mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Autonomous Vehicles on the Edge: A Survey on Autonomous Vehicle Racing

arXiv 2202.07008 ↗First posted 14 Feb 2022cs.RO cs.SEcited by 56

On the map: End-to-end autonomous driving → Reinforcement learning for driving

Abstract (arXiv)

The rising popularity of self-driving cars has led to the emergence of a new research field in the recent years: Autonomous racing. Researchers are developing software and hardware for high performance race vehicles which aim to operate autonomously on the edge of the vehicles limits: High speeds, high accelerations, low reaction times, highly uncertain, dynamic and adversarial environments. This paper represents the first holistic survey that covers the research in the field of autonomous racing. We focus on the field of autonomous racecars only and display the algorithms, methods and approaches that are used in the fields of perception, planning and control as well as end-to-end learning. Further, with an increasing number of autonomous racing competitions, researchers now have access to a range of high performance platforms to test and evaluate their autonomy algorithms. This survey presents a comprehensive overview of the current autonomous racing platforms emphasizing both the software-hardware co-evolution to the current stage. Finally, based on additional discussion with leading researchers in the field we conclude with a summary of open research challenges that will guide future researchers in this field.

Key facts. Cited by 56 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Reinforcement learning for driving, one of 9 directions in End-to-end autonomous driving. Builds on 75 of its 249 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 14 Feb 2022.

Builds on

75 of 249 references.

References · 75

  1. 2017CARLA: An Open Urban Driving Simulatorcited by 2,431
  2. 2016OpenAI Gymcited by 1,684
  3. 2018World Modelscited by 1,444
  4. 2020LGSVL Simulator: A High Fidelity Simulator for Autonomous Drivingcited by 119
  5. 2017Information Theoretic Model Predictive Control: Theory and Applications to Autonomous Drivingcited by 81
  6. 2020Super-Human Performance in Gran Turismo Sport Using Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 60
  7. 2017Optimization-Based Autonomous Racing of 1:43 Scale RC Carscited by 47
  8. 2021Autonomous Overtaking in Gran Turismo Sport Using Curriculum Reinforcement Learningcited by 41
  9. 2018End-to-End Race Driving with Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 38
  10. 2019An Online Learning Approach to Model Predictive Controlcited by 29
  11. 2019AMZ Driverless: The Full Autonomous Racing Systemcited by 28
  12. 2019Stochastic Dynamic Games in Belief Spacecited by 23
38 more
  1. 2021Learning Inverse Kinodynamics for Accurate High-Speed Off-Road Navigation on Unstructured Terraincited by 23
  2. 2021Learn-to-Race: A Multimodal Control Environment for Autonomous Racingcited by 23
  3. 2021Vision-Based Autonomous Car Racing Using Deep Imitative Reinforcement Learningcited by 21
  4. 2020High-speed Autonomous Drifting with Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 20
  5. 2021Deep Latent Competition: Learning to Race Using Visual Control Policies in Latent Spacecited by 20
  6. 2017A Non-Cooperative Game Approach to Autonomous Racingcited by 18
  7. 2019MuSHR: A Low-Cost, Open-Source Robotic Racecar for Education and Researchcited by 17
  8. 2021Robust Model Predictive Path Integral Control: Analysis and Performance Guaranteescited by 17
  9. 2018Adaptive MPC for Iterative Taskscited by 15
  10. 2019Learning How to Autonomously Race a Car: a Predictive Control Approachcited by 14
  11. 2020Multilayer Graph-Based Trajectory Planning for Race Vehicles in Dynamic Scenarioscited by 14
  12. 2017Cautious NMPC with Gaussian Process Dynamics for Autonomous Miniature Race Carscited by 13
  13. 2018Ensemble Bayesian Decision Making with Redundant Deep Perceptual Control Policiescited by 13
  14. 2019F1/10: An Open-Source Autonomous Cyber-Physical Platformcited by 13
  15. 2019DeepRacer: Educational Autonomous Racing Platform for Experimentation with Sim2Real Reinforcement Learningcited by 13
  16. 2020Learning from Simulation, Racing in Realitycited by 12
  17. 2019Perceptual Attention-based Predictive Controlcited by 11
  18. 2020Optimization-Based Hierarchical Motion Planning for Autonomous Racingcited by 11
  19. 2020Accurate, Low-Latency Visual Perception for Autonomous Racing:Challenges, Mechanisms, and Practical Solutionscited by 11
  20. 2020FormulaZero: Distributionally Robust Online Adaptation via Offline Population Synthesiscited by 10
  21. 2021Formula RL: Deep Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Racing using Telemetry Datacited by 10
  22. 2017Real-Time Control for Autonomous Racing Based on Viability Theorycited by 8
  23. 2016Autonomous Racing using Learning Model Predictive Controlcited by 7
  24. 2018Vision-Based High Speed Driving with a Deep Dynamic Observercited by 7
  25. 2020DeepRacing: Parameterized Trajectories for Autonomous Racingcited by 7
  26. 2021Towards End-to-End Deep Learning for Autonomous Racing: On Data Collection and a Unified Architecture for Steering and Throttle Predictioncited by 7
  27. 2021Game-Theoretic Model Predictive Control with Data-Driven Identification of Vehicle Model for Head-to-Head Autonomous Racingcited by 7
  28. 2016Sampling-based Algorithms for Optimal Motion Planning Using Closed-loop Predictioncited by 6
  29. 2017Autonomous Racing with AutoRally Vehicles and Differential Gamescited by 6
  30. 2017Aggressive Deep Driving: Model Predictive Control with a CNN Cost Modelcited by 6
  31. 2019Explorations and Lessons Learned in Building an Autonomous Formula SAE Car from Simulationscited by 6
  32. 2020BayesRace: Learning to race autonomously using prior experiencecited by 6
  33. 2019Real-time 3D Traffic Cone Detection for Autonomous Drivingcited by 5
  34. 2021Gaussian Process-based Stochastic Model Predictive Control for Overtaking in Autonomous Racingcited by 5
  35. 2018Autonomous Driving System Design for Formula Student Driverless Racecarcited by 4
  36. 2019Locally Weighted Regression Pseudo-Rehearsal for Online Learning of Vehicle Dynamicscited by 4
  37. 2020End-to-End Velocity Estimation For Autonomous Racingcited by 4
  38. 2020Minimum Race-Time Planning-Strategy for an Autonomous Electric Racecarcited by 4

