This book demonstrates the use of the optimization techniques that are becoming essential to meet the increasing stringency and variety of requirements for automotive systems. It shows the reader how to move away from earlierapproaches, based on some degree of heuristics, to the use ofmore and more common systematic methods. Even systematic methods can be developed and applied in a large number of forms so the text collects contributions from across the theory, methods and real-world automotive applications of optimization.

Greater fuel economy, significant reductions in permissible emissions, new drivability requirements and the generally increasing complexity of automotive systems are among the criteria that the contributing authors set themselves to meet. In many cases multiple and often conflicting requirements give rise to multi-objective constrained optimization problems which are also considered. Some of these problems fall into the domain of the traditional multi-disciplinary optimization applied to system, sub-system or component design parameters and is performed based on system models; others require applications of optimization directly to experimental systems to determine either optimal calibration or the optimal control trajectory/control law.

"Optimization and Optimal Control in Automotive Systems "reflects the state-of-the-art in and promotes a comprehensive approach to optimization in automotive systems by addressing its different facets, by discussing basic methods and showing practical approaches and specific applications of optimization to design and control problems for automotive systems. The book will be of interest both to academic researchers, either studying optimization or who have links with the automotive industry and to industrially-based engineers and automotive designers."

There is a growing interest in applying model predictive control techniques to automotive systems, often for different reasons: the simple handling of constraints, the easy use of preview information or the flexibility of the method. Some long-standing problems with this approach, like the high computational burden, have been solved or at least substantially mitigated.

Even so, many issues remain to be elucidated, and, at the same time, papers and results in the increasingly rich literature are not always comparable.

Against this background, the proceedings of the Automotive Model Predictive Control: Models, Methods and Applications workshop investigates whether constrained predictive control is reasonable in automotive control and what is necessary for its application. The workshop, held at the University of Linz on 9th 10th February 2009 brought together workers from academia and industry from three key automotive branches: modeling, control and the application. The workshop included three keynote presentations, each of them contributing to the solution of an essential question.

Which problems in automotive applications need constrained optimal control?

Models of emissions for modern engines for model based control?

Industrial methods and requirements for control schemes?

The results of testing control strategies on a dynamical engine test bench give a feeling for the necessary computing power, the model plant mismatch, etc. and thus for the real application of control laws in production cars."