Autonomous Driving Technology Research Articles

Low‐Speed Control Experiment of Motorcycles Using SPACAR Model

The main stream of development of autonomous driving technology (ADT) is for four‐wheel motor vehicles. ADT for motorcycles has received scant attention. The motorcycle stability tends to diminish when being driven at extremely low speed. This study addresses how a motorcycle should be stabilized under low‐speed driving. To obtain a linearized motorcycle model without skidding, we introduce a model based on SPACAR, a finite element method computation program. Moreover, velocity‐dependent gain‐scheduling linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is applied. The experimental results demonstrate stabilized driving responses at 1.5 km/h, which is slower than a person's typical walking speed. © 2021 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Train here, drive there: ROS based end-to-end autonomous-driving pipeline validation in CARLA simulator using the NHTSA typology

Urban complex scenarios are the most challenging situations in the field of Autonomous Driving (AD). In that sense, an AD pipeline should be tested in countless environments and scenarios, escalating the cost and development time exponentially with a physical approach. In this paper we present a validation of our fully-autonomous driving architecture using the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) protocol in the CARLA simulator, focusing on the analysis of our decision-making module, based on Hierarchical Interpreted Binary Petri Nets (HIBPN). First, the paper states the importance of using hyper-realistic simulators, as a preliminary help to real test, as well as an appropriate design of the traffic scenarios as the two current keys to build safe and robust AD technology. Second, our pipeline is introduced, which exploits the concepts of standard communication in robotics using the Robot Operating System (ROS) and the Docker approach to provide the system with isolation, flexibility and portability, describing the main modules and approaches to perform the navigation. Third, the CARLA simulator is described, outlining the steps carried out to merge our architecture with the simulator and the advantages to create ad-hoc driving scenarios for use cases validation instead of just modular evaluation. Finally, the architecture is validated using some challenging driving scenarios such as Pedestrian Crossing, Stop, Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Unexpected Pedestrian. Some qualitative (video files: Simulation Use Cases) and quantitative (linear velocity and trajectory splitted in the corresponding HIBPN states) results are presented for each use case, as well as an analysis of the temporal graphs associated to the Vulnerable Road Users (VRU) cases, validating our architecture in simulation as a preliminary stage before implementing it in our real autonomous electric car.

Latent heterogeneity in autonomous driving preferences and in-vehicle activities by travel distance

Autonomous driving technologies (ADTs) are transformative because they are expected to assume the task of driving. Since travel distance is closely related to the burden of driving, it is expected to affect the ADT preference; however, this effect has not been investigated in the transportation literature. Therefore, this study is designed to investigate the ADT preference and heterogeneity with respect to different travel distances. Hypothetical choice situations were designed to investigate people's ADT preferences over human driving for varying travel distances. Using the stated preference data collected via the experiments, four latent class models were estimated for heterogeneity across classes and travel distances. The estimation results show that three classes, we labeled as competitive, autonomous vehicle oriented, human-driven vehicle oriented, are revealed by the ADT preference, regardless of the travel distance. In addition, in-vehicle activities in hypothetical autonomous driving situations were observed across all the classes and travel distances.

Technological Cooperation Network Analysis through Patent Analysis of Autonomous Driving Technology

Technological Cooperation Network Analysis through Patent Analysis of Autonomous Driving Technology

Possibility of Introducing Autonomous Driving Technology to Administrative Services in Rural Areas

Possibility of Introducing Autonomous Driving Technology to Administrative Services in Rural Areas

자율주행 기술 기반 농어촌용 셔틀버스 디자인 연구

자율주행 기술 기반 농어촌용 셔틀버스 디자인 연구

도심 자율주행을 위한 통합 시스템 연구 및 적용

도심 자율주행을 위한 통합 시스템 연구 및 적용

A Few Critical Human Factors for Developing Sustainable Autonomous Driving Technology

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework that can identify critical human factors (HFs) that can generate human errors and, consequently, accidents in autonomous driving level 3 situations. Although much emphasis has been placed on developing hardware and software components for self-driving cars, interactions between a human driver and an autonomous car have not been examined. Because user acceptance and trust are substantial for the further and sustainable development of autonomous driving technology, considering factors that will influence user satisfaction is crucial. As autonomous driving is a new field of research, the literature review in other established fields was performed to draw out these probable HFs. Herein, interrelationship matrices were deployed to identify critical HFs and analyze the associations between these HFs and their impact on performance. Age, focus, multitasking capabilities, intelligence, and learning speed are selected as the most critical HFs in autonomous driving technology. Considering these factors in designing interactions between drivers and automated driving systems will enhance users’ acceptance of the technology and its sustainability by securing good usability and user experiences.

System of Requirements and Testing Procedures for Autonomous Driving Technologies

This article is dedicated to the subject of autonomous driving technologies’ testing system development for the purposes of technology certification on local market with respect to the local operational peculiarities and road safety aspects. The overview of UNECE document ‘Proposal for the Future Certification of Automated/Autonomous Driving Systems’ (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRVA/2019/13) is presented. Proposals for critical testing scenarios localization and complex virtual tests conduction are introduced, practical results are presented.

Review of Autonomous Driving Technology Utilized in Underground Mines

Review of Autonomous Driving Technology Utilized in Underground Mines

An Observation on Alterations of Usability in Automobile Interior Design with Autonomous Driving Technology Escalation

An Observation on Alterations of Usability in Automobile Interior Design with Autonomous Driving Technology Escalation

Evolution of Autonomous Driving Technology

Evolution of Autonomous Driving Technology

Honda's Driving Assistance and Autonomous Driving Technologies at Present and in Future

Honda's Driving Assistance and Autonomous Driving Technologies at Present and in Future

Extensive Tests of Autonomous Driving Technologies

This paper presents the vision of the Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Laboratory (VisLab) on future automated vehicles, ranging from sensor selection up to their extensive testing. VisLab's design choices are explained using the BRAiVE autonomous vehicle prototype as an example. BRAiVE, which is specifically designed to develop, test, and demonstrate advanced safety applications with different automation levels, features a high integration level and a low-cost sensor suite, which are mainly based on vision, as opposed to many other autonomous vehicle implementations based on expensive and invasive sensors. The importance of performing extensive tests to validate the design choices is considered to be a hard requirement, and different tests have been organized, including an intercontinental trip from Italy to China. This paper also presents the test, the main challenges, and the vehicles that have been specifically developed for this test, which was performed by four autonomous vehicles based on BRAiVE's architecture. This paper also includes final remarks on VisLab's perspective on future vehicles' sensor suite.

On droplet formation from capillary waves on a vibrating surface

The formation of sprays from a liquid film on a vibrating surface is used by ultrasonic atomizers for applications ranging from humidification to metal–powder manufacturing. The received opinion in the literature is that droplets are formed periodically from the apexes of an orderly pattern of standing capillary waves, with a wavelength that can be related to vibration frequency by stability analysis. It is described how this assumption may be incorrect in that, after droplet formation commences, the orderliness of the standing–wave pattern is lost due to one or more secondary instability phenomena. These phenomena, which lead to disorderliness, are investigated by using high–speed imaging techniques and a low–frequency vibrating film to model the high–frequency case, because of the difficulty of penetrating clouds of small droplets in the latter case. Different modes of droplet formation are identified and the flow patterns responsible for these modes are discussed. Physical mechanisms are proposed from which it is deduced that only a proportion of standing–wave crests can eject droplets, for a given wall–vibration period, and the identity of these ejecting waves should vary from period to period. The model thus developed demonstrates an apparently random ejection of droplets from one wave cell, even though the model itself is deterministic. The disorder of the capillary waves and the occurrence of several droplet–formation routes are sufficient to explain the range of droplet sizes that is produced by ultrasonic atomization.