Intelligent Vehicles

Abstract

This chapter describes the emerging robotics application field of intelligent vehicles – motor vehicles that have autonomous functions and capabilities. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 51.1 provides a motivation of why the development of intelligent vehicles is important, a brief history of the field, and the potential benefits of the technology. Section 51.2 describes the enabling technologies for intelligent vehicles to sense vehicle, environment and driver state, work with digital maps and satellite navigation, and communicate with intelligent transportation infrastructure. Section 51.3 describes the challenges and solutions associated with road scene understanding – a key capability for all intelligent vehicles. Section 51.4 describes advanced driver assistance systems, which use robotics and sensing technologies described earlier to create new safety and convenience systems for motor vehicles, such as collision avoidance, lane keeping, and parking assistance. Section 51.5 describes driver monitoring technologies that are being developed to mitigate driver fatigue, inattention, and impairment. Section 51.6 describes fully autonomous intelligent vehicles systems that have been developed and deployed. The Chapter is concluded in Sect. 51.7 with a discussion of future prospects, while Sect. 51.8 provides references to further reading and additional resources.