Versatile Trajectory Optimization Using a LCP Wheel Model for Dynamic Vehicle Maneuvers

Abstract

Car models have been extensively studied at varying levels of abstraction, and planning and executing motions under ideal conditions is well researched and understood. For more aggressive maneuvers, for example when drifting or skidding, empirical and/or discontinuous friction models have been used to explain and approximate real world contact behavior. Separately, contact dynamics have been extensively studied by the robotics community, often times formulated as a linear complementarity problem (LCP) for dynamic multi-rigid-body contact problems with Coulomb friction cone approximations. In this work, we explore the validity of using such an anisotropic Coulomb friction cone to model tire dynamics to plan for vehicle motion, and present a versatile trajectory optimization framework using this model that can both avoid and/or exploit wheel skidding, depending on the cost function and planning horizon. Experimental evidence of planning and executing dynamic drift parking is shown on a 1/16 scale model car.