Mohammadnejad, Toktam (Honda Research Institute), D'sa, Jovin (Honda Research Institute, USA), Chalaki, Behdad (Honda Research Institute USA Inc), Nourkhiz Mahjoub, Hossein (Honda Research Institute, US), Moradi-Pari, Ehsan (Honda Research Institute USA)

SMART-Merge Planner: A Safe Merging and Real-Time Motion Planner for Autonomous Highway On-Ramp Merging

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "S41c-Motion Planning, Trajectory Optimization, and Control for Autonomous Vehicles" (FR-LA-T41), Friday, November 21, 2025, 16:40−17:00, 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

Merging onto a highway is a complex driving task that requires identifying a safe gap, adjusting speed, often interactions to create a merging gap, and completing the merge maneuver within a limited time window while maintaining safety and driving comfort. In this paper, we introduce a Safe Merging and Real-Time Merge (SMART-Merge) planner, a lattice-based motion planner designed to facilitate safe and comfortable forced merging. By deliberately adapting cost terms to the unique challenges of forced merging and introducing a desired speed heuristic, SMART-Merge planner enables the ego vehicle to merge successfully while minimizing the merge time. We verify the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed merge planner through high-fidelity CarMaker simulations on hundreds of highway merge scenarios. Our proposed planner achieves the success rate of 100% as well as completes the merge maneuver in the shortest amount of time compared with the baselines, demonstrating our planner’s capability to handle complex forced merge tasks and provide a reliable and robust solution for autonomous highway merge. The simulation result videos are available at https://sites.google.com/view/smart-merge-planner/home