Implement new node to add general information to objects for planning module

[satoshi-ota]

[Motivation]

Currently autoware has 20+ modules that use object information, the output of Perception. Additionally, each module uses more detailed object information obtained by integrating HDMap and route information for path or velocity planning. For example, the Avoidance and LC modules estimate which lane each vehicle belongs to and filter the route safety check targets.

As a result, similar processes are executed multiple times in different modules, and there are a lot of wasteful processing. (Unfortunately, it's mostly heavy processing.) In fact, recently the processing time of the behavior path planner and behavior velocity planner modules can momentarily exceed 100 ms, so reducing the amount of computation is a high priority issue.

In addition, all modules should basically have a common understanding of the judgment, for example, whether or not to park on the shoulder, but currently the criteria and judgment logic depends on each modules. Sometimes, this causes inconsistencies in ego behavior between modules.

[Proposal approach]

Therefore, TIER IV is considering implementing a new node (tentative name: information_adding_node) for information that is often used in the Planning module, and calculating it within that node. For example, we think that the following information can be calculated in information_adding_node as general information.

• which lane object belongs to.
• whether it is a parked vehicle.
• whether it is a cut-in/cut-out vehicle.

The implementation of this node allows processing that was previously duplicated in multiple locations to be combined in one place, thus reducing the amount of computation and preventing inconsistencies in the handling of objects between modules.

Now, we think that this node takes as input the output of perception, HDMap and ego route and publishes information about the object, including additional computed information, to each of the modules in Planning. Then, we are also considering defining a new msg type on connecting this new node and planning modules as follows.

(Example) ExpandedPredictedObject.msg

PredictedObject object # perception raw data

uint64 lane_id
bool is_parked
float cutin_probability
float cutout_probability
...

[TODO]

• Discuss implementation ideas within the TIER IV P/C team.
• Agree on an implementation policy, including the architect, within TIER IV.
• TIER IV will share the proposed implementation again in P/C WG.