Integration of motion planning and model-predictive-control-based control system for autonomous electric vehicles

This paper introduces the development of an autonomous driving system in autonomous electric vehicles, which consists of a simplified motion-planning program and a Model-Predictive-Control-Based (MPC-based) control system. The motion-planning system is based on polynomial parameterization, which computes a path toward the expected longitudinal and lateral positions within required time interval in real scenarios. Then the MPC-based control system cooperates the front steering and individual wheel torques to track the planned trajectories, while fulfilling the physical constraints of actuators. The proposed system is evaluated through simulation, using a seven-degrees-of-freedom vehicle model with a ‘magic formula’ tire model. The simulations and validation through CarSim show that the proposed planner algorithm and controller are feasible and can achieve requirements of autonomous driving in normal scenarios.