Towards the Safe Operation of Autonomous Vehicles in Work Zones

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) promise significant advances in transportation safety and efficiency. However, navigating roadway work zones, which can be rather complex and dynamic, remains a significant challenge. This paper presents the results of a large study that addresses the challenges, requirements, solutions and practical experiences of AVs driving safely through work zones. We begin by proposing a taxonomy of work zone scenarios and analyzing their structures and attributes. We next discuss the perception, routing, behavioral and path-planning requirements for AVs to safely navigate these scenarios. We then offer methods to meet these requirements and investigate the impact of range and AV speed on perception confidence levels for work zone detection. We evaluate our solutions in a co-simulation environment, on a closed test-track and on public roadways across more than 20 work zone scenarios specified by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDoT). Video demonstrations illustrate the feasibility of safe and reliable navigation of AVs in a wide variety of work zones.