Abstract
Electric wheelchairs can move like pedestrians on sidewalks owing to their limited speed. These wheelchairs are attracting increasing interest as mobility aids for short commutes of approximately one mile from residential locations. When installing a safe and secure automated driving system in an electric wheelchair, the control of the electric wheelchair via the automated driving system must ensure that the set route can be followed with a high degree of accuracy. This study evaluated the maximum distance that the vehicle deviates from the set travel path and the accuracy of the stop position of an automated braking system for a set driving route using an electric wheelchair. The wheelchair comprises an additional automated driving function. As a preliminary experiment, a driving test was conducted on a driving route, including obstacle avoidance and right and left turns, to evaluate the control accuracy of the automated driving system guiding the electric wheelchair. As an experiment for control accuracy, we classified the course into curved roads, obstacle avoidance, and straight roads. Moreover, we investigated the effects of each route on the control accuracy and automated braking system. The results showed that the lateral error during driving tended to increase or decrease for the straight path. In addition, the error for the avoidance route was smaller than that for the curves. The results suggest that the evaluated Autoware control algorithm affects straight paths, while the time of steering and the magnitude of steering affect paths that include right and left turns.