50 most cited of 75 All 75 (JSON)

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2022: 6; 2023: 14; 2024: 14; 2025: 13; 2026: 9.

56 papers.

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  1. 2023HM-ViT: Hetero-modal Vehicle-to-Vehicle Cooperative perception with vision transformercited by 70
  2. 2025Foundation Models in Autonomous Driving: A Survey on Scenario Generation and Scenario Analysiscited by 37
  3. 2022V2XP-ASG: Generating Adversarial Scenes for Vehicle-to-Everything Perceptioncited by 28
  4. 2023MEGA-DAgger: Imitation Learning with Multiple Imperfect Expertscited by 17
  5. 2024A Super-human Vision-based Reinforcement Learning Agent for Autonomous Racing in Gran Turismocited by 12
  6. 2022A Benchmark Comparison of Imitation Learning-based Control Policies for Autonomous Racingcited by 11
  7. 2022High-Speed Accurate Robot Control using Learned Forward Kinodynamics and Non-linear Least Squares Optimizationcited by 9
  8. 2023How Safe Am I Given What I See? Calibrated Prediction of Safety Chances for Image-Controlled Autonomycited by 8
  9. 2023Learning Terrain-Aware Kinodynamic Model for Autonomous Off-Road Rally Driving With Model Predictive Path Integral Controlcited by 7
  10. 2024IFTR: An Instance-Level Fusion Transformer for Visual Collaborative Perceptioncited by 7
  11. 2022TC-Driver: Trajectory Conditioned Driving for Robust Autonomous Racing -- A Reinforcement Learning Approachcited by 6
  12. 2023Deep Dynamics: Vehicle Dynamics Modeling with a Physics-Constrained Neural Network for Autonomous Racingcited by 6
38 more
  1. 2024Autonomous Driving Small-Scale Cars: A Survey of Recent Developmentcited by 6
  2. 2022Learn-to-Race Challenge 2022: Benchmarking Safe Learning and Cross-domain Generalisation in Autonomous Racingcited by 4
  3. 2023Residual Policy Learning for Vehicle Control of Autonomous Racing Carscited by 4
  4. 2023Data-efficient Deep Reinforcement Learning for Vehicle Trajectory Controlcited by 4
  5. 2023A Tricycle Model to Accurately Control an Autonomous Racecar with Locked Differentialcited by 4
  6. 2024TinyLidarNet: 2D LiDAR-based End-to-End Deep Learning Model for F1TENTH Autonomous Racingcited by 4
  7. 2025A Champion-level Vision-based Reinforcement Learning Agent for Competitive Racing in Gran Turismo 7cited by 4
  8. 2024BeTAIL: Behavior Transformer Adversarial Imitation Learning from Human Racing Gameplaycited by 3
  9. 2024Sampling-Based Motion Planning with Online Racing Line Generation for Autonomous Driving on Three-Dimensional Race Trackscited by 3
  10. 2024Developing Path Planning with Behavioral Cloning and Proximal Policy Optimization for Path-Tracking and Static Obstacle Nudgingcited by 3
  11. 2025Predictive Uncertainty for Runtime Assurance of a Real-Time Computer Vision-Based Landing Systemcited by 3
  12. 2023er.autopilot 1.0: The Full Autonomous Stack for Oval Racing at High Speedscited by 2
  13. 2024EVD4UAV: An Altitude-Sensitive Benchmark to Evade Vehicle Detection in UAVcited by 2
  14. 2024Sampling for Model Predictive Trajectory Planning in Autonomous Driving using Normalizing Flowscited by 2
  15. 2024A Simulation Benchmark for Autonomous Racing with Large-Scale Human Datacited by 2
  16. 2024AARK: An Open Toolkit for Autonomous Racing Researchcited by 2
  17. 2025A Simple Approach to Constraint-Aware Imitation Learning with Application to Autonomous Racingcited by 2
