Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are becoming prevalent in our society, from self-driving cars and autonomous shuttle buses on urban roads to delivery robots on the pavements and within buildings. These emerging applications have generated a huge interest in the concept of Mobility-on-Demand (MoD) and specifically, Autonomous MoD (AMoD). In this work, we highlight the initiatives of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) in the area of AMoD. We discuss the fundamental building blocks of AMoD systems, the solutions and algorithms that we have developed and successfully deployed for public trials since late 2014, and the challenges that we have encountered during the process.

Chapter Contents:

• 25.1 Introduction
• 25.2 Perception
• 25.2.1 Mapping and localization
• 25.2.2 Semantic mapping for high-level reasoning
• 25.2.3 Static and dynamic object detection
• 25.2.3.1 Road marking detection
• 25.2.3.2 Vehicle and pedestrian detection
• 25.2.4 Dynamic object tracking and behavior analysis
• 25.3 Path planning
• 25.3.1 Safe path planning methodology
• 25.3.2 Notations and assumptions
• 25.3.3 Problem formulation
• 25.3.4 The Simulation Path Planning and Mapping
• 25.3.4.1 Risk map update
• 25.3.4.2 Risk-projected path planning
• 25.3.4.3 Safe decision-making
• 25.3.5 Improved SPPAM
• 25.4 Multi-class autonomous mobility-on-demand as service
• 25.4.1 Field trial
• 25.4.1.1 Results
• 25.5 Public trials of SMART autonomous vehicles
• 25.5.1 Autonomous golf buggies
• 25.5.2 Personal mobility autonomous scooter and wheelchair
• 25.5.3 Self-driving car
• 25.6 Discussion and conclusion
• Acknowledgment
• References

Inspec keywords: mobile robots; electronic mail; educational computing; roads; road traffic control; teleconferencing; distance learning; automobiles; information resources

Other keywords: Singapore-MIT Alliance; self-driving cars; urban roads; Mobility-on-Demand; Mobility-on-demand; Autonomous MoD; AMoD systems; autonomous vehicles; autonomous shuttle buses; delivery robots; fundamental building blocks

Subjects: Information networks; Teleconferencing; Control engineering computing; Mobile robots; Computer-aided instruction; Road-traffic system control