A Real-Time Navigation Architecture for Automated Vehicles in Urban Environments

This paper presents a novel navigation architecture for automated car-like vehicles in urban environments. Motion safety is a critical issue in such environments given that they are partially known and highly dynamic with moving objects (other vehicles, pedestrians...). The main feature of the navigation architecture proposed is its ability to make safe motion decision in real-time, thus taking into account the harsh constraints imposed by the type of environments considered. The architecture is based upon an efficient publish/subscribe-based middleware system that allows modularity in design and the easy integration of the key functional components required for autonomous navigation: perception, localisation, mapping, real-time motion planning and motion tracking. After an overall presentation of the architecture and its main modules, the paper focuses on the "motion" components of the architecture. Experimental results carried out on both a simulation platform and a Cycab vehicle in a parking environment are presented.