Experimental Test of Artificial Potential Field-Based Automobiles Automated Perpendicular Parking

Automobiles automated perpendicular parking using Artificial Potential Field (APF) is discussed in this paper. The Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) used for carrying out experiments is introduced first; UGV configuration, kinematics, and motion controller are included. Based on discretized form of the parking space, the APF is generated. Holonomic path for the vehicle parking is found first; path modification to satisfy minimum turning-radius constraint is performed based on Reeds-Shepp curve connections. Optimization efforts are included to remove extra maneuvers and to reduce length of the path. Afterwards waypoints are generated as reference for the vehicle to track. Perpendicular parking tests with several different start configurations are demonstrated; based on the test results the automated parking framework proposed in this paper is considered to be effective.