Adaptive cooperative maneuver planning algorithm for conflict resolution in diverse traffic situations

Abstract

Growing interest in Cooperative Driving within the field of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) put forth novel concepts for both enhanced sensing and advanced solution making. Although various approaches deal with advanced solution making, none of the concepts consider the conflict situation as a holistic situation comprising defined end states and trajectories towards them. We propose a novel algorithm for cooperative maneuver planning that is not meant to optimize a high level strategy but shall solve a conflict in the following five steps: target point generation, risk assessment, trajectory generation, combination including assessment, and execution of the maneuvers. The proposed cooperative maneuver planning algorithm is applicable to all kinds of road users' interferences (safety, comfort, time efficiency, and consumption efficiency), highly adaptive in terms of complexity and scalability, individually parameterizable, and applicable in diverse and mixed traffic situations. Simulations indicate the wide usability and performance of this approach in two different scenarios. The algorithm solves a critical overtaking maneuver on a country road and a merging maneuver onto a highway. Modifications of the initial situation lead to different solutions and thus show the adaptive nature of the algorithm.