Development of an Automatic Velocity Control System Based on Passability Index Considering Pedestrians for Personal Mobility

Abstract

For personal mobility(PM) operators, it is difficult to move through a crowd and it is important to estimate collision risks and to control driving velocity properly. In this study, we propose an automatic velocity control system for PM based on “Passability Index (PI),” which indicates difficulty of driving while pedestrians are passing. The system uses an RGB-D camera and LRFs to estimate a pedestrian’s position and velocity. To calculate PI, the system calculates width of passage during passing considering pedestrian’s movement. Then, PM adopts a proper passing velocity depending on PI. Experimental results show that the proposed system helped operators to drive safer compared to manual (non-supported) driving.