Automated lane changing control in mixed traffic: An adaptive dynamic programming approach

The majority of the past research dealing with lane-changing controller design of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is based on the assumption of full knowledge of the model dynamics of the AV and the surrounding vehicles. However, in the real world, this is not a very realistic assumption as accurate dynamic models are difficult to obtain. Also, the dynamic model parameters might change over time due to various factors. Thus, there is a need for a learning-based lane change controller design methodology that can learn the optimal control policy in real time using sensor data. In this paper, we have addressed this need by introducing an optimal learning-based control methodology that can solve the real-time lane-changing problem of AVs, where the input-state data of the AV is utilized to generate a near-optimal lane-changing controller by approximate/adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) technique. In the case of this type of complex lane-changing maneuver, the lateral dynamics depend on the longitudinal velocity of the vehicle. If the longitudinal velocity is assumed constant, a linear parameter invariant model can be used. However, assuming constant velocity while performing a lane-changing maneuver is not a realistic assumption. This assumption might increase the risk of accidents, especially in the case of lane abortion when the surrounding vehicles are not cooperative. Thus, in this paper, the dynamics of the AV are assumed to be a linear parameter-varying system. Thus we have two challenges for the lane-changing controller design: parameter-varying, and unknown dynamics. With the help of both gain scheduling and ADP techniques combined, a learning-based control algorithm that can generate a near-optimal lane-changing controller without having to know the accurate dynamic model of the AV is proposed. The inclusion of a gain scheduling approach with ADP makes the controller applicable to non-linear and/or parameter-varying AV dynamics. The stability of the learning-based gain scheduling controller has also been rigorously proved. Moreover, a data-driven lane-changing decision-making algorithm is introduced that can make the AV perform a lane abortion if safety conditions are violated during a lane change. Finally, the proposed learning-based gain scheduling controller design algorithm and the lane-changing decision-making methodology are numerically validated using MATLAB, SUMO simulations, and the NGSIM dataset.