A Review of Decision-Making and Planning for Autonomous Vehicles in Intersection Environments

Decision-making and planning are the core aspects of autonomous driving systems. These factors are crucial for improving the safety, driving experience, and travel efficiency of autonomous vehicles. Intersections are crucial nodes in urban road traffic networks. The objective of this study is to comprehensively review the latest issues and research progress in decision-making and planning for autonomous vehicles in intersection environments. This paper reviews the research progress in the behavioral prediction of traffic participants in terms of machine learning-based behavioral prediction, probabilistic model behavioral prediction, and mixed-method behavioral prediction. Then, behavioral decision-making is divided into reactive decision-making, learning decision-making, and interactive decision-making, each of which is analyzed. Finally, a comparative analysis of motion planning and its applications is performed from a methodological viewpoint, including search, sampling, and numerical methods. First, key issues and major research progress related to end-to-end decision-making and path planning are summarized and analyzed. Second, the impact of decision-making and path planning on the intelligence level of autonomous vehicles in intersecting environments is discussed. Finally, future development trends and technical challenges are outlined.