Map free lane following based on low-cost laser scanner for near future autonomous service vehicle

This paper proposes a map free lane following solution based on low-cost 2D laser scanners for Autonomous Service Vehicle to fill the gap between future driverless car and the lane keeping assistant. The applications of autonomous service vehicle include feeder bus in a local residential area, shuttle bus in a park or playground, sprinkler car, sweeper car, and transporter in airport or container terminal. As autonomous service vehicle is running only in a limited area and its speed is slow compared to normal vehicles, we can further simplify the problem regardless of the issues of road infrastructure detection/communication and V2I maps which prevent the popularization of driverless car, and to propose a unique map free solution. The features of our approach include: 1) an innovative configuration for two 2D laser scanners to detect the lane with sharp curve; 2) a fast and accurate lane detection algorithm based on 2D laser's raw date directly; 3) a reliable and smooth path planning based on local lane fitting and prediction; and 4) a self-built unique drive-by-wire system for electronic car. We successfully tested our vehicle with autonomous driving in the testing field. The experiments show that the vehicle's trajectory matched the planned path accurately.