Ideal Reference Point in Planning and Control for Automated Car-Like Vehicles

The choice of the reference point in automated vehicles impacts the vehicle’s driving behavior. However, this influence is often not considered for planning and control tasks. To find out where the reference point should be located best, we first consider its position to be ideal if the needed lane width on the left and right side of the planned path is equal when cornering with constant curvature. For constantly curved paths we derive the ideal reference point depending on the curvature, using the kinematics of a slip angle free bicycle model. For non-stationary cornering, we analyze different maneuvers and finally, we select the reference point on the front axle. Utilizing this knowledge, the extent of a forward moving vehicle can be reduced to a point model, which does not require the orientation of the vehicle. This enables a simple and still promising approach for collision checking, where the vehicle’s needed space is approximated by only one circle around the reference point. Finally, we analyze the influence of the reference point on a lateral feed-forward controller. Thus, we confirm the previously chosen reference point on the front axle for the equally distributed needed lane width and therefore recommend its use.