Scenario model predictive control for lane change assistance on highways

This paper presents a new algorithm for detecting the safety of lane changes on highways and for computing safe lane change trajectories. This task is considered as a building block for driver assistance systems and autonomous cars. The presented algorithm is based on recent results in Scenario Model Predictive Control (SCMPC). It accounts for the uncertainty in the traffic environment via a small number of future scenarios, which can be generated by any model-based or data-based approach. The paper describes the SCMPC design as well as the integration with scenario-based traffic predictions. The design procedure is simple and can be generalized to other control situations. An extensive case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed SCMPC algorithm and its performance in lane change situations.