System and method for autonomous vehicular development and operation

An autonomous vehicle system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a remote-controlled (RC) vehicle, the RC vehicle being smaller in size than a corresponding full-sized vehicle;
• a camera mounted to the RC vehicle;
• at least one sensor selected from the group consisting of a proximity sensor, a localization sensor, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor, a force feedback sensor and a microphone included in the RC vehicle;
• a head-mountable display configured to be worn by a first driver, the head-mountable display being configured to display video data obtained from the camera;
• at least one physiological sensor configured to obtain physiological data from the first driver;
• a throttle pedal, a brake pedal and a steering wheel located remotely from the RC vehicle and configured to operate the RC vehicle;
• and
• a non-transitory, tangible program storage medium, embodying a program of instructions executable by the processor to perform method steps for autonomous vehicular operation, the method steps comprising:
• driving the RC vehicle on a plurality of driving tracks by the first driver, wherein, when the RC vehicle is driven on a driving track from among the plurality of driving tracks by the first driver, the method includes:
• displaying the driving track being driven on to the first driver via the head-mountable display, the head-mountable display displaying video data obtained from the camera mounted to the RC vehicle;
• controlling an acceleration of the RC vehicle via the throttle pedal remotely controlled by the first driver;
• controlling a deceleration of the RC vehicle via the brake pedal remotely controlled by the first driver;
• controlling a steering of the RC vehicle via the steering wheel remotely controlled by the first driver;
• obtaining sensor data from the RC vehicle by using at least one selected from the group consisting of the proximity sensor, the localization sensor, the IMU sensor, the force feedback sensor and the microphone;
• obtaining physiological data of the first driver while the first driver drives the RC vehicle by using the at least one physiological sensor;
• recording:
• the video data obtained from the camera mounted to the RC vehicle, a position of the throttle pedal and the acceleration of the RC vehicle, a position of the brake pedal and the deceleration of the RC vehicle, a position of the steering wheel, the obtained sensor data from the RC vehicle and the obtained physiological data to produce recorded information;
• and
• scaling the recorded information by accounting for differences in physics or dynamics between the RC vehicle and the corresponding full-sized vehicle to produce full-sized vehicle parameter data;
• and
• developing a first autonomous vehicle driving model by taking as input the produced recorded information and the produced full-sized vehicle parameter data, and correlating the acceleration of the RC vehicle via the throttle pedal, the deceleration of the RC vehicle via the brake pedal and the steering of the RC vehicle via the steering wheel with the obtained physiological data from the first driver and with the produced full-sized vehicle parameter data,
• wherein the first autonomous vehicle driving model is configured to drive the full-sized vehicle on a full-sized driving track in consideration of a driving style or manner of the first driver, or
• the first autonomous vehicle driving model is configured to drive a digital vehicle on a digital driving track in consideration of the driving style or manner of the first driver.