Knowledge-biased sampling-based path planning for automated vehicles parking

Abstract

We consider automated vehicles operation in constrained environments, i.e. the automated parking (AP). The core of AP is formulated as a path planning problem, and Rapidly-exploring Randomized Tree (RRT) algorithm is adopted. To improve the baseline RRT, we propose several algorithmic tweaks, i.e. reversed RRT tree growth, direct tree branch connection using Reeds-Shepp curves, and RRT seeds biasing via regulated parking space/vehicle knowledge. We prove that under these tweaks the algorithm is complete and feasible. We then examine its performance (time, success rate, convergence to the optimal path) and scalability (to different parking spaces/vehicles) via batched simulations. We also test it using a real vehicle in a realistic parking environment. The proposed solution presents itself more applicable when compared with other baseline algorithms.