A moving horizon technique for the simulation of automobile test-drives

The test-drive of an automobile along a given test-course can be modeled by formulation of a suitable optimal control problem. For the numerical solution the optimal control problem is discretized by a direct shooting method and transformed into a finite dimensional nonlinear optimization problem. With increasing length of the test-course, the dimension of the nonlinear optimization problem increases as well and its numerical solution becomes very difficult due to stability reasons. Therefore a moving horizon technique with reduced range of vision for the test-driver is introduced. Instead of treating the complete test-course, a comparatively short local sector is considered on which a corresponding local optimal control problem can be solved comfortably. The local solutions are then combined by suitable transient conditions. A numerical example with a realistic car model is given.