A decision-making method for unmanned cars based on drivable area cutting

Unmanned cars´ developing involves at least three major sections: environment perception, decision-making and subsequent vehicle control. Whereas the first and the latter have proven almost-solved problems, decision-making is considered to be the most important and difficult section in unmanned cars. In fact, no matter normal or unmanned cars, to ensure their safety, appropriate decision must be made timely by either human driver or computer. In this article, we present a decision-making method based on drivable area cutting. We considered the most common elements in actual driving process including traffic signs, traffic lights, pedestrians, vehicles and even other vehicles´ lights and horns to cut drivable area. We name it safe area for this cut-drivable area. Then decision is made based on the safe area. Experiment results show that our method works well in the highway and can be used in different environment with little change.