Optimal Path Planning with Clothoid Curves for Passenger Comfort

Abstract

Highly automated vehicles operating at SAE automation level 4 and 5 will not require the occupants’ attention to be on the road at all. They will be free to amuse themselves as passengers. This will have the side effect of making them more vulnerable to motion sickness. Automated vehicles must plan paths which are feasible for the vehicle and comfortable for its occupants. In railway and highway design, paths with clothoid based transitions provide feasibility and comfort. This paper proposes a method for generating such a path using constrained non-linear optimization and compares it to an existing method based on root finding.