Development of deep-learning-based autonomous agents for low-speed maneuvering in Unity

This study provides a systematic analysis of the resource-consuming training of deep reinforcement-learning (DRL) agents for simulated low-speed automated driving (AD). In Unity, this study established two case studies: garage parking and navigating an obstacle-dense area. Our analysis involves training a path-planning agent with real-time-only sensor information. This study addresses research questions insufficiently covered in the literature, exploring curriculum learning (CL), agent generalization (knowledge transfer), computation distribution (CPU vs. GPU), and mapless navigation. CL proved necessary for the garage scenario and beneficial for obstacle avoidance. It involved adjustments at different stages, including terminal conditions, environment complexity, and reward function hyperparameters, guided by their evolution in multiple training attempts. Fine-tuning the simulation tick and decision period parameters was crucial for effective training. The abstraction of high-level concepts (e.g., obstacle avoidance) necessitates training the agent in sufficiently complex environments in terms of the number of obstacles. While blogs and forums discuss training machine learning models in Unity, a lack of scientific articles on DRL agents for AD persists. However, since agent development requires considerable training time and difficult procedures, there is a growing need to support such research through scientific means. In addition to our findings, we contribute to the R&D community by providing our environment with open sources.