Situation refinement for vehicle maneuver identification and driver's intention prediction

In safety automotive applications the system must me capable of early recognizing the maneuvers performed by the driver and the intention associated with them in order to take preventive measures or trigger warning alarms. This is done by the situation refinement level in the fusion system that processes the data provided by the on-board sensors. By recognizing relationships between entities of the road environment the system can react with more efficiency to the current situation. For example the intention of a lane change, the detection of an overtaking maneuver, the estimation of the lane in which the detected vehicle is located, help the system to decide which action must be taken in order to prevent an unwanted situation. This paper focuses on the investigation of methods regarding the identification of the maneuvering type and the intention associated.