A Real-Time Obstacle Avoidance Method for Autonomous Vehicles Using an Obstacle-Dependent Gaussian Potential Field

A new obstacle avoidance method for autonomous vehicles called obstacle-dependent Gaussian potential field (ODG-PF) was designed and implemented. It detects obstacles and calculates the likelihood of collision with them. In this paper, we present a novel attractive field and repulsive field calculation method and direction decision approach. Simulations and the experiments were carried out and compared with other potential field-based obstacle avoidance methods. The results show that ODG-PF performed the best in most cases.