{"691798":{"#nid":"691798","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Defense by Zhiyuan Zhang","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETitle\u003C\/strong\u003E: Real-Time Game-Theoretic Control for Autonomous Racing and Driving\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDate\u003C\/strong\u003E: Thursday, August 20th, 2026\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETime\u003C\/strong\u003E: 2PM ET\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELocation\u003C\/strong\u003E: Montgomery Knight 325 or \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/meetup-join\/19%3ameeting_MjU1NjQ5NTEtNzE1ZS00ZjNjLWI5MzAtNzVmYzVkODE2ZWMz%40thread.v2\/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%225e1db3a7-5d3c-4296-aaed-6758d9dfa883%22%7d\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/meetup-join\/19%3ameeting_MjU1NjQ5NTEtNzE1ZS00ZjNjLWI5MzAtNzVmYzVkODE2ZWMz%40thread.v2\/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%225e1db3a7-5d3c-4296-aaed-6758d9dfa883%22%7d\u0022\u003ETeams\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZhiyuan Zhang\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERobotics Ph.D. Candidate\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDaniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee\u003C\/strong\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Panagiotis Tsiotras (advisor) \u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Kyriakos Vamvoudakis \u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Yongxin Chen\u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Glen Chou \u2013 \u0026nbsp;School of Cybersecurity \u0026amp; Privacy, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Sarah Li \u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExisting dynamic-game solvers can achieve promising practical performance by solving the first-order optimality conditions of a GNE. However, these methods face several challenges: they must operate within real-time control budgets, may converge to non-equilibrium saddle points, and typically return only one of several possible local equilibria.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis dissertation develops computational methods addressing these limitations. It introduces structured Newton and residual-descent solvers that exploit temporal sparsity and active constraints; an inertia-based method for efficiently verifying second-order optimality; and structural modifications that reduce attraction to saddle-type stationary points. It further develops an operator-splitting method that exploits near-potential game structure to accelerate equilibrium computation, as well as a particle-based framework for representing multiple equilibria and coordinating among them through Bayesian belief updates. The proposed methods are evaluated through numerical benchmarks and physical multi-vehicle experiments using the BuzzRacer autonomous racing platform, demonstrating real-time game-theoretic planning in tightly constrained and strategically interactive scenarios.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EReal-Time Game-Theoretic Control for Autonomous Racing and Driving\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Real-Time Game-Theoretic Control for Autonomous Racing and Driving"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2026-08-19 14:37:58","changed_gmt":"2026-08-19 14:38:30","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-08-20T14:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-08-20T16:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-08-20T16:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-08-20 18:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-08-20 20:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-08-20 20:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Montgomery Knight 325 or Teams","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"100811","name":"Phd Defense"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}