  We propose in this paper a constructive procedure that transforms locally,
even at singular configurations, the kinematics of a car towing trailers into
Kumpera-Ruiz normal form. This construction converts the nonholonomic motion
planning problem into an algebraic problem (the resolution of a system of
polynomial equations), which we illustrate by steering the two-trailer system
in a neighborhood of singular configurations. We show also that the n-trailer
system is a universal local model for all Goursat structures and that all
Goursat structures are locally nilpotentizable.
