Efficacy of Autonomous Vehicle’s Adaptive Decision-Making Based on Large Language Models Across Multiple Driving Scenarios

Understanding how large language models (LLMs) generalize across diverse traffic scenarios is critical for advancing autonomous driving systems. While previous studies have validated LLMs’ potential in specific driving tasks, evaluations of their scenario adaptability remain limited. This...

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Main Authors: Guanzhi Xiong, Siyang Liu, Yihong Yan, Qile Li, Hangze Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11039763/
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author Guanzhi Xiong
Siyang Liu
Yihong Yan
Qile Li
Hangze Li
author_facet Guanzhi Xiong
Siyang Liu
Yihong Yan
Qile Li
Hangze Li
author_sort Guanzhi Xiong
collection DOAJ
description Understanding how large language models (LLMs) generalize across diverse traffic scenarios is critical for advancing autonomous driving systems. While previous studies have validated LLMs’ potential in specific driving tasks, evaluations of their scenario adaptability remain limited. This research adopts the Dilu framework as a case study, with the objective of investigating the generalisation performance of LLMs in five typical scenarios: basic highway sections, highway merge area, intersection, racetrack, and roundabout, with varying traffic parameters. Through extensive experiments with 17 configurations in scenarios metioned above, we employ success rate (SR) and success steps (SS) as metrics to quantify LLMs’ generalization capabilities in different driving scenarios. The results reveal significant scenario-dependent performance variations: the LLM achieves a peak SR of 99% at 30 m/s in low-speed merges but declines to 69% at 60 m/s. In intersection scenarios, the LLM outperforms traditional reinforcement learning methods (DQN, PPO) by about three times (61% SR vs. 24% SR). Furthermore, expanding memory entries from 2-shot to 5-shot enhances median SS by 114% in roundabouts and 69% in intersections, highlighting the role of experience accumulation in dynamic environments. These findings provide empirical evidence for LLMs’ scenario-aware generalization capabilities and offer actionable insights for optimizing their deployment in real-world autonomous driving systems.
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spelling doaj-art-628c52cf027d46d78c9863b2e3fd9c292025-08-20T03:29:58ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-011310807610809210.1109/ACCESS.2025.358064111039763Efficacy of Autonomous Vehicle’s Adaptive Decision-Making Based on Large Language Models Across Multiple Driving ScenariosGuanzhi Xiong0https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4696-8419Siyang Liu1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7192-6837Yihong Yan2Qile Li3Hangze Li4School of Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, ChinaSchool of Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, ChinaSchool of Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, ChinaSchool of Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, ChinaSchool of Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, ChinaUnderstanding how large language models (LLMs) generalize across diverse traffic scenarios is critical for advancing autonomous driving systems. While previous studies have validated LLMs’ potential in specific driving tasks, evaluations of their scenario adaptability remain limited. This research adopts the Dilu framework as a case study, with the objective of investigating the generalisation performance of LLMs in five typical scenarios: basic highway sections, highway merge area, intersection, racetrack, and roundabout, with varying traffic parameters. Through extensive experiