Control dominated three-point turn planning for autonomous driving vehicles

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• in response to a request for a three-point turn of the autonomous driving vehicle (ADV), generating a forward turning path from a current location of the ADV based on a maximum forward turning angle associated with the ADV, wherein the maximum forward turning angle is determined based on a vehicle profile associated with a type of the ADV including physical characteristics of the ADV, a design specification of the ADV, and maximum forward curvature of the ADV to determine a sharpest forward curvature of a turn path instead of lateral calculation based on an assumption of the ADV would make a sharpest forward turn, wherein generating a forward turning path comprises:
• determining a forward curvature based on the maximum forward turning angle of the ADV by applying a full steering command predetermined based on physical characteristics of the ADV performed in a free space without considering a shape of a lane,
• determining the forward turning path based on the forward curvature from the current location of the ADV by applying the full steering command
• generating perception information by perceiving a driving environment surrounding the ADV at a point in time using a plurality of sensors mounted on the ADV, including recognizing zero or more obstacles near the ADV, and
• calculating a forward speed profile for the forward turning path based on the perception information, wherein the forward speed profile includes information specifying a speed and a heading direction for each of a plurality of points forming the forward turning path at which the ADV should move according to the corresponding specified speed and heading direction;
• generating a backward turning path from an end point of the forward turning path based on a maximum backward turning angle associated with the ADV based on a maximum backward turning angle associated with the ADV, wherein the maximum backward turning angle is determined based on the vehicle profile associated with the type of the ADV including the physical characteristics of the ADV, the design specification of the ADV, and maximum backward curvature of the ADV to determine a sharpest backward curvature of a turn path instead of lateral calculation based on an assumption of the ADV would make a sharpest backward turn;
• and
• controlling the ADV to make the three-point turn according to the forward turning path and the backward turning path.

A data processing system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations including in response to a request for a three-point turn of the autonomous driving vehicle (ADV), generating a forward turning path from a current location of the ADV based on a maximum forward turning angle associated with the ADV, wherein the maximum forward turning angle is determined based on a vehicle profile associated with a type of the ADV including physical characteristics of the ADV, a design specification of the ADV, and maximum forward curvature of the ADV to determine a sharpest forward curvature of a turn path instead of lateral calculation based on an assumption of the ADV would make a sharpest forward turn, wherein generating a forward turning path comprises:
• determining a forward curvature based on the maximum forward turning angle of the ADV by applying a full steering command,
• determining the forward turning path based on the forward curvature from the current location of the ADV predetermined based on physical characteristics of the ADV performed in a free space without considering a shape of a lane
• generating perception information by perceiving a driving environment surrounding the ADV at a point in time, and
• calculating a forward speed profile for the forward turning path based on perception information, wherein the forward speed profile includes information specifying a speed and a heading direction for each of a plurality of points forming the forward turning path at which the ADV should move according to the corresponding specified speed and heading direction,
• generating a backward turning path from an end point of the forward turning path based on a maximum backward turning angle associated with the ADV based on a maximum backward turning angle associated with the ADV, wherein the maximum backward turning angle is determined based on the vehicle profile associated with the type of the ADV including the physical characteristics of the ADV, the design specification of the ADV, and maximum backward curvature of the ADV to determine a sharpest backward curvature of a turn path instead of lateral calculation based on an assumption of the ADV would make a sharpest backward turn, and
• controlling the ADV to make the three-point turn according to the forward turning path and the backward turning path.