LPV-MP planning for autonomous racing vehicles considering obstacles

Abstract

In this paper, we present an effective online planning solution for autonomous vehicles that aims at improving the computational load while preserving high levels of performance in racing scenarios. The method follows the structure of the model predictive (MP) optimal strategy where the main objective is to maximize the velocity while smoothing the dynamic behavior and fulfilling varying constraints. We focus on reformulating the non-linear original problem into a pseudo-linear problem by convexifying the objective function and reformulating the non-linear vehicle equations to be expressed in a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) form. In addition, the ability of avoiding obstacles is introduced in a simple way and with reduced computational cost.We test and compare the performance of the proposed strategy against its non-linear approach through simulations. We focus on testing the performance of the trajectory planning approach in a racing scenario. First, the case of free obstacles track and afterwards a scenario including static obstacles. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy by reducing the algorithm elapsed time while finding appropriate trajectories under several input/state constraints.