Optimal lane change motion of intelligent vehicles based on extended adaptive pseudo-spectral method under uncertain vehicle mass

Lane change operation is widely used in numerous traffic scenarios; to minimize lane change time and avoid collisions with other vehicles required by intelligent vehicles, an optimal lane change motion is proposed for the shortest time free lane change and emergency obstacle avoidance lane change. First, two optimal lane change motion models are constructed based on a 3-degree-of-freedom dynamical vehicle model. Because of uncertain parameters in the vehicle model, the optimal lane change motion problem is an uncertain optimal control problem. Subsequently, targeted at nonlinearity and uncertain parameters, an extended adaptive pseudo-spectral method is also presented on the basis of approximate and numerical integration of parameter space. Finally, solving the optimal lane change motion problem, optimization results, control results based on the nonlinear model predictive control algorithm, and experimental results are shown under circumstances of certain vehicle mass and uncertain vehicle mass. As for uncertain parameters, optimization results are featured with robustness. Thus, uncertain parameters need not be measured, and optimization calculation need not be carried out in real time. The algorithm put forward here could be adopted to solve an uncertain optimal control problem. The optimal lane change motion can be extended to apply in more complex operations like merging, double-lane change, entering/exiting highways, or overtaking another vehicle.