-4.0 -2.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 Distance from Center Line (meters) 0.0 2.0 Conclusions and Future Work

example, in DVLT experiments which use 16 iterations to transition between lanes, the first MLP would be 1/16 of the total distance (along the line connecting the LCP's) away from the driving lane LCP and 15/16 from the destination LCP. The second MLP would be 1/8 and 7/8, respectively. Because the vehicle is instructed to move toward the MLP, the virtual views become misaligned with their respective lanes and must be updated. This process is similar to the one used for the IVLT method except that both views are changed. If the vehicle is moving to the left, both views are updated by moving them to the right. This process is continued until the vehicle has transitioned completely into the destination lane. See Figure 5. The combination of moving toward a MLP which is continually closer to the destination lane center and of updating the location of the virtual camera views results in a smooth, controlled transition. During the lane transition, the IRRE confidence metric and the constant lane separation constraint are used to determine if the system is confident in its current driving ability. This is done by checking the IRRE confidence value associated with the images created by the views and by comparing the distance between the two LCP's. For the transition to continue, the IRRE confidence measure is required to be above a threshold value, typically 0.75, and the distance between the LCP's is required to be within 40% of the lane separation distance, specified by the lane model. Unlike the IVLT, this method does not check to see if the system will be able to drive at the next lane transition position. All 42 DVLT's that were attempted to verify this lane transition method were successfully completed. Like the other methods, half were left lane to right lane transitions while the rest were right to left. The results of the experiments are shown in Figure 6. Figure 6. Average vehicle path during Dual View Lane Transitions. Dual View There are two characteristics to notice in this figure. First, the lane transitions are symmetric across the center line of the road as well as with respect to the time in the lane transition. Second, the DVLT method doesn't relinquish control until the vehicle is at the proper driving position in the destination lane. Empirically , this equates to a smoother shift into the destination lane. These experiments …