Lane detection is an important foundation in the development of intelligent vehicles. To address problems such as low detection accuracy of traditional methods and poor real-time performance of deep learning-based methodologies, a lane detection algorithm for intelligent vehicles in complex road conditions and dynamic environments was proposed. Firstly, converting the distorted image and using the superposition threshold algorithm for edge detection, an aerial view of the lane was obtained via region of interest extraction and inverse perspective transformation. Secondly, the random sample consensus algorithm was adopted to fit the curves of lane lines based on the third-order B-spline curve model, and fitting evaluation and curvature radius calculation were then carried out on the curve. Lastly, by using the road driving video under complex road conditions and the Tusimple dataset, simulation test experiments for lane detection algorithm were performed. The experimental results show that the average detection accuracy based on road driving video reached 98.49%, and the average processing time reached 21.5 ms. The average detection accuracy based on the Tusimple dataset reached 98.42%, and the average processing time reached 22.2 ms. Compared with traditional methods and deep learning-based methodologies, this lane detection algorithm had excellent accuracy and real-time performance, a high detection efficiency and a strong anti-interference ability. The accurate recognition rate and average processing time were significantly improved. The proposed algorithm is crucial in promoting the technological level of intelligent vehicle driving assistance and conducive to the further improvement of the driving safety of intelligent vehicles.

Traffic sign detection and recognition are crucial in the development of intelligent vehicles. An improved traffic sign detection and recognition algorithm for intelligent vehicles is proposed to address problems such as how easily affected traditional traffic sign detection is by the environment, and poor real-time performance of deep learning-based methodologies for traffic sign recognition. Firstly, the HSV color space is used for spatial threshold segmentation, and traffic signs are effectively detected based on the shape features. Secondly, the model is considerably improved on the basis of the classical LeNet-5 convolutional neural network model by using Gabor kernel as the initial convolutional kernel, adding the batch normalization processing after the pooling layer and selecting Adam method as the optimizer algorithm. Finally, the traffic sign classification and recognition experiments are conducted based on the German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark. The favorable prediction and accurate recognition of traffic signs are achieved through the continuous training and testing of the network model. Experimental results show that the accurate recognition rate of traffic signs reaches 99.75%, and the average processing time per frame is 5.4 ms. Compared with other algorithms, the proposed algorithm has remarkable accuracy and real-time performance, strong generalization ability and high training efficiency. The accurate recognition rate and average processing time are markedly improved. This improvement is of considerable importance to reduce the accident rate and enhance the road traffic safety situation, providing a strong technical guarantee for the steady development of intelligent vehicle driving assistance.

Vehicle detection is an indispensable part of environmental perception technology for smart cars. Aiming at the issues that conventional vehicle detection can be easily restricted by environmental conditions and cannot have accuracy and real-time performance, this article proposes a front vehicle detection algorithm for smart car based on improved SSD model. Single shot multibox detector (SSD) is one of the current mainstream object detection frameworks based on deep learning. This work first briefly introduces the SSD network model and analyzes and summarizes its problems and shortcomings in vehicle detection. Then, targeted improvements are performed to the SSD network model, including major advancements to the basic structure of the SSD model, the use of weighted mask in network training, and enhancement to the loss function. Finally, vehicle detection experiments are carried out on the basis of the KITTI vision benchmark suite and self-made vehicle dataset to observe the algorithm performance in different complicated environments and weather conditions. The test results based on the KITTI dataset show that the mAP value reaches 92.18%, and the average processing time per frame is 15 ms. Compared with the existing deep learning-based detection methods, the proposed algorithm can obtain accuracy and real-time performance simultaneously. Meanwhile, the algorithm has excellent robustness and environmental adaptability for complicated traffic environments and anti-jamming capabilities for bad weather conditions. These factors are of great significance to ensure the accurate and efficient operation of smart cars in real traffic scenarios and are beneficial to vastly reduce the incidence of traffic accidents and fully protect people’s lives and property.

Trajectory tracking control is a key technology in the research and development of autonomous vehicles. With the aim of addressing problems such as low control accuracy and poor real-time performance, which can occur easily when an autonomous vehicle avoids obstacles, this research focuses on the trajectory tracking control algorithm for autonomous vehicle considering cornering characteristics. First, the vehicle dynamics model and tire model are established through appropriate simplification. Then, based on the basic principle of model predictive control, a linear time-varying model predictive controller (LTV MPC) that considers the cornering characteristics is designed and optimized. Finally, using CarSim and MATLAB/Simulink software, a joint simulation model is established and the trajectory tracking performance of the controlled vehicle under different vehicle speeds and road adhesion conditions are tested through simulation experiments in combination with the double-shift line reference trajectory. The simulation results show the LTV MPC controller that considers cornering characteristics has good self-adaptability under complicated and severe working conditions, and no cases, such as car sideslip or track departure, were observed. Compared with other controllers and algorithms, the designed trajectory tracking controller has remarkable comprehensive performance, exhibits superior robustness and anti-interference ability, and significant improvements in the trajectory tracking control accuracy and real-time performance. The proposed control algorithm is of great importance in improving the tracking stability and driving safety of autonomous vehicles under complex extreme conditions and conducive to the further development and improvement of the technological level of intelligent vehicle driving assistance. INDEX TERMS Driving assistance, autonomous vehicle, model predictive control, cornering characteristics, trajectory tracking control.

Pedestrian detection is an important aspect of the development of intelligent vehicles. To address problems in which traditional pedestrian detection is susceptible to environmental factors and are unable to meet the requirements of accuracy in real time, this study proposes a pedestrian detection algorithm for intelligent vehicles in complex scenarios. YOLOv3 is one of the deep learning-based object detection algorithms with good performance at present. In this article, the basic principle of YOLOv3 is elaborated and analyzed firstly to determine its limitations in pedestrian detection. Then, on the basis of the original YOLOv3 network model, many improvements are made, including modifying grid cell size, adopting improved k-means clustering algorithm, improving multi-scale bounding box prediction based on receptive field, and using Soft-NMS algorithm. Finally, based on INRIA person and PASCAL VOC 2012 datasets, pedestrian detection experiments are conducted to test the performance of the algorithm in various complex scenarios. The experimental results show that the mean Average Precision (mAP) value reaches 90.42%, and the average processing time of each frame is 9.6 ms. Compared with other detection algorithms, the proposed algorithm exhibits accuracy and real-time performance together, good robustness and anti-interference ability in complex scenarios, strong generalization ability, high network stability, and detection accuracy and detection speed have been markedly improved. Such improvements are significant in protecting the road safety of pedestrians and reducing traffic accidents, and are conducive to ensuring the steady development of the technological level of intelligent vehicle driving assistance.