Autonomous Overtaking with Learning Model Predictive Control

Abstract: We review recent research into trajectory planning for autonomous overtaking to understand existing challenges. Then, the recently developed framework Learning Model Predictive Control (LMPC) is presented as a suitable method to iteratively improve an overtaking manoeuvre each time it is performed. We present recent extensions to the LMPC framework to make it applicable to overtaking. Furthermore, we also present two alternative modelling approaches with the intention of reducing computational complexity of the optimization problems solved by the controller. All proposed frameworks are built from scratch in Python3 and simulated for evaluation purposes. Optimization problems are modelled and solved using the Gurobi 9.0 Python API gurobipy. The results show that LMPC can be successfully applied to the overtaking problem, with improved performance at each iteration. However, the first proposed alternative modelling approach does not improve computational times as was the intention. The second one does but fails in other areas.