Predicting driving comfort in autonomous vehicles using road information and multi-head attention models

Abstract

Driving comfort is a crucial consideration in the automotive industry. In the realm of autonomous driving, comfort has always been a factor that requires continuous improvement. A common approach to improving driving comfort is through the optimization of local path planning. Nevertheless, it is imperative to recognize that macroscopic factors, including traffic flow and road conditions, wield a substantial influence on comfort. For instance, complex traffic scenarios increase the possibility of emergency braking, thereby affecting comfort. Consequently, investigating the intricate interplay between comfort and global path planning becomes essential. This paper introduces a methodology and framework for predicting driving comfort by leveraging road information. The study established a road information-driving comfort dataset and devised prediction models using multi-head attention mechanism. The ensuing discussion elucidates the practical application of the model in path planning through examples and tests. Following the path optimized by the model, the vehicles exhibited a reduction in jerk. This research predicted driving comfort based on road information and integrated it with global path planning, which holds significant implications for autonomous driving navigation systems and provides a valuable reference for related research.