Spherical optical flow based cornering motion representation for vehicle control

This paper describes the visual perception of human that focuses on the relationship between the spherical optical flow and the gaze direction while a vehicle runs curve. For developing a smooth cornering assist system of automatically controlled vehicle, we focus on the difference of the perceptual process between the human perception and the existing driving assist system in cornering. In this paper, we suggest the visual model considering with a gaze direction and an optical flow as visual information using a spherical camera. For verifying the spherical optical flow, we simulate the optical flow when a driver looks at the end of the curve. After that, we perform the actual driving experiment using our prototype ultra-compact electric vehicle “TORiCLE”. According to the experimental results, we discuss about how to apply a cornering assist control system.