Special Issue on Perception and Navigation for Autonomous Vehicles [From the Guest Editors]

T his special issue of IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (RAM) has been prepared in the scope of the activities of the Technical Committee on Autonomous Ground Vehicle and Intelligent Transportation Systems (AGV-ITS) (http://www.ieee-ras.org/ autonomous-groundvehicles-and-intelligenttransportation-systems) of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS). The purpose of this special issue is to address topics related to the challenging problems of autonomous navigation and driving assistance in open and dynamic environments. Technologies related to application fields, such as unmanned outdoor vehicles or intelligent road vehicles, are considered from both the theoretical and technological points of view. Several research questions located on the cutting edge of the state of the art are addressed. Among the many application areas that robotics addresses, individual mobility and mass transportation seem to be the domains that will most dramatically benefit from intelligent automation. Autonomous driving is emerging as the solution for dramatically improving efficiency while, at the same time, leading to the ultimate goal of zero fatalities. Clearly, robotics technologies are at the very core of this major shift in the automobile paradigm (Figure 1). Most of the 15 articles that have been submitted for this RAM special issue are from speakers or active participants of the series of workshops organized by