Path Planning using a Kinematic Driver-Vehicle-Road Model with Consideration of Driver's Characteristics

A driver-vehicle-road (DVR) model based on kinematic vehicle model is proposed in this paper. In this DVR model, the kinematics vehicle-road model is adopted, and the driver model considering the human driver's characteristics is also included. Thus the behaviors of human driver's preview and neuromuscular delay can be considered in design of path planner and controller by using this DVR model. The repulsive force field based on the artificial potential field (APF) and the circle decomposition of vehicle shape are used to describe the constraints of obstacle avoidance and the road departure avoidance. Based on the proposed DVR model, a trajectory planer using model predictive control (MPC) is designed with consideration of collision and lane-departure avoidance, driver's intention, and vehicle occupant comfort. Simulation results show that with the proposed planner, the vehicle can successfully avoid static/moving obstacles and return to the original lane without lane departure. Simulation results indicate that the proposed kinematic vehicle model based DVR model can be used to design the path planner in normal driving and some typical driving scenarios. And the proposed path planner can provide the vehicle driven by different human drivers with individually safe trajectories in typical scenarios of obstacle avoidance.