Pushing the Performance Limits in Autonomous Racing: Continuous Stability-Aware Adaptive Velocity Planning in Formula Student Driverless

Abstract:In autonomous racing, especially in competitions such as Formula Student Driverless, precise planning of the target velocity of a race car is crucial for competitive lap times and stable driving behavior. Especially at high speeds, Velocity Planning (VP) is a significant challenge as it has to be performed in real time, taking into account track layouts, environmental influences, mechanical tolerances, and the resulting control inaccuracies. In this paper, we present a novel approach to VP that dynamically adapts to such changing conditions. Instead of estimating the physical Tire-Road Friction Coefficient (TRFC), a continuous scaling factor is inferred indirectly from vehicle stability. This factor not only reflects the effective tire-road interaction but also captures effects of control inaccuracies. From this, we generate a continuous friction map, which serves as a robust, adaptive basis for computing the optimal target speed, accounting for both vehicle and environmental limits. Our proposed approach was evaluated on a real Formula Student race car, showing a lap time improvement of 35 % over ten laps and an average increase of 8 % compared to a non-adaptive approach.

Robotics (cs.RO)

arXiv:2606.10733 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2606.10733v2 [cs.RO] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.10733 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

2026 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), 2026, pp. 795-801

https://doi.org/10.1109/IV66570.2026.11623966 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources

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