Embodied Opinion Dynamics for Safety-Critical Motion Control in Dynamic Environments

arXiv (Cornell University)

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel adaptive control framework that embeds nonlinear opinion dynamics within the dynamical sensorimotor layers of an automated vehicle governed by second-order nonholonomic bicycle kinematics. The framework enables an ego vehicle to perform adaptive decision-making and achieve safe motion control under interaction uncertainty with non-cooperative neighboring agents. We consider a representative case study in which an ego vehicle autonomously attempts to merge into a lane occupied by human-driven or automated vehicles whose intentions are unknown. Within the proposed framework, the ego vehicle adaptively selects and executes merging versus non-merging behaviors in response to changing environmental conditions. Formal safety guarantees, as well as equilibrium and stability analyses of the closed-loop system, are provided. Numerical simulations further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Authors 2

1. Zhiqi Tang Aachen Faculty of Computer Science

   RWTH Aachen University · University of Manchester

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering , The University of Manchester , UK

   The Faculty of Computer Science , RWTH Aachen University , Aachen , Germany

2. Yu Xing Aachen Faculty of Computer Science

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   The Faculty of Computer Science , RWTH Aachen University , Aachen , Germany