Trajectory Planning on Autonomous Truck with Dual-Modular Chassis Using Artificial Potential Field and Polynomial

Autonomous truck with modular chassis has the characteristics of high driving flexibility and strong load capacity. It can be equipped with different numbers of modular chassis according to the task requirements. The application of autonomous truck can solve the problems of traffic accidents and shortage of drivers effectively, which is the development trend of trucks in the future. For the collision-free trajectory planning problem of dual-modular chassis autonomous truck, this paper designs a hierarchical local trajectory planner that combines the artificial potential field method with polynomial curve fitting method. This planner plans the center of mass trajectory firstly, and then generates the modular chassis trajectories according to the position relationship between the center of mass and the chassis. The center of mass local trajectory cluster satisfying the environment constraints and truck motion constraints is obtained by polynomial curve fitting method for sampling the road discrete points in the parameter space. In order to make the evasive maneuver of dual-modular chassis autonomous truck start earlier to make the obstacle avoidance process safer, a three-dimensional repulsive potential field is constructed based on artificial potential field method around the obstacle. The repulsive potential field of the obstacle is regarded as the constraint of the collision-free trajectory of the truck. The optimal collision-free trajectory is selected by constructing multi-object function. Simulations of obstacle avoidance of dual-modular chassis autonomous truck on different curvature roads with different speeds in Simulink/Simscape environment are conducted to demonstrate performance of the proposed collision-free trajectory planner. The simulation results show that the collision-free trajectory planner based on artificial potential field method and polynomial curve fitting method can make the autonomous truck avoid collision safely and steady on different curvature roads with different speeds.