Highway Traffic Scenario-Based Lane Change Strategy for Autonomous Vehicle

Abstract

In recent years, autonomous or unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) have become the prima focus of research in automotive industry and even in academic institutions. Advanced driver assistance systems technologies like lane keeping system (LKS), obstacle or collision avoidance system, lane departure warning system (LDW), automatic parking system have been thoroughly researched and are being practically implemented in most of the modern-day vehicles. According to recent report by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), India, the number of accidents due to improper overtaking and jumping/changing lanes is a major concern, with manoeuvrability of the driver being the sole attribute. This paper focuses on control logic for safe navigation of vehicle before lane change manoeuvre is initiated in traffic environment. The simulations have been carried out to simulate the control logic and of subject vehicle merging into two vehicles (lead and lag) for a single lane change manoeuvre. The parameters such as position, speed and gap distance between the vehicles in the current and target lane are taken into consideration for controlling the vehicle manoeuvre to avoid collisions.