  18. 2026Analyzing the Impact of Simulation Fidelity on the Evaluation of Autonomous Driving Motion Controlcited by 2
  19. 2023Sense, Imagine, Act: Multimodal Perception Improves Model-Based Reinforcement Learning for Head-to-Head Autonomous Racingcited by 1
  20. 2023Towards Optimal Head-to-head Autonomous Racing with Curriculum Reinforcement Learningcited by 1
  21. 2023Partial End-to-end Reinforcement Learning for Robustness Against Modelling Error in Autonomous Racingcited by 1
  22. 2024Mixed-Reality Digital Twins: Leveraging the Physical and Virtual Worlds for Hybrid Sim2Real Transition of Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Policiescited by 1
  23. 2025Fast and Realistic Automated Scenario Simulations and Reporting for an Autonomous Racing Stackcited by 1
  24. 2026Efficient Real-World Autonomous Racing via Attenuated Residual Policy Optimizationcited by 1
  25. 2022Game-theoretic Objective Space Planningcited by 0
  26. 2023Enhancing Robot Learning through Learned Human-Attention Feature Mapscited by 0
  27. 2023Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for Cooperative and Competitive Autonomous Vehicles using AutoDRIVE Ecosystemcited by 0
  28. 2024F1tenth Autonomous Racing With Offline Reinforcement Learning Methodscited by 0
  29. 2024Camera-Based Localization and Enhanced Normalized Mutual Informationcited by 0
  30. 2025Fair Play in the Fast Lane: Integrating Sportsmanship into Autonomous Racing Systemscited by 0
  31. 2025MIND-Stack: Modular, Interpretable, End-to-End Differentiability for Autonomous Navigationcited by 0
  32. 2025Self driving algorithm for an active four wheel drive racecarcited by 0
  33. 2025Learning to Drift with Individual Wheel Drive: Maneuvering Autonomous Vehicle at the Handling Limitscited by 0
  34. 2025Spatial Envelope MPC: High Performance Driving without a Referencecited by 0
  35. 2025Reinforcement Learning-based Dynamic Adaptation for Sampling-Based Motion Planning in Agile Autonomous Drivingcited by 0
  36. 2025Context-Aware Model-Based Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Racingcited by 0
  37. 2025Accelerating Real-World Overtaking in F1TENTH Racing Employing Reinforcement Learning Methodscited by 0
  38. 2026Opponent State Inference Under Partial Observability: An HMM-POMDP Framework for 2026 Formula 1 Energy Strategycited by 0

50 most cited of 56 All 56 (JSON)

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Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2021Autonomous Racing using a Hybrid Imitation-Reinforcement Learning Architecture
  2. 2023End-to-end Autonomous Driving: Challenges and Frontiers
  3. 2026From Virtual Environments to Real-World Trials: Emerging Trends in Autonomous Driving
  4. 2024Towards an Autonomous Test Driver: High-Performance Driver Modeling via Reinforcement Learning
  5. 2024Autonomous Driving at Unsignalized Intersections: A Review of Decision-Making Challenges and Reinforcement Learning-Based Solutions
  6. 2024World Models for Autonomous Driving: An Initial Survey
  7. 2025Foundation Models for Autonomous Driving Perception: A Survey Through Core Capabilities
  8. 2021Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Autonomous Driving: A Comprehensive Overview and Field Guide for Future Research Directions