Automatic vehicle guidance control by infrastructure using information obtained by sensors on infrastructure

This paper reports the development of an automatic driving system in a local area whereby the vehicle motion is controlled by the site infrastructure. Using information from a camera or a LIDAR sensor affixed to the infrastructure, the controller calculates the steering angle and traction force required for the vehicle to travel the desired course at the desired speed. In the proposed control system, vehicles have only to be equipped with communication devices only for realizing the automatic driving, because the sensing and motion control is performed by the infrastructure. This feature reduces the vehicle cost of automatic driving, thus enhancing the social acceptance of automatic driving vehicles. This paper describes the measurement of a vehicle's position and the vehicle guidance control by the sensors fixed on the infrastructure. The proposed measurement and control system is experimentally validated using a small electric vehicle.