Unified motion planner for autonomous driving vehicle in avoiding the moving obstacle

A method for providing an automatic steering path for a vehicle, said method comprising:

• detecting a lane center of a roadway lane that the vehicle is traveling along;
• determining a lane centering path that directs the vehicle from a current vehicle position to the lane center;
• automatically steering the vehicle along the lane centering path;
• detecting a moving object in front of the vehicle where the moving object is moving in a transverse direction relative to the lane centering path;
• determining if a collision between the vehicle and the object will occur if the vehicle travels along the lane centering path at a current vehicle speed;
• determining a collision avoidance path from the current vehicle position to a safe waypoint adjacent to the moving object, wherein determining the collision avoidance path includes solving a fifth-order polynomial equation;
• steering the vehicle from the current vehicle position to the waypoint on the collision avoidance path;
• determining a return path from the waypoint to the lane center, wherein determining a return path includes solving a fifth-order polynomial equation;
• and
• steering the vehicle from the waypoint on the return path.

A method for providing an automatic steering path for a vehicle, said method comprising:

• detecting a lane center of a roadway lane that the vehicle is traveling along;
• determining a lane centering path that directs the vehicle from a current vehicle position to the lane center;
• automatically steering the vehicle along the lane centering path;
• detecting a moving object in front of the vehicle where the moving object is moving in a longitudinal direction relative to the lane centering path;
• determining if a collision between the vehicle and the object will occur if the vehicle travels along the lane centering path at a current vehicle speed;
• determining a collision avoidance path from the current vehicle position to a safe waypoint adjacent to the moving object, wherein determining the collision avoidance path includes solving a fifth-order polynomial equation;
• steering the vehicle from the current vehicle position to the waypoint on the collision avoidance path;
• determining a cruise path from the waypoint to an avoidance location beyond the object, wherein determining the cruise path includes solving a fifth-order polynomial equation;
• steering the vehicle from the waypoint to the avoidance location on the cruise path;
• determining a return path from the avoidance location to the lane center, wherein determining a return path includes solving a fifth-order polynomial equation;
• and
• steering the vehicle from the avoidance location on the return path.