Autonomous Car Overtake Using Model Predictive Control

Abstract: Autonomous vehicles have in recent years grownin popularity. An autonomous car has the potential to safelymaneuver in an efficient manner. This in combination with thefocus on increased road safety has put higher emphasis onimplementing an overtaking controller. Model Predictive Control(MPC) is very useful because it can handle linear constraintsand works for autonomous driving. I implemented the controlsystem in Python and did tests on its overtake capability usingdifferent velocities, car distances and initial speeds. Constraintswere implemented so that the autonomous vehicle did not collidewith another vehicle or drive outside the road when overtaking.The results show that a safe overtake could be performed undercertain conditions. The MPC algorithm is proven useful butdifficult to optimize.