Time to line crossing for lane departure avoidance: a theoretical study and an experimental setting

The main goal of this paper is to develop a distance to line crossing (DLC) based computation of time to line crossing (TLC). Different computation methods with increasing complexity are provided. A discussion develops the influence of assumptions generally assumed for approximation. A sensitivity analysis with respect to vehicle parameters and positioning is performed. For TLC computation, both straight and curved vehicle paths are considered. The road curvature being another important variable considered in the proposed computations, an observer for its estimation is then proposed. An evaluation over a digitalized test track is first performed. Real data are then collected through an experiment carried out in test tracks with the equipped prototype vehicle. Based on these real data, TLC is then computed with the theoretically proposed methods. The obtained results outlined the necessity to take into consideration vehicle dynamics to use the TLC as a lane departure indicator.