Park my Car! Automated Valet Parking with Different Vehicle Automation Levels by V2X Connected Smart Infrastructure

In this work, we present the concept of an automated valet parking system that considers vehicles of different levels of automation by incorporating a parking management system. We discuss different types of distributions of the necessary functions for automated valet parking between an intelligent parking management system and parking vehicles. Afterwards, we shortly address the implications for the static map and environment representations before presenting used components of the parking management system (PMS). Our PMS assigns vehicles to an optimal parking space by solving a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem. The MILP optimization especially aims at the optimal use of available charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Parking maneuvers are calculated using state of the art parking planners like RRT*-Connect. The exchange of information between the intelligent infrastructure and vehicles is achieved using V2X communication. Therefore existing V2X protocols are analysed for the context of automated valet parking and proposals for the required information to fulfill the intended functions are given. The feasibility of the PMS concept is shown with a prototype implementation that is demonstrated in simulation.