PathGAN: Local path planning with attentive generative adversarial networks

For autonomous driving without high-definition maps, we present a model capable of generating multiple plausible paths from egocentric images for autonomous vehicles. Our generative model comprises two neural networks: feature extraction network (FEN) and path generation network (PGN). The FEN extracts meaningful features from an egocentric image, whereas the PGN generates multiple paths from the features, given a driving intention and speed. To ensure that the paths generated are plausible and consistent with the intention, we introduce an attentive discriminator and train it with the PGN under a generative adversarial network framework. Furthermore, we devise an interaction model between the positions in the paths and the intentions hidden in the positions and design a novel PGN architecture that reflects the interaction model for improving the accuracy and diversity of the generated paths. Finally, we introduce ETRIDriving, a dataset for autonomous driving, in which the recorded sensor data are labeled with discrete high-level driving actions, and demonstrate the state-of-the-art performance of the proposed model on ETRIDriving in terms of accuracy and diversity.