Intention-Aware Control Based on Belief-Space Specifications and Stochastic Expansion

Abstract

This paper develops a correct-by-design controller for an autonomous vehicle interacting with opponent vehicles with unknown intentions. We define an intention-aware control problem incorporating epistemic uncertainties of the opponent vehicles and model their intentions as discrete-valued random variables. Then, we focus on a control objective specified as belief-space temporal logic specifications. From this stochastic control problem, we derive a sound deterministic control problem using stochastic expansion and solve it using shrinking-horizon model predictive control. The solved intention-aware controller allows a vehicle to adjust its behaviors according to its opponents' intentions. It ensures provable safety by restricting the probabilistic risk under a desired level. We show with experimental studies that the proposed method ensures strict limitation of risk probabilities, validating its efficacy in autonomous driving cases. This work provides a novel solution for the risk-aware control of interactive vehicles with formal safety guarantees.