A Subsumption Scheme for Emergent Collaboration of Self-Driving Vehicles in Intersections⁎⁎The research leading to these results has been performed in part within the project “VeDi 2025 – Veicolo Digitale 2025” co-funded by MIMIT (Fondo Crescita Sostenibile) and Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Project nr. F/040026/00/X31 grant agreement number 2049 dated 07/05/2020 and in part within the EU-funded program FSE REACT EU, D.M.1062 by the Italian Ministry of Education.

This paper introduces a decentralized collaboration mechanism for self-driving vehicles at intersections, employing a subsumption scheme that re-uses individual agents’ motion planning. Agents exchange intended trajectories and adjust their decision-making based on received intentions. Agents’ action selection is carried out via competition of (many) motion plans. The results of this competition are emergent, safe behaviors. Evaluation with two and three vehicles at an orthogonal intersection showcases effective collaboration, where safety is ensured by reusing agents’ motion planning within the subsumption scheme.