A Generalized Formulation for Safe Obstacle Avoidance Maneuvers in Autonomous Vehicles

This paper deals with autonomous vehicle trajectory planning for avoidance maneuver. It introduces a trajectory planning approach that allows for static obstacle avoidance maneuvers. Specifically, this study proposes a generalized geometric formulation based on Sigmoid functions in order to generate a smooth path that guides the vehicle on a lateral deviation and returns to the initial lane. In addition, the method considers various geometrical and dynamic constraints to ensure vehicle stability while taking into account a safety area around the obstacle. The algorithm validation is conducted on the professional CarMaker simulator by associating the path generation module with a robust lateral tracking controller. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed planning method in the field of autonomous driving vehicle control.