A Kamm’s Circle-Based Potential Risk Estimation Scheme in the Local Dynamic Map Computation Enhanced by Binary Decision Diagrams

Autonomous vehicles (AV) are a hot topic for safe mobility, which inevitably requires sensors to achieve autonomy, but relying too heavily on sensors will be a risk factor. A high-definition map (HD map) reduces the risk by giving geographical information if it covers dynamic information from moving entities on the road. Cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) are a prominent approach to solving the issue and local dynamic maps (LDMs) are expected to realize the ideal C-ITS. An actual LDM implementation requires a fine database design to be able to update the information to represent potential risks based on future interactions of vehicles. In the present study, we proposed an advanced method for embedding the geographical future occupancy of vehicles into the database by using a binary decision diagram (BDD). In our method, the geographical future occupancy of vehicles was formulated with Kamm’s circle. In computer experiments, sharing BDD-based occupancy data was successfully demonstrated in the ROS-based simulator with the linked list-based BDD. Algebraic operations in exchanged BDDs effectively managed future interactions such as data insertion and timing of collision avoidance in the LDM. This result opened a new door for the realization of the ideal LDM for safety in AVs.