Emergency collision avoidance maneuver based on nonlinear model predictive control

In this study, nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) is proposed for performing emergency collision avoidance maneuvers. NMPC is employed as a high-level controller that simultaneously controls the longitudinal and the lateral vehicle motion. The designed emergency collision avoidance controller considers the constraints of maximum wheel steering angle and maximum acceleration. NMPC predicts vehicle position using open-loop dynamics and calculates the optimized wheel steering control input and acceleration control input. A collision avoidance maneuver that does not consider vehicle dynamics may not avoid obstacles. In the worst case, it may transition into another dangerous situation. The performance of the proposed collision avoidance maneuver is simulated in Matlab/Simulink and CarSim, a realistic commercial simulation software.