Linear motor is easily affected by load disturbance, force ripple, friction, and parameter variations because there is no mechanical transmission to reduce the effects of model uncertainties and external disturbance. These nonlinear effects have been reduced for high-speed/high-accuracy position control either through the better motor design or via the better control algorithm that can compensate the nonlinear effects. In this paper, a nonlinear adaptive control algorithm is designed and applied for the position control of permanent magnet linear synchronous motor. In order to estimate and compensate the nonlinear effects such as friction and force ripple, the estimation and the nonlinear adaptive control laws are derived based on the virtual control input and a suitable Lyapunov function. The proposed controller is evaluated through the computer simulations. The control algorithm is also implemented to a DSP board and interfaced to the PMLSM for verifying the realtime control performance.