VeMo: A Lightweight Data-Driven Approach to Model Vehicle Dynamics

Abstract--Developing a dynamic model for a high-performance vehicle is a complex problem that requires extensive structural information about the system under analysis. This information is often unavailable to those who did not design the vehicle and represents a typical issue in autonomous driving applications, which are frequently developed on top of existing vehicles; therefore, vehicle models are developed under conditions of information scarcity. This paper proposes a lightweight encoder-decoder model based on Gate Recurrent Unit layers to correlate the vehicle's future state with its past states, measured onboard, and control actions the driver performs. The results demonstrate that the model achieves a maximum mean relative error below 2.6% in extreme dynamic conditions. It also shows good robustness when subject to noisy input data across the interested frequency components. Furthermore, being entirely data-driven and free from physical constraints, the model exhibits physical consistency in the output signals, such as longitudinal and lateral accelerations, yaw rate, and the vehicle's longitudinal velocity. N the automotive sector developing a representative vehicle dynamics model is a complex and multifaceted challenge [1]-[3]. Numerous nonlinear factors influence vehicle dynamics, including tire characteristics, suspension geometry, aerodynamics, drivetrain effects, and external environmental factors, such as road surface grip conditions and climatic effects (e.g., wind). Accurately capturing these effects in a computational model requires high-fidelity multibody simulation software and a profound understanding of the vehicle system.