Autonomous Vehicle Decision Making and Urban Infrastructure Optimization

2021 ◽  
pp. 1190-1202
Author(s):  
George Mudrak ◽  
Sudhanshu Kumar Semwal
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Autonomous Vehicle ◽  
Urban Infrastructure

scholarly journals Hybrid Verification Technique for Decision-Making of Self-Driving Vehicles

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Mohammed Al-Nuaimi ◽  
Sapto Wibowo ◽  
Hongyang Qu ◽  
Jonathan Aitken ◽  
Sandor Veres
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Autonomous Vehicle ◽  
Autonomous Driving ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Model Checker ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Time Operation ◽  
Bdi Agent ◽  
Perception System ◽  
Probability Of Success

The evolution of driving technology has recently progressed from active safety features and ADAS systems to fully sensor-guided autonomous driving. Bringing such a vehicle to market requires not only simulation and testing but formal verification to account for all possible traffic scenarios. A new verification approach, which combines the use of two well-known model checkers: model checker for multi-agent systems (MCMAS) and probabilistic model checker (PRISM), is presented for this purpose. The overall structure of our autonomous vehicle (AV) system consists of: (1) A perception system of sensors that feeds data into (2) a rational agent (RA) based on a belief–desire–intention (BDI) architecture, which uses a model of the environment and is connected to the RA for verification of decision-making, and (3) a feedback control systems for following a self-planned path. MCMAS is used to check the consistency and stability of the BDI agent logic during design-time. PRISM is used to provide the RA with the probability of success while it decides to take action during run-time operation. This allows the RA to select movements of the highest probability of success from several generated alternatives. This framework has been tested on a new AV software platform built using the robot operating system (ROS) and virtual reality (VR) Gazebo Simulator. It also includes a parking lot scenario to test the feasibility of this approach in a realistic environment. A practical implementation of the AV system was also carried out on the experimental testbed.

scholarly journals A Game Theory-Based Approach for Modeling Autonomous Vehicle Behavior in Congested, Urban Lane-Changing Scenarios

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1523
Author(s):  
Nikita Smirnov ◽  
Yuzhou Liu ◽  
Aso Validi ◽  
Walter Morales-Alvarez ◽  
Cristina Olaverri-Monreal
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Autonomous Vehicle ◽  
Urban Traffic ◽  
Road User ◽  
Lane Change ◽  
Traffic Light ◽  
User Interactions ◽  
Lane Changing

Autonomous vehicles are expected to display human-like behavior, at least to the extent that their decisions can be intuitively understood by other road users. If this is not the case, the coexistence of manual and autonomous vehicles in a mixed environment might affect road user interactions negatively and might jeopardize road safety. To this end, it is highly important to design algorithms that are capable of analyzing human decision-making processes and of reproducing them. In this context, lane-change maneuvers have been studied extensively. However, not all potential scenarios have been considered, since most works have focused on highway rather than urban scenarios. We contribute to the field of research by investigating a particular urban traffic scenario in which an autonomous vehicle needs to determine the level of cooperation of the vehicles in the adjacent lane in order to proceed with a lane change. To this end, we present a game theory-based decision-making model for lane changing in congested urban intersections. The model takes as input driving-related parameters related to vehicles in the intersection before they come to a complete stop. We validated the model by relying on the Co-AutoSim simulator. We compared the prediction model outcomes with actual participant decisions, i.e., whether they allowed the autonomous vehicle to drive in front of them. The results are promising, with the prediction accuracy being 100% in all of the cases in which the participants allowed the lane change and 83.3% in the other cases. The false predictions were due to delays in resuming driving after the traffic light turned green.

scholarly journals A Deeper Look at Autonomous Vehicle Ethics: An Integrative Ethical Decision-Making Framework to Explain Moral Pluralism

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimin Rhim ◽  
Ji-Hyun Lee ◽  
Mo Chen ◽  
Angelica Lim
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Autonomous Vehicle ◽  
Moral Dilemma ◽  
Individual Factors ◽  
Ethical Decisions ◽  
Ethical Behavioral Intentions

The autonomous vehicle (AV) is one of the first commercialized AI-embedded robots to make autonomous decisions. Despite technological advancements, unavoidable AV accidents that result in life-and-death consequences cannot be completely eliminated. The emerging social concern of how an AV should make ethical decisions during unavoidable accidents is referred to as the moral dilemma of AV, which has promoted heated discussions among various stakeholders. However, there are research gaps in explainable AV ethical decision-making processes that predict how AVs’ moral behaviors are made that are acceptable from the AV users’ perspectives. This study addresses the key question: What factors affect ethical behavioral intentions in the AV moral dilemma? To answer this question, this study draws theories from multidisciplinary research fields to propose the “Integrative ethical decision-making framework for the AV moral dilemma.” The framework includes four interdependent ethical decision-making stages: AV moral dilemma issue framing, intuitive moral reasoning, rational moral reasoning, and ethical behavioral intention making. Further, the framework includes variables (e.g., perceived moral intensity, individual factors, and personal moral philosophies) that influence the ethical decision-making process. For instance, the framework explains that AV users from Eastern cultures will tend to endorse a situationist ethics position (high idealism and high relativism), which views that ethical decisions are relative to context, compared to AV users from Western cultures. This proposition is derived from the link between individual factors and personal moral philosophy. Moreover, the framework proposes a dual-process theory, which explains that both intuitive and rational moral reasoning are integral processes of ethical decision-making during the AV moral dilemma. Further, this framework describes that ethical behavioral intentions that lead to decisions in the AV moral dilemma are not fixed, but are based on how an individual perceives the seriousness of the situation, which is shaped by their personal moral philosophy. This framework provides a step-by-step explanation of how pluralistic ethical decision-making occurs, reducing the abstractness of AV moral reasoning processes.

Development of Operation Guidelines for Leader–Follower Autonomous Maintenance Vehicles at Work Zone Locations

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110566
Author(s):  
Qing Tang ◽  
Xianbiao Hu ◽  
Ruwen Qin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Autonomous Vehicle ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Work Zone ◽  
Lane Changing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Car Following ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Car Following Model ◽  
Niche Area

The rapid advancement of connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) technologies, although possibly years away from wide application to the general public travel, are receiving attention from many state Departments of Transportation (DOT) in the niche area of using autonomous maintenance technology (AMT) to reduce fatalities of DOT workers in work zone locations. Although promising results are shown in testing and deployments in several states, current autonomous truck mounted attenuator (ATMA) system operators are not provided with much practical driving guidance on how to drive these new vehicle systems in a way that is safe to both the public and themselves. To this end, this manuscript aims to model and develop a set of rules and instructions for ATMA system operators, particularly when it comes to critical locations where essential decision making is needed. Specifically, three technical requirements are investigated: car-following distance, critical lane-changing gap distance, and intersection clearance time. Newell’s simplified car-following model, and the classic lane-changing behavior model are modified, with roll-ahead distance taken into account, to model the driving behaviors of the ATMA vehicles at those critical decision-making locations. Data are collected from real-world field testing to calibrate and validate the developed models. The modeling outputs suggest important thresholds for ATMA system operators to follow. For example, on a freeway with a speed limit of 70 mph and ATMA operating speed of 10 mph, car-following distance should be no less than 75 ft for the lead truck and 100 ft for the follower truck, the critical lane-changing gap distance is 912 ft, and a minimum intersection clearance is 15 s, which are all much higher than the requirements for a general vehicle.

Decision making for highway complex scenario by improved safety field with learning process

2021 ◽  
pp. 095440702110532
Author(s):  
Can Xu ◽  
Wanzhong Zhao ◽  
Jingqiang Liu ◽  
Feng Chen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Moving Objects ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Autonomous Vehicle ◽  
Kinematic Model ◽  
Action Sequence ◽  
Decision Algorithm ◽  
The Road

To improve the agility and efficiency of the highway decision-making system and overcome the local optimal dilemma of the existing safety field, this paper builds an improved safety field to reflect the advantage of the reachable states and the learning process is further employed to make the decision long-term optimal. Firstly, the improved safety field is prepared by the kinematic model-based prediction of surrounding vehicles and the boundary is determined elaborately to ensure real-time performance. Then, the field is constructed by three individual fields. One is the kinematic field, which is built based the safe-distance model to measure the colliding risk of both moving or no-moving objects accurately. Another is the road field that reflects the lane-marker constraint. The last is the efficiency field, which is introduced creatively to improve efficiency. Furthermore, the learning algorithm is adopted to learn the long-term optimal state-action sequence in the safety field. Finally, the simulations are conducted in Prescan platform to validate the feasibility of the improved safety field in complex scenarios. The results show that the proposed decision algorithm can always drive autonomous vehicle to the state with a long-term optimal payoff and can improve the overall performance compared to the existing pure safety field and the interaction-aware method.

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