University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of Central Florida

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Autonomous Driving

We present AutonoVi, a novel algorithm for autonomous vehicle navigation that supports dynamic maneuvers and satisfies traffic constraints and norms. Our approach is based on optimization-based maneuver planning that supports dynamic lane-changes, swerving, and braking in all traffic scenarios and guides the vehicle to its goal position. We take into account various traffic constraints, including collision avoidance with other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists using control velocity obstacles. We use a data-driven approach to model the vehicle dynamics for control and collision avoidance. Furthermore, our trajectory computation algorithm takes into account traffic rules and behaviors, such as stopping at intersections and stoplights, based on an arc-spline representation. We have evaluated our algorithm in a simulated environment and tested its interactive performance in urban and highway driving scenarios with tens of vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. These scenarios include jaywalking pedestrians, sudden stops from high speeds, safely passing cyclists, a vehicle suddenly swerving into the roadway, and high-density traffic where the vehicle must change lanes to progress more effectively.

   Publications

Best, A., Narang, S., Barber, D., & Manocha, D. (2017). AutonoVi: Autonomous Vehicle Planning with Dynamic Maneuvers and Traffic Constraints. IROS 2017



Best, A., Narang, S., Pasqualin, L., Barber, D., & Manocha, D. (2018). AutonoVi-Sim: Autonomous Vehicle Simulation Platform with Weather, Sensing, and Traffic Control. CVPR Workshop on Autonomous Driving, 2018.

Abstract: We present AutonoVi-Sim, a novel high-fidelity simulation platform for autonomous driving data generation and driving strategy testing. AutonoVi-Sim is a collection of high-level extensible modules which allows the rapid development and testing of vehicle configurations and facilitates construction of complex traffic scenarios. Autonovi-Sim supports multiple vehicles with unique steering or acceleration limits, as well as unique tire parameters and dynamics profiles. Engineers can specify the specific vehicle sensor systems and vary time of day and weather conditions to generate robust data and gain insight into how conditions affect the performance of a particular algorithm. In addition, AutonoVi-Sim supports navigation for non-vehicle traffic participants such as cyclists and pedestrians, allowing engineers to specify routes for these actors, or to create scripted scenarios which place the vehicle in dangerous reactive situations. Autonovi-Sim facilitates training of deep-learning algorithms by enabling data export from the vehicle's sensors, including camera data, LIDAR, relative positions of traffic participants, and detection and classification results. Thus, AutonoVi-Sim allows for the rapid prototyping, development and testing of autonomous driving algorithms under varying vehicle, road, traffic, and weather conditions. In this paper, we detail the simulator and provide specific performance and data benchmarks.


   Demonstrations

Heavy fog impacts sensors and navigation


Wet roads reduce traction and increase stopping distance.


Ego-vehicle navigating congestion.


   Acknowledgements

This work was funded in part by the Army Research Office, the National Science Foundation, Intel, and the Florida Department of Transportation.