Planning of Optimal Collision Avoidance Trajectories with Timed Elastic Bands

This paper is concerned with the planning of optimal trajectories for vehicle collision avoidance with a Timed Elastic Band (TEB) framework. The avoidance trajectory is represented by a TEB which is optimized with respect to multiple partially conflicting objectives. The resulting trajectory constitutes the optimal compromise between a mere braking and a lane change maneuver that avoids the collision with the smoothest feasible path. The approach is applicable to general critical traffic situations as the TEB considers the constraints imposed by the vehicle dynamics, road boundaries, static obstacles and moving vehicles.