Autonomous vehicles – Applications and perspectives

This publication aims to provide a comprehensive review of the latest research efforts by international authors on recent developments in the field of autonomous vehicles. Electric vehicles have already found practical applications in many areas of human activity, and it is important to highlight tasks that require a long operating time and which are performed in inaccessible or dangerous environments. Navigation and motion control systems for autonomous vehicles are increasingly important in aerial, ground, and maritime operations. There is a growing interest in robust autonomous control and navigation systems, real-time replanning, cooperative and coordinated multi-vehicle systems, driver assistance, and intelligent transport systems. Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used in a variety of applications such as surveillance, inspection, payload transfer, manipulation, and interaction with the environment in three-dimensional space. Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) in the form of various robot configurations are used for the aforementioned applications related to the ground, whether indoor or outdoor. In maritime operations, autonomous underwater and surface systems can be distinguished. The mentioned groups of autonomous vehicles can form a heterogeneous robotic autonomous system.