arXiv:2606.15756cs.LGcs.AI2026-06

提出因果推理框架,让自动驾驶变道预测更可解释。

From Correlation to Causation in Lane Change Prediction for Automated Driving: A Causal Explanation Framework

论文配图:From Correlation to Causation in Lane Change Prediction for Automated Driving: A Causal Explanation Framework
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 基于因果发现与结构建模,识别变道决策的关键影响因素。
  • 预测准确率超95%,且能区分直接与间接影响变量。
  • 适合需要高可信度决策的自动驾驶系统研发者。

变道预测是智能汽车的核心任务,早期变道预判可提升决策安全性。然而,现有方法多依赖观测变量与未来动作间的统计关联,忽视输入变量之间的因果关系,导致解释性差。尤其当纵向间距、相对纵向速度和碰撞时间(TTC)等物理相关变量被当作独立特征时问题更严重。本文提出一种基于因果推断的变道预测与解释框架,结合语言特征构建、专家约束的因果发现、深度结构因果建模(DECI)、干预效应分析、反事实检验及递归因果链解释。目标不仅是预测未来动作,还能识别直接影响预测的变量、其上游影响因素,以及作用路径。在变道线跨越前3秒内,平均F1分数超过95%。通过干预分析可区分关键变量与弱影响变量,并分离直接贡献与中介效应,生成对比性因果链解释,说明为何预测动作更合理,而替代动作不成立。核心贡献是实现机制可解释的变道预测流程,推动从相关性分类迈向因果推理。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Lane-change prediction is a central task in intelligent vehicles, where early maneuver anticipation can support safer decision-making. However, many existing approaches mainly learn statistical associations between observed driving variables and future maneuvers, while overlooking the causal dependencies among the input variables themselves. This limits interpretability, especially when physically related variables such as longitudinal gap, relative longitudinal velocity, and Time-To-Collision (TTC) are treated as independent flat inputs. This article presents a causal-inference-based framework for lane-change prediction and explanation. The proposed approach combines linguistic feature construction, expert-constrained causal discovery, deep structural causal modeling with Deep End-to-end Causal Inference (DECI), intervention-based effect analysis, refutation testing, and recursive causal-chain explanation. The objective is not only to predict the future maneuver, but also to identify candidate variables that directly contribute to the prediction, the upstream factors influencing them, and the causal chains through which these effects propagate. The framework achieves average F1-scores above 95% during the first three seconds before the lane-marking crossing event. Beyond prediction accuracy, the framework uses intervention-based effect analysis to distinguish influential from weakly influential variables under the learned causal structure. It further distinguishes candidate direct contributors from mediated effects and generates contrastive causal-chain explanations that clarify why the predicted maneuver is favored and why the alternative maneuvers are less supported. The main contribution is therefore a mechanism-aware lane-change prediction pipeline that moves beyond correlation-based classification toward more interpretable causal reasoning for maneuver prediction.

自动驾驶因果推理变道预测可解释性

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