Performance Analysis of Deep Neural Network Controller for Autonomous Driving Learning from a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Method

Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) is based on a numerical optimization method considering the target system dynamics as constraints. This optimization process requires large amount of computation power and the computation time is often unpredictable which may cause the control update rate to overrun. Therefore, the performance must be carefully balanced against the computational time. To solve the computation problem, we propose a data-based control technique based on a deep neural network (DNN). The DNN is trained with closed-loop driving data of an NMPC. The proposed "DNN control technique based on NMPC driving data" achieves control characteristics comparable to those of a well-tuned NMPC within a reasonable computation period, which is verified with an experimental scaled-car platform and realistic numerical simulations.