This paper proposes a novel controller for automatic voltage regulator (AVR) system. The controller is a four term control type consisting of proportional, integral, derivative, and second order derivative terms (PIDD2). The four parameters of the proposed controller are optimized using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The performance of the proposed PIDD2 is compared with various PID controllers tuned by modern heuristic optimization algorithms. In addition, a comparison with the fractional order PID (FOPID) controller tuned by Chaotic Ant Swarm (CAS) algorithm is also performed. Furthermore, a frequency response, zero-pole map, and robustness analysis of the AVR system with PIDD2 is performed. Practical implementation issues of the proposed controller are also addressed. Simulation results showed a superior response performance of the PIDD2 controller in comparison to PID and FOPID controllers. Moreover, the proposed PIDD2 can highly improve the system robustness with respect to model uncertainties.