode control (SMC), and model predictive control (MPC) are used as the benchmark controllers for evaluating the proposed STA performance. Two driving scenarios are considered in the simulations, including normal driving and fierce driving. To comprehensively assess the control performance and control effort (i.e. magnitude of steering), an integrated and weighted performance evaluation index \left ({IWPEI }\right) is novelly provided. Simulation results show that the IWPEI of the proposed STA can be reduced by 40.5%, 25.8%, 10.9% in the normal driving scenario; and 62.5%, 24%, 6.8% in the fierce driving scenario as compared with Stanley controller, conventional SMC, and MPC, respectively. The results also indicate that the proposed STA outperforms the conventional SMC in terms of the chattering attenuation, resulting in a smoother front steering wheel angle input and a smoother yaw rate performance. As compared with MPC, the advantage of the proposed STA lies in its much lower computational complexity. Furthermore, the robustness of the controllers is verified by changing the vehicle mass and tire parameters. The proposed STA can reduce the fluctuation of the IWPEI by 22.6%, 22.3%, and 5.9% compared with the benchmark approaches. These results imply that the consideration of system perturbations is very critical in the design of the super-twisting sliding mode controller which can improve the robustness of the autonomous vehicle path following system.