A Robust Scenario MPC Approach for Uncertain Multi-modal Obstacles

Motion planning and control algorithms for autonomous vehicles need to be safe, and consider future movements of other road users to ensure collision-free trajectories. In this paper, we present a control scheme based on Model Predictive Control (MPC) with robust constraint satisfaction where the constraint uncertainty, stemming from the road users’ behavior, is multimodal. The method combines ideas from tube-based and scenario-based MPC strategies in order to approximate the expected cost and to guarantee robust state and input constraint satisfaction. In particular, we design a feedback policy that is a function of the disturbance mode and allows the controller to take less conservative actions. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated through two numerical simulations, where we compare it against a standard robust MPC formulation.