让自动驾驶大模型的决策变透明,通过反事实解释找关键影响因素
DRIV-EX: Counterfactual Explanations for Driving LLMs

- 用梯度优化连续嵌入寻找最小语义改动点
- 生成流畅且贴近原场景的反事实描述,成功率高于基线
- 适合研究模型偏见和提升自动驾驶系统可靠性
大型语言模型(LLMs)在自动驾驶中日益用作推理引擎,但其决策过程仍不透明。本文提出通过反事实解释来研究其决策机制,即识别使驾驶计划发生变化所需的最小语义修改。我们引入DRIV-EX方法,利用连续嵌入上的梯度优化,确定促使模型决策改变的输入变化。为避免无约束优化产生的语义混乱,该方法仅将优化后的嵌入作为语义指引,用于引导可控解码过程,重新生成原始场景描述。该策略有效引导生成向反事实目标靠拢,同时保证语言流畅性、领域合理性与对原输入的接近性,这对可解释性至关重要。在高D数据集文本转录版本上使用LC-LLM规划器评估,DRIV-EX比现有基线更可靠地生成有效且流畅的反事实描述,成功揭示了模型潜在偏见,并提供了改进基于LLM的驾驶代理鲁棒性的具体洞见。代码已开源。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used as reasoning engines in autonomous driving, yet their decision-making remains opaque. We propose to study their decision process through counterfactual explanations, which identify the minimal semantic changes to a scene description required to alter a driving plan. We introduce DRIV-EX, a method that leverages gradient-based optimization on continuous embeddings to identify the input shifts required to flip the model's decision. Crucially, to avoid the incoherent text typical of unconstrained continuous optimization, DRIV-EX uses these optimized embeddings solely as a semantic guide: they are used to bias a controlled decoding process that re-generates the original scene description. This approach effectively steers the generation toward the counterfactual target while guaranteeing the linguistic fluency, domain validity, and proximity to the original input, essential for interpretability. Evaluated using the LC-LLM planner on a textual transcription of the highD dataset, DRIV-EX generates valid, fluent counterfactuals more reliably than existing baselines. It successfully exposes latent biases and provides concrete insights to improve the robustness of LLM-based driving agents. The code is available at "https://github.com/Amaia-CARDIEL/DRIV_EX" .
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