Smooth Path Generation Based on Bézier Curves for Autonomous Vehicles

In this paper we present two path planning algorithms based on Bézier curves for autonomous vehicles with waypoints and corridor constraints. Bézier curves have useful properties for the path generation problem. This paper describes how the algorithms apply these properties to generate the reference trajectory for vehicles to satisfy the path constraints. Both algorithms join a set of low-degree Bézier curves segments smoothly to generate the path. Additionally, we discuss the constrained optimization problem that optimizes the resulting path for a user-defined cost function. The simulation demonstrates the improvement of trajectory generation in terms of smoother steering control and smaller cross track error compared to previous work.