In this paper, we present a novel formulation to model the effects of a locked differential on the lateral dynamics of an autonomous open-wheel racecar. The model is used in a Model Predictive Controller in which we included a micro-steps discretization approach to accurately linearize the dynamics and produce a prediction suitable for real-time implementation. The stability analysis of the model is presented, as well as a brief description of the overall planning and control scheme which includes an offline trajectory generation pipeline, an online local speed profile planner, and a low-level longitudinal controller. An improvement of the lateral path tracking is demonstrated in preliminary experimental results that have been produced on a Dallara AV-21 during the first Indy Autonomous Challenge event on the Monza F1 racetrack. Final adjustments and tuning have been performed in a high-fidelity simulator demonstrating the effectiveness of the solution when performing close to the tire limits.

翻译：本文提出了一种新颖的公式化建模方法，用于描述锁定差速器对自主开轮赛车横向动力学的影响。该模型被应用于模型预测控制器中，我们采用微步离散化方法精确线性化动力学特性，并生成适用于实时实现的预测结果。本文展示了模型的稳定性分析，以及包含离线轨迹生成管线、在线局部速度剖面规划器和底层纵向控制器的整体规划与控制架构的简要描述。在蒙扎F1赛道首次独立挑战赛期间，基于Dallara AV-21赛车的初步实验结果证明了横向路径跟踪的改进效果。最终调整与参数优化在高保真仿真器中完成，验证了该方案在接近轮胎极限工况下的有效性。