Adapting Generalist Vehicle Models for High-Speed MPC Across Terrains

arXiv cs.AI · 18 hours ago

OptCar is a method for adapting generalist vehicle dynamics models to specific platforms while maintaining performance across different terrains, using history-conditioned adaptation and limited real-world data combined with synthetic training. The approach achieves a 55% reduction in trajectory tracking error at 6 meters per second on high-slip terrain compared to a baseline, requiring only 5 minutes of real data per terrain. The adapted model enables model predictive control systems to handle high-speed off-road autonomy with better generalization to unseen conditions than specialist models trained on more extensive single-terrain data.