Towards Unmanned Autonomous Road Vehicles Through Building of Intelligent Control System Based on a Cognitive Driver Model

 

Aleksandar Rodić

 

The paper is of a conceptual character. It is addressed to building of novel intelligent active safety  and emergency warning systems operating with road vehicles based on a cognitive-motor, psychological and physiological model of human operator. Building of unmanned autonomous vehicles is a challenging task that can be potentially interesting for military applications especially for the future robotized combative vehicles and autonomous transporters. Modelling of hybrid, driver-vehicle system represents the basis (core) for synthesis of an intelligent, driver-assisted control system considered in the paper. Modelling of the system takes into account a spatial, non-linear vehicle dynamics and tyre-road interaction as well as characteristics of the psychological and the physiological behaviour of a human operator. Two variants of safety systems are presented in the paper: (i) emergency warning system dedicated to warn about approaching of an emergency situation, and (ii) automatic, active-safety control system capable to guide vehicle in an autonomous regime. Corresponding, contemporary hi-tech servo-actuators and a sensory system capable to support the proposed safety system are presented, too. Some characteristic simulation results/examples are provided to demonstrate system capabilities and verify control performances. The paper ends with summary comments and conclusions.

Key words: unmanned vehicle, road vehicle, wheeled vehicle, vehicle control, control system, hybrid system, safety system, system modeling, test results.