Model Predictive Path Planning with Time-Varying Safety Constraints for Highway Autonomous Driving

A model predictive controller (MPC) with time-varying safety constraints for highway path planning with collision avoidance is developed in this paper. The collision avoidance constraints with the surrounding vehicles are integrated with the road geometry constraints, leading to a set of convex time-varying safety constraints. The surrounding vehicles' dynamics and decisions are also incorporated in the prediction model to predict the trajectories. The proposed controller finds the best combination of longitudinal and lateral acceleration commands to guide the vehicle while avoiding collision with surrounding vehicles by possibly overtaking. Simulation results verify successful performance of this predictive control strategy for different scenarios.