AUTOPIA architecture for automatic driving and maneuvering

Cybercars and dual mode vehicles are presently the most innovative testbeds for vehicular automation applications. The definition of standards and control architectures of the different automatic vehicle onboard systems is a necessary task to build a final prototype to be produced. Several classical architecture definitions have been made in the field of mobile robotics. These architectures are capable of dealing with sensorial inputs and environment and procedural knowledge to manage the different actuators of mobile robots in order to accomplish their missions. Autonomous vehicles are conceived as a link between mobile robotics and the field of vehicular technology, obtaining cars that may be as autonomous as a mobile robot but circulating in high demand environments and in different conditions, as compared to robots. In this paper we present the control architecture used in AUTOPIA program, used for automating mass produced cars. This architecture is to deal with sensorial information and wireless communication as main sensorial input and manages the three fundamental actuators in a car: throttle, brake and steering wheel. The final aim of this architecture is to cover an automatic driving system that can manage a set of maneuvers of a car in the same way human drivers do. At this moment, straight circulation, curve circulation, adaptive cruise control, stop and go and overtaking maneuvers are available and research continues in order to increment its number