Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to perform observer based control of a vehicle are disclosed. An example apparatus includes an error module to calculate a difference between a first state of a vehicle and a second state of the vehicle, the second state based on a measurement from a sensor, an observer module to determine a third state of the vehicle based on the difference, a baseline control module to generate a first command based on the third state, and a vehicle module to execute the first command to control the vehicle.