6. Vehicle Reference Lane Calculation for Autonomous Vehicle Guidance Control

The presented paper discusses a concept of a model-based reference lane calculation method for autonomous vehicle guidance. Recently shown reference lane calculation methods for autonomous passenger cars without trailer attached were generally performed by a simple “mid-lane” guidance approach, which is sufficient for these types of vehicles to keep them in track. For vehicles with more complex driving dynamics like heavy truck–semitrailer combinations or vehicles with attached trailers, however, a more sophisticated approach for reference lane calculation is necessary to achieve all requirements regarding driving safety and driving comfort for high-quality driving assistance. The presented paper therefore focuses on the task of designing a reference lane calculation method for vehicles with complex driving dynamics, which leads to a more general approach for determining the reference lane to achieve all the requirements of safe and comfortable lane-keeping tasks.