Emerging Research in Autonomous Vehicle Technology: Innovations in On-Road and Off-Road Driving Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

The increasingly widespread diffusion of autonomous driving has revolutionized the transportation landscape, promising safer, more efficient, and sustainable mobility solutions. As the technology continues to advance rapidly, an increasing attention is rising for on-road deployment as well as for off-road applications, posing unique challenges and opportunities for researchers and engineers of both academia and industry.

This Special Issue aims to bring together the latest advancements, research findings, and practical insights related to the design, modelling and control of autonomous vehicles, with a particular emphasis on the last discoveries for on-road implementation to the more challenging requirements and analysis required by off-road mobility. The scope of this issue encompasses various aspects, including but not limited to:

• Dynamics modeling and simulation of autonomous vehicles and their subsystems, e.g., powertrains architectures, on-road and off-road tyre-road contacts, steering mechanisms, braking systems and trailers;
• Design and implementation of advanced control methodologies to enhance the decision-making capabilities and the maneuvering of autonomous vehicles in complex driving scenarios, e.g., avoidance of static or dynamics obstacles, driving on soft soils, traffic management, etc.;
• Real-world deployments, field tests, and case studies that showcase the successful implementation of autonomous vehicles in both on-road and off-road scenarios, including agriculture, mining, construction, search and rescue, military applications and more;
• Investigate the strategies and algorithms employed to enable effective cooperation and coordination among autonomous vehicles;
• Explore cutting-edge sensor technologies, sensor fusion methods, and perception algorithms tailored to handle the unpredictable and diverse landscapes of the real world;
• Improve the interaction between autonomous vehicles and human operators in challenging environments, addressing user trust, situation awareness, and collaboration;
• Safety, risk assessment and prevention in off-road autonomy.

Through this Special Issue, we aim to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, exchange knowledge, and accelerate the development of safe and reliable autonomous vehicles capable of tackling the diverse challenges.

Dr. Antonio Tota
Dr. Luca Dimauro
Prof. Mauro Velardocchia
Guest Editors

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• autonomous vehicles
• dynamics modeling
• off-road driving
• advance control strategies
• cooperative and coordinated control
• human-machine interaction