Autonomous driving controllers with neuromorphic spiking neural networks

Autor: Raz Halaly, Elishai Ezra Tsur
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Frontiers in Neurorobotics, Vol 17 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1662-5218
DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2023.1234962
Popis: Autonomous driving is one of the hallmarks of artificial intelligence. Neuromorphic (brain-inspired) control is posed to significantly contribute to autonomous behavior by leveraging spiking neural networks-based energy-efficient computational frameworks. In this work, we have explored neuromorphic implementations of four prominent controllers for autonomous driving: pure-pursuit, Stanley, PID, and MPC, using a physics-aware simulation framework. We extensively evaluated these models with various intrinsic parameters and compared their performance with conventional CPU-based implementations. While being neural approximations, we show that neuromorphic models can perform competitively with their conventional counterparts. We provide guidelines for building neuromorphic architectures for control and describe the importance of their underlying tuning parameters and neuronal resources. Our results show that most models would converge to their optimal performances with merely 100–1,000 neurons. They also highlight the importance of hybrid conventional and neuromorphic designs, as was suggested here with the MPC controller. This study also highlights the limitations of neuromorphic implementations, particularly at higher (> 15 m/s) speeds where they tend to degrade faster than in conventional designs.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals