Automated Driving

In the last 30 years, automated driving has been a challenging research topic. However, despite tremendous improvements in sensor technology, pattern recognition techniques, control system design, computation power, communication bandwidth, and other system technology areas, market introduction of a fully automated vehicle that is capable of unsupervised driving in any environment remains a long-term goal. Nevertheless, driver assistance systems supporting human drivers have already enteredmodern passenger vehicles and trucks. These include advanced driver assistance systems providing collision protection functions as well as reliable comfort assistance features like distance and lane keeping support. Low speed functions like parking assistance or automated stop & go driving add to this picture. More and more sophisticated systems enhancing comfort, efficiency and safety will be introduced on path towards fully automated vehicles. While this development will take place in an evolutionary process, many experts expect revolutionary changes in human transportation towards its completion. Thus it comes at no surprise that automated driving has attracted considerable attention of the public, the scientific community, and last not least of the industry recently. The pace of innovation in this field has dramatically been enhanced since then. For many stakeholders, automated driving has become an important goal of driver assistance systems development. Almost the entire vehicle industry as well as some noteworthy computer industry players focus on that goal. Numerous announcements of a technological breakthrough and of market introduction in just a couple of years have been claimed in the last decade. This development has motivated this special issue on automated driving. The editors have received contributions that present and discuss automation and control