Gopichand, Adwaith (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), Hanselaar, Caspar (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), Silvas, Emilia (TNO)

Maintaining Stability During Channel Switching in Multi-Channel Automated Driving Systems

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "S41b-Motion Planning, Trajectory Optimization, and Control for Autonomous Vehicles" (FR-EA-T41), Friday, November 21, 2025, 13:30−13:50, Broadbeach 1&2

2025 IEEE 28th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), November 18-21, 2025, Gold Coast, Australia

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on October 18, 2025

Abstract

Highly Automated Driving System (ADS) architectures use cross-channel analysis and arbitration to dynamically select the optimal channel to ensure the safety and availability of the ADS functionality. However, existing architectures do not assess vehicle stability at the instant of switching, which can lead to unsafe channel transitions. To address this, we propose and evaluate a framework that assesses vehicle stability and trajectory feasibility to enable the safe selection of mission continuing or fallback motion planning and vehicle control. First, we evaluate whether a lightweight open-loop stability criterion can assess potential instability at the moment of switching. Second, we evaluate stability and trajectory following behaviour with a closed-loop dynamic feasibility check. Additionally, these analyses are integrated into a trajectory risk assessment step, accounting for road–tyre friction uncertainties, which are crucial in safety-critical emergency cases. Results showcase that a lightweight algebraic test achieves 98% precision and 74% recall for unsafe scenarios, providing an effective first scan to eliminate dangerous proposed trajectories. Moreover, the findings highlight the need for dynamic evaluations performed in our framework, given counter-intuitive trajectory tracking and stability results in the tested scenario. Finally, the risk analysis under varying friction conditions demonstrates that the proposed framework can effectively quantify the safety of the proposed trajectory.