A hardware and software framework for cognitive automobiles

This paper describes the hardware and software framework of AnnieWAY, an autonomous vehicle successfully competing at all qualification stages up to the finals of the DARPA Urban Challenge 2007 competition. Besides the hardware premises for by-wire steering, braking, throttle control and sensors, two frameworks for high-level decision making and low-level control are described in detail. Furthermore, this contribution points out AnnieWAYpsilas safety features for both unmanned competition runs and manned testing. The system proves to be flexible, expandable, and robust at the same time.