A simple driving device for a vehicle implementation and evaluation

We are interested in the operation facilities of vehicle that are simple even for persons who are not experienced in vehicle operation. One idea simplifying the vehicle operation is to separate the operation from the mechanism of the vehicle. In this system, the human operator specifies a temporary goal position of the mobile robot by touching the monitor in which front view images are displayed. The robot then travels toward this goal position. The path to the goal position is generated by the system and shown on the front view images. Therefore, the operator need not practice how to operate steering wheel or accelerator. We have constructed an experimental setup and evaluated it by controlling the robot.