Potential-based dynamic parking navigation for autonomous vehicles: Near-priority vs. distant-priority

We aim to enhance the parking efficiency for a group of autonomous vehicles in a large parking lot during peak hours. Two parking principles, i.e. the near-priority (NP) and distant-priority (DP) principles, are proposed and quantitatively examined. The NP principle characterizes individual parking behavior, where autonomous vehicles tend to select available parking spaces that are closer in proximity. Conversely, the DP principle is proposed from the perspective of the entire parking system, prioritizing the allocation of more distant parking spaces within a certain range around each entrance. Two time indicators, including the overall parking time and the average parking time, are adopted to evaluate the performance of the two principles. A potential-based cellular automata (CA) model is proposed to formulate the dynamic parking process of vehicles in a two-dimensional space, where vehicle navigation is driven by a so-called potential field. Then, two dynamic navigation algorithms are developed for parking navigation under the NP and DP principles. Furthermore, by conducting a set of comparative simulation experiments, we have obtained some management insights into peak parking management in the era of autonomous driving.