Considerations on trajectory planning models in automated driving

The SPARC concept for fully-automated driving was introduced in 2012 as a way to overcome the highly discretized maneuver planning approaches that had previously dominated the DARPA Grand and Urban Challenges. The aim was to define a single planner that is responsible for all forward driving tasks, including intersections, highways and pre-crash situations; that is based on a sound statistical framework including prediction and sensing uncertainties; and that can trade off between goals like safety, comfort and efficiency in a unified and transparent way. Since then, several similar approaches have been presented, most notably the Bertha Benz drive of 2013, in which the 100 km distance between Mannheim and Pforzheim was covered autonomously in a Mercedes-Benz S-500 Intelligent Drive. During the same time, the SPARC approach has been refined in several respects, including its vehicle models and optimization techniques. This technical report provides an overview of the avenues explored to motivate the current form of the SPARC concept, based on frequently-asked questions that arose during the various technical presentations of the concept.