MPC for an Ackermann Car

Key Insight

Control an Ackermann steering car around a racetrack using a kinematic bicycle model within a Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework. Unlike simpler robots, a car-like vehicle has a minimum turning radius and cannot slide sideways, introducing nonholonomic constraints to the path tracking challenge. The MPC solver handles these constraints by optimizing steering inputs over a rolling time horizon, minimizing deviation from the centerline while respecting physical limits.