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VDCWorkbench: A Source-Available Modelica Toolbox for Research and Education on Vehicle Dynamics and Control

delete2026-06-19
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OA
AI
J
Jonathan Brembeck
R
Ricardo de Castro
J
Johannes Rein
I
Iman Ebrahimi
J
Johannes Ultsch
C
Christoph Winter
K
Kenan Ahmic
DOI:10.1109/ojvt.2026.3705616delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Software-defined vehicles (SDVs) require modular and transparent simulation tools for safety-critical control system development and validation. This paper introduces <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VDCWorkbench</i>, a source-available Modelica library for vehicle dynamics, control, and energy management, tailored for electric and SDV architectures. The library integrates mechanical, electrical, thermal, and control domains in a unified framework, enabling seamless modeling of battery-electric, hybrid, fuel-cell, and over-actuated by-wire vehicles. The paper demonstrates the versatility of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VDCWorkbench</i> through four use cases: (1) Benchmarking of energy management algorithms facilitating the evaluation of diverse energy management strategies for hybrid electric vehicles; (2) Benchmarking of path following controllers, showcasing the library’s ability to compare geometric and predictive control algorithms for automated vehicle guidance; (3) Hybrid reinforcement learning controllers, illustrating how <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VDCWorkbench</i> can be integrated with data-driven methods, such as residual reinforcement learning, to enhance traditional model-based control approaches; and (4) Educational applications, highlighting its successful integration of the library into university courses to provide hands-on experience in vehicle dynamics modeling and control. The <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VDCWorkbench</i> library is publicly available on GitHub, offering researchers, engineers, and educators a customizable, transparent, and vendor-independent platform for advancing electric vehicles (EV) dynamics, SDV architectures, and Artificial Inteligence(AI)-driven vehicle control.
Keywords:
Vehicle dynamics control
deep reinforcement learning
vehicle dynamics simulation
electric vehicle
functional mockup interface

Journal

I
IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology
IF:
4.8
Papers:
493
Citations:
987

Organization

U
university of california merced
Scholars:
163
Papers: 104
Citations: 0
D
dlr institute of vehicle concepts
Scholars:
6
Papers: 1
Citations: 0
Cited Papers

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