Development of a longitudinal and lateral driver model for autonomous vehicle control

Since the autonomous vehicle is intended to simulate a human driver's behaviour, it is very helpful to introduce a driver model to the design of the autonomous vehicle controller. The intention of this paper is to exhibit the approaches of building a longitudinally and laterally integrated driver model and the methods of applying the model in autonomous vehicle control. A series of simulations is undertaken in typical driving conditions such as double lane change, speed or position following in straight line, braking-in-turn, high-speed U turn, etc. During the entire course of the simulations, the driver model has demonstrated the great accuracy in terms of following both the path and the vehicle speeds. It can be concluded that this particular type of driver model is highly applicable in autonomous vehicle control.