Lane change decision planning for autonomous vehicles

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kangqiang Ouyang ◽  
Yong Wang ◽  
Yanqiang Li ◽  
Yunhai Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Lane Change

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 End-to-End Automated Lane-Change Maneuvering Considering Driving Style Using a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient Algorithm

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 5443
Author(s):  
Hongyu Hu ◽  
Ziyang Lu ◽  
Qi Wang ◽  
Chengyuan Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
The State ◽  
Steering Wheel ◽  
Lane Change ◽  
Simulation Environment ◽  
Longitudinal Control ◽  
Driving Style ◽  
Lane Changing ◽  
Policy Gradient ◽  
End To End

Changing lanes while driving requires coordinating the lateral and longitudinal controls of a vehicle, considering its running state and the surrounding environment. Although the existing rule-based automated lane-changing method is simple, it is unsuitable for unpredictable scenarios encountered in practice. Therefore, using a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm, we propose an end-to-end method for automated lane changing based on lidar data. The distance state information of the lane boundary and the surrounding vehicles obtained by the agent in a simulation environment is denoted as the state space for an automated lane-change problem based on reinforcement learning. The steering wheel angle and longitudinal acceleration are used as the action space, and both the state and action spaces are continuous. In terms of the reward function, avoiding collision and setting different expected lane-changing distances that represent different driving styles are considered for security, and the angular velocity of the steering wheel and jerk are considered for comfort. The minimum speed limit for lane changing and the control of the agent for a quick lane change are considered for efficiency. For a one-way two-lane road, a visual simulation environment scene is constructed using Pyglet. By comparing the lane-changing process tracks of two driving styles in a simplified traffic flow scene, we study the influence of driving style on the lane-changing process and lane-changing time. Through the training and adjustment of the combined lateral and longitudinal control of autonomous vehicles with different driving styles in complex traffic scenes, the vehicles could complete a series of driving tasks while considering driving-style differences. The experimental results show that autonomous vehicles can reflect the differences in the driving styles at the time of lane change at the same speed. Under the combined lateral and longitudinal control, the autonomous vehicles exhibit good robustness to different speeds and traffic density in different road sections. Thus, autonomous vehicles trained using the proposed method can learn an automated lane-changing policy while considering safety, comfort, and efficiency.

Characterizing Lane Changes via Digitized Infrastructure and Low-Cost GPS

2019 ◽  
Vol 2673 (8) ◽  
pp. 298-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishtiak Ahmed ◽  
Alan Karr ◽  
Nagui M. Rouphail ◽  
Gyounghoon Chun ◽  
Shams Tanvir
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Lateral Displacement ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Lane Change ◽  
Trajectory Data ◽  
Lane Changing ◽  
Lane Changes ◽  
Detection Systems ◽  
Level Information

With the expected increase in the availability of trajectory-level information from connected and autonomous vehicles, issues of lane changing behavior that were difficult to assess with traditional freeway detection systems can now begin to be addressed. This study presents the development and application of a lane change detection algorithm that uses trajectory data from a low-cost GPS-equipped fleet, supplemented with digitized lane markings. The proposed algorithm minimizes the effect of GPS errors by constraining the temporal duration and lateral displacement of a lane change detected using preliminary lane positioning. The algorithm was applied to 637 naturalistic trajectories traversing a long weaving segment and validated through a series of controlled lane change experiments. Analysis of naturalistic trajectory data revealed that ramp-to-freeway trips had the highest number of discretionary lane changes in excess of 1 lane change/vehicle. Overall, excessive lane change rates were highest between the two middle freeway lanes at 0.86 lane changes/vehicle. These results indicate that extreme lane changing behavior may significantly contribute to the peak-hour congestion at the site. The average lateral speed during lane change was 2.7 fps, consistent with the literature, with several freeway–freeway and ramp–ramp trajectories showing speeds up to 7.7 fps. All ramp-to-freeway vehicles executed their first mandatory lane change within 62.5% of the total weaving length, although other weaving lane changes were spread over the entire segment. These findings can be useful for implementing strategies to lessen abrupt and excessive lane changes through better lane pre-positioning.

scholarly journals Human-Like Lane Change Decision Model for Autonomous Vehicles that Considers the Risk Perception of Drivers in Mixed Traffic

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 2259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Wang ◽  
Qinyu Sun ◽  
Zhen Li ◽  
Hongjia Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perception ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Decision Model ◽  
Signal Detection Theory ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Lane Change ◽  
Mixed Traffic ◽  
Driving System ◽  
Lane Changes ◽  
The Subject

Determining an appropriate time to execute a lane change is a critical issue for the development of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs).However, few studies have considered the rear and the front vehicle-driver’s risk perception while developing a human-like lane-change decision model. This paper aims to develop a lane-change decision model for AVs and to identify a two level threshold that conforms to a driver’s perception of the ability to safely change lanes with a rear vehicle approaching fast. Based on the signal detection theory and extreme moment trials on a real highway, two thresholds of safe lane change were determined with consideration of risk perception of the rear and the subject vehicle drivers, respectively. The rear vehicle’s Minimum Safe Deceleration (MSD) during the lane change maneuver of the subject vehicle was selected as the lane change safety indicator, and was calculated using the proposed human-like lane-change decision model. The results showed that, compared with the driver in the front extreme moment trial, the driver in the rear extreme moment trial is more conservative during the lane change process. To meet the safety expectations of the subject and rear vehicle drivers, the primary and secondary safe thresholds were determined to be 0.85 m/s2 and 1.76 m/s2, respectively. The decision model can help make AVs safer and more polite during lane changes, as it not only improves acceptance of the intelligent driving system, but also further ensures the rear vehicle’s driver’s safety.

scholarly journals Lane Change Behavior Modeling for Autonomous Vehicles Based on Surroundings Recognition

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liming Wan ◽  
Pongsathorn Raksincharoensak ◽  
Kozo Maeda ◽  
Masao Nagai
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Behavior Modeling ◽  
Lane Change ◽  
Change Behavior

scholarly journals Validating a Traffic Conflict Prediction Technique for Motorways Using a Simulation Approach

Sensors ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 566
Author(s):  
Nicolette Formosa ◽  
Mohammed Quddus ◽  
Alkis Papadoulis ◽  
Andrew Timmis
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Prediction Algorithm ◽  
Lane Change ◽  
Prediction Ability ◽  
Integrated Simulation ◽  
Traffic Conflict ◽  
Conflict Prediction

With the ever-increasing advancements in the technology of driver assistant systems, there is a need for a comprehensive way to identify traffic conflicts to avoid collisions. Although significant research efforts have been devoted to traffic conflict techniques applied for junctions, there is dearth of research on these methods for motorways. This paper presents the validation of a traffic conflict prediction algorithm applied to a motorway scenario in a simulated environment. An automatic video analysis system was developed to identify lane change and rear-end conflicts as ground truth. Using these conflicts, the prediction ability of the traffic conflict technique was validated in an integrated simulation framework. This framework consisted of a sub-microscopic simulator, which provided an appropriate testbed to accurately simulate the components of an intelligent vehicle, and a microscopic traffic simulator able to generate the surrounding traffic. Results from this framework show that for a 10% false alarm rate, approximately 80% and 73% of rear-end and lane change conflicts were accurately predicted, respectively. Despite the fact that the algorithm was not trained using the virtual data, the sensitivity was high. This highlights the transferability of the algorithm to similar road networks, providing a benchmark for the identification of traffic conflict and a relevant step for developing safety management strategies for autonomous vehicles.

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