Enabling Level 4-5 Autonomous Fleet Mobility in Known Environments

自动驾驶得益于传感、计算和通信方面的新技术，这些技术可以潜在地消除占致命道路交通事故94%的人为驾驶错误！汽车公司正在推出具有2级自动驾驶（部分自动化，驾驶员必须干预驾驶任务和监测环境）和3级自动驾驶（仅驾驶员必须干预驾驶任务的有条件自动化）的车辆，这些车辆具有许多额外的安全优势。然而，实现更高水平的自动驾驶（4级：高度自动化，车辆可以在某些条件下执行所有驾驶功能；5级：完全自动化，车辆可以在所有条件下执行所有驾驶功能）对于一般和全天候驾驶来说要复杂得多，可能还需要数十年的工作。这是由于在任何道路、交通、天气条件下感知环境的巨大复杂性，以及在任何驾驶场景下做出正确决策的能力。虽然在任何环境中实现车辆自动驾驶仍处于起步阶段，但在众所周知的环境中，许多移动应用目前可以达到4级和5级。此类应用包括用于公共交通、度假村和机场的户外自动车队；在医疗保健和长期护理设施中用于个人移动和物料搬运的室内应用，仅举几例。该提案旨在在已知的室外和室内环境中实现4级和5级自动驾驶车队的移动性。这个研究项目的成果可以应用于大量的应用领域。然而，这个项目将侧重于公共交通、医疗保健和长期护理设施的技术开发。通过申请人现有的自动驾驶班车和他目前为医疗保健和长期设施开发的车队移动基础设施，研究结果将用于实际测试和评估。研究成果将通过为医疗保健和长期护理设施提供更好和具有成本效益的公共交通和可靠的室内交通解决方案，产生重大的经济和社会影响。这将有助于缓解工作人员短缺，这在过去两年中由于大流行病危机而特别明显，并有助于缓解长期和保健服务费用不断上升的问题。拟议的研究计划将极大地有助于培养许多在自主移动方面具有深厚理论和实践知识的学生，以帮助和塑造日益增长的加拿大自主系统产业。

Automated driving benefits from novel technologies in sensing, computation, and communication that can potentially eliminate human driving errors that account for 94% of fatal road vehicle accidents! Vehicles with automated driving in Level 2 (partial automation with necessary driver intervention in both driving tasks and monitoring the environment) and Level 3 (conditional automation with necessary driver intervention in driving tasks only) are being introduced by automotive companies with many added safety benefits. However, achieving higher levels of autonomy (Level 4: high automation where the vehicle can perform all driving functions under certain conditions; Level 5: full automation where the vehicle can perform all driving functions under all conditions) for general and all-weather driving is far more complicated, and decades of work might still be needed. This is due to the vast complexity in perceiving the environment in any road, traffic, weather conditions, and the ability to make proper decisions in any driving scenario. While the achievement of vehicle autonomy in any environment is still in its infancy, many mobility applications in well-known environments could presently attain Level 4 and 5. Such applications include outdoor autonomous fleets for public transportation, at resorts, and airports; and indoor applications for personal mobility and material handling in health care and long-term care facilities, to name a few. This proposal is intended to enable Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous fleet mobility for known outdoor and indoor environments. The results of this research program can be applied to a vast number of applications. This program, however, will focus on the development of technology for public transportation, health care, and long-term care facilities. Through the applicant's existing autonomous shuttles and his current development of fleet mobility infrastructure for health care and long-term facilities, research results will be implemented for real-world testing and evaluation. The research outcomes will have significant economical and societal impacts by providing solutions for better and cost-effective public transportation and, reliable indoor mobility for health care and long-term care facilities. This will help alleviate staff shortages, particularly apparent in the past two years due to the pandemic crisis, as well as the rising costs of long term and health care services. The proposed research program will contribute greatly to the training of many students with deep theoretical and practical knowledge in autonomous mobility to help and shape the growing Canadian industry in autonomous systems.