Autonomous vehicles are expected to play a key role in the future of urban transportation systems, as they offer potential for additional safety, increased productivity, greater accessibility, better road efficiency, and positive impact on the environment. Research in autonomous systems has seen dramatic advances in recent years, due to the increases in available computing power and reduced cost in sensing and computing technologies, resulting in maturing technological readiness level of fully autonomous vehicles. The objective of this paper is to provide a general overview of the recent developments in the realm of autonomous vehicle software systems. Fundamental components of autonomous vehicle software are reviewed, and recent developments in each area are discussed.

While brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can provide communication to people who are locked-in, they suffer from a very low information transfer rate. Further, using a BCI requires a concentration effort and using it continuously can be tiring. The brain controlled wheelchair (BCW) described in this paper aims at providing mobility to BCI users despite these limitations, in a safe and efficient way. Using a slow but reliable P300 based BCI, the user selects a destination amongst a list of predefined locations. While the wheelchair moves on virtual guiding paths ensuring smooth, safe, and predictable trajectories, the user can stop the wheelchair by using a faster BCI. Experiments with nondisabled subjects demonstrated the efficiency of this strategy. Brain control was not affected when the wheelchair was in motion, and the BCW enabled the users to move to various locations in less time and with significantly less control effort than other control strategies proposed in the literature.

In this paper, we present a multivehicle cooperative driving system architecture using cooperative perception along with experimental validation. For this goal, we first propose a multimodal cooperative perception system that provides see-through, lifted-seat, satellite and all-around views to drivers. Using the extended range information from the system, we then realize cooperative driving by a see-through forward collision warning, overtaking/lane-changing assistance, and automated hidden obstacle avoidance. We demonstrate the capabilities and features of our system through real-world experiments using four vehicles on the road.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a degenerative disease of the motor neurons that eventually leads to complete paralysis. We are developing a wheelchair system that can help ALS patients, and others who can't use physical interfaces such as joysticks or gaze tracking, regain some autonomy. The system must be usable in hospitals and homes with minimal infrastructure modification. It must be safe and relatively low cost and must provide optimal interaction between the user and the wheelchair within the constraints of the brain-computer interface. To this end, we have built the first working prototype of a brain-controlled wheelchair that can navigate inside a typical office or hospital environment. This article describes the BCW, our control strategy, and the system's performance in a typical building environment. This brain-controlled wheelchair prototype uses a P300 EEG signal and a motion guidance strategy to navigate in a building safely and efficiently without complex sensors or sensor processing