Why use surround_obstacle_checker?

[xmfcx]

Summary function of the surround_obstacle_checker (SOC)

https://autowarefoundation.github.io/autoware.universe/main/planning/surround_obstacle_checker/

On this image, red box represents a detected sidewalk, which is an obstacle.

Green box represents the Surround Obstacle Checker (SOC) area.

If the vehicle stops there, SOC won't let the vehicle start moving forward again.

But if the vehicle is already moving forward, it will ignore the sidewalk because it's not in its way.

To me, it's a useless feature, I don't understand its purpose.

Reasons why I find it useless

• We already remove the points that fall on the vehicle in the sensing stack.
• For any other obstacle/points, why not use the default obstacle avoidance features?
• This feature makes the vehicle stop for the static obstacles which it would drive by if it was driving normally.

Potential uses I can think of

• If the doors of the vehicle are opened, this won't let vehicle move
• If someone in the car gets their hands out of the window and lidars see it, vehicle won't move
• If something is touching the vehicle and also protruding, the vehicle won't move

But none of these are convincing reasons for me.

What can be done?

We should disable it by default to avoid confusing Autoware users.

cc. @mehmetdogru @TakaHoribe @armaganarsln

[TakaHoribe]

@xmfcx Thank you for raising a discussion.

It can be disabled by default, but I suggest keeping it with different parameters.

There are some situations where we don't want the vehicle to start when a human is standing around the vehicle.
Now the surround_obstacle_checker is checking all objects, all obstacle pointcloiuds, but I feel it is too much. Why don't we change the default parameters to check only specific objects (e.g. pedestrians, bicycles)?

[xmfcx]

@mitsudome-r said that this was introduced mainly for cargo odd scenarios where people could be loading cargo to the vehicle. And the customer car not moving while the cargo was being loaded or people was around.

I agree, we can reduce the bounding box size and use only the pedestrians. I think vehicle shouldn't wait even if there is a pedestrian near the vehicle. Especially in the cases where there is a safety driver, which is the most popular use case. Things should be handled by the usual planning algorithms, not surround obstacle checker.

Like, why is take off scenario different than normal driving?

If anyone wants, they can enable it by checking the docs.

[armaganarsln]

I still think it's not needed for pedestrians and bicycles because we are planning to drive in the city where pedestrians might be around. As long as it's outside the bounding box, the vehicle should be moving. If people want extra safety and thinking this as a measure they could add.

[xmfcx]

There are some situations where we don't want the vehicle to start when a human is standing around the vehicle.

@TakaHoribe could you give some examples where this is necessary? (apart from the Cargo Delivery ODD use case)

[TakaHoribe]

@xmfcx Apart from the Cargo ODD, I don't think this feature is necessary except for the very beginning departure situation. However, such a feature should be in the start_planner, but in the surround_obstacle_checker.

I reconsidered this feature. I think it can be disabled by default (as long as it can be enabled easily). The same feature should be supported by the start_planner.

[mitsudome-r]

Maybe we can also share this topic in Planning WG.

[VRichardJP]

I agree with @xmfcx. The feature has several side effects which make the vehicle behavior awkward in some situations (e.g. restarting after stopping for a red light). But I don't think the feature is useless. I think that in the cargo ODD use case, it totally makes sense to keep the vehicle stopped for as long as objects are detected around the start point (e.g. opened door, human next to he vehicle). However, I wish the feature could be restricted to start point area or some area defined on the lanelet2 (like a "cargo" area).

[maxime-clem]

I opened a PR to disable the feature in the default Autoware configuration: autowarefoundation/autoware_launch#603
EDIT: in the end autowarefoundation/autoware_launch#794 is the final PR disabling the surround_obstacle_checker.

[kyoichi-sugahara]

@xmfcx
Can we close the PR which disable feature?