Efficient Learning of Vehicle Controller Parameters via Multi-Fidelity Bayesian Optimization: From Simulation to Experiment

Parameter tuning for vehicle controllers remains a costly and time-intensive challenge in automotive development. Traditional approaches rely on extensive real-world testing, making the process inefficient. We propose a multi-fidelity Bayesian optimization approach that efficiently learns optimal controller parameters by leveraging both low-fidelity simulation data and a very limited number of real-world experiments. Our approach significantly reduces the need for manual tuning and expensive field testing while maintaining the standard two-stage development workflow used in industry. The core contribution is the integration of an auto-regressive multi-fidelity Gaussian process model into Bayesian optimization, enabling knowledge transfer between different fidelity levels without requiring additional low-fidelity evaluations during real-world testing. We validate our approach through both simulation studies and real-world experiments. The results demonstrate that our method achieves high-quality controller performance with only very few real-world experiments, highlighting its potential as a practical and scalable solution for intelligent vehicle control tuning in industrial applications.