Stochastic Predictive Control for Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes With Time-Joint Chance Constraints and Application to Autonomous Vehicle Control

Abstract

This paper describes a stochastic predictive control algorithm for partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) with time-joint chance constraints. We first present the algorithm as a general tool to treat finite space POMDP problems with time-joint chance constraints together with its theoretical properties. We then discuss its application to autonomous vehicle control on highways. In particular, we model decision-making/behavior-planning for an autonomous vehicle accounting for safety in a dynamic and uncertain environment as a constrained POMDP problem and solve it using the proposed algorithm. After behavior is planned, we use nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) to execute the behavior commands generated from the planner. This two-layer control framework is shown to be effective by simulations.