Overtaking a Slower-Moving Vehicle by an Autonomous Vehicle

摘要

In the past few years there is much research on variousaspects of control of autonomous vehicles. However, itseems that the problem of overtaking a slower-movingvehicle has been somewhat neglected. This paper dealswith the three-phase overtaking maneuver and withdesigning a smooth and ergonomic optimal lane-changetrajectory on a straight road.It is shown that the absolute shape, size and time of thefirst-phase trajectory do not depend on the velocity of theleading, slower-moving vehicle. Only the absolute pointfor initiating the diversion is affected.The relatively simple mathematical model for each lanechangetrajectory is based on minimizing the total kineticenergy during the maneuver, superimposed on a"minimum-jerk trajectory". For high enough initialvelocities, (above 5 m/s) explicit formulas are obtained forthe optimal distance and the optimal time of the maneuver.By using the results of the suggested model, anautonomous vehicle, equipped with appropriate sensors,can estimate the best time and place to begin and end theovertaking and its total time and distance. This may helpto make a decision whether to overtake or not.