Deep neural network for lateral control of self-driving cars in urban environment

Abstract

The exponential growth of the automotive industry clearly indicates that self-driving cars are the future of transportation. However, their biggest challenge lies in lateral control, particularly in urban bottlenecking environments, where disturbances and obstacles are abundant. In these situations, the ego vehicle has to follow its own trajectory while rapidly correcting deviation errors without colliding with other nearby vehicles. Various research efforts have focused on developing lateral control approaches, but these methods remain limited in terms of response speed and control accuracy. This paper presents a control strategy using a deep neural network (DNN) controller to effectively keep the car on the centerline of its trajectory and adapt to disturbances arising from deviations or trajectory curvature. The controller focuses on minimizing deviation errors. The Matlab/Simulink software is used for designing and training the DNN. Finally, simulation results confirm that the suggested controller has several advantages in terms of precision, with lateral deviation remaining below 0.65 meters, and rapidity, with a response time of 0.7 seconds, compared to traditional controllers in solving lateral control.