{"ID":2894228,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10968","arxiv_id":"2507.10968","title":"SMART-Merge Planner: A Safe Merging and Real-Time Motion Planner for Autonomous Highway On-Ramp Merging","abstract":"Merging onto a highway is a complex driving task that requires identifying a safe gap, adjusting speed, often interactions to create a merging gap, and completing the merge maneuver within a limited time window while maintaining safety and driving comfort. In this paper, we introduce a Safe Merging and Real-Time Merge (SMART-Merge) planner, a lattice-based motion planner designed to facilitate safe and comfortable forced merging. By deliberately adapting cost terms to the unique challenges of forced merging and introducing a desired speed heuristic, SMART-Merge planner enables the ego vehicle to merge successfully while minimizing the merge time. We verify the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed merge planner through high-fidelity CarMaker simulations on hundreds of highway merge scenarios. Our proposed planner achieves the success rate of 100% as well as completes the merge maneuver in the shortest amount of time compared with the baselines, demonstrating our planner's capability to handle complex forced merge tasks and provide a reliable and robust solution for autonomous highway merge. The simulation result videos are available at https://sites.google.com/view/smart-merge-planner/home.","short_abstract":"Merging onto a highway is a complex driving task that requires identifying a safe gap, adjusting speed, often interactions to create a merging gap, and completing the merge maneuver within a limited time window while maintaining safety and driving comfort. In this paper, we introduce a Safe Merging and Real-Time Merge...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10968","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.10968v1","authors":"[\"Toktam Mohammadnejad\",\"Jovin D'sa\",\"Behdad Chalaki\",\"Hossein Nourkhiz Mahjoub\",\"Ehsan Moradi-Pari\"]","published":"2025-07-15T04:15:35Z","proceeding":"cs.RO","tasks":"[\"cs.RO\",\"eess.SY\"]","methods":"[]","project_urls":"[\"https://sites.google.com/view/smart-merge-planner/home\"]","has_code":false,"code_links":[{"ID":612102,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_id":2894228,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10968","paper_title":"SMART-Merge Planner: A Safe Merging and Real-Time Motion Planner for Autonomous Highway On-Ramp Merging","repo_url":"https://github.com/google/safevalues","is_official":false,"mentioned_in_paper":false,"mentioned_in_github":true,"github_stars":0}]}