Emergency path planning for autonomous vehicles using elastic band theory

In this paper a path planning method for emergency maneuvers of autonomous vehicles is presented. The path planning method is based on the theory of elastic bands. Due to the local disturbances caused by obstacles on the nominal trajectory the elastic behavior allows sufficient flexibility of the emergency trajectory and minimal local changes of curvature. The minimization of local changes of curvature ensures the drivability of the emergency trajectory under vehicle dynamics aspect, which is also considered in this paper. The results of the described method is demonstrated for emergency situations in lane change maneuvers for autonomous vehicles.