Detecting Intentions of Vulnerable Road Users Based on Collective Intelligence as a Basis for Automated Driving

Abstract

The project Detecting Intentions of Vulnerable Road Users Based on Collective Intelligence as a Basis for Automated Driving (DeCoInt$$^2$$ 2 ) focuses on detecting the intentions of vulnerable road users (VRUs) in automated driving using cooperative technologies. Especially in urban areas, VRUs, e.g., pedestrians and cyclists, will continue to play an essential role in mixed traffic. For an accident-free and highly efficient traffic flow with automated vehicles, it is vital to perceive VRUs and their intentions and analyze them similarly to humans when driving and forecasting VRU trajectories. Doing this reliably and robustly with a multimodal sensor system (e.g., cameras, LiDARs, accelerometers, and gyroscopes in mobile devices) in real-time is a big challenge. We follow a holistic, cooperative approach to recognize humans’ movements and forecast their trajectories. Heterogeneous open sets of agents, i.e., collaboratively interacting vehicles, infrastructure, and VRUs equipped with mobile devices, exchange information to determine individual models of their surrounding environment, allowing an accurate and reliable forecast of VRU basic movements and trajectories. The collective intelligence of cooperating agents resolves occlusions, implausibilities, and inconsistencies. We developed new methods by considering and combining novel signal processing and modeling techniques with machine learning-based pattern recognition approaches. The cooperation between agents happens on several levels: the VRU perception level, the level of recognized trajectories, or the level of already detected intentions.