Abstract: Safety and comfort of passenger cars are improving steadily. This leads to a reduced number of fatal traffic accidents while the number of driven kilometers per year increases. Several factors are responsible for this development. Among them the application of automatic control plays an important role. Modern automotive control systems can support the driver in critical situations, e.g. by appropriate brake interventions and/or improve the handling and efficiency of cars, e.g. by active steering or intelligent throttle control. In this talk the principles of selected automotive control systems will be discussed. It will be outlined how model-based design techniques can be employed to develop powerful assistance systems for modern passenger cars.

CV: Martin Horn is professor for Control and Mechatronic Systems and head of the Institute for Smart System Technologies at the University Klagenfurt since 2008. His research interests cover nonlinear robust control, modelling, simulation and control of mechatronic systems with automotive applications. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Graz University of Technology . In 2003 he finished his habilitation at the same university and was awarded the venia legendi in “control systems and system dynamics” .