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Navigation of an Autonomous Car Using Vector Fields and the Dynamic Window Approach

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Abstract

This work presents a safe navigation approach for a car-like robot. The approach relies on a global motion planning based on velocity vector fields along with a dynamic window approach for avoiding unmodeled obstacles. Basically, the vector field is associated with a kinematic, feedback linearization controller whose outputs are validated, and eventually modified, by the dynamic window approach. Experiments with a full-size autonomous car equipped with a stereo camera show that the vehicle was able to track the vector field and avoid obstacles in its way.

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Acknowledgments

This project was financed by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG). During the realization of the project, Danilo A. Lima held a master’s scholarship from CAPES. Guilherme A. S. Pereira holds a scholarship from CNPq. This project would not be possible without the hard work of several students and professors from UFMG that spent part of their time making CADU an autonomous vehicle. In this way, the authors sincerely thank Elias Freitas, Érica Campedelli, Frederico Vória, Guilherme Becker, Guilherme Castro, Hélio Guerra Júnior, Jullierme Dias, Leandro Batista, Leonardo Torres, Luciano Pimenta, Marco Túlio Pires, Marlon Vieira, Matheus Vinti, Maurício Baleeiro, Michelle Santos, Paulo Iscold, Pedro Cotta, Tiago Arruda, Tiago Mendonça, and Vitor Sabbagh. Finally, the authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper.

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  1. Grupo de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento de Veículos Autônomos, Escola de Engenharia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6626, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil

    Danilo Alves de Lima & Guilherme Augusto Silva Pereira

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  1. Danilo Alves de Lima
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  2. Guilherme Augusto Silva Pereira
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Correspondence to Guilherme Augusto Silva Pereira.

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de Lima, D.A., Pereira, G.A.S. Navigation of an Autonomous Car Using Vector Fields and the Dynamic Window Approach. J Control Autom Electr Syst 24, 106–116 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40313-013-0006-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40313-013-0006-5

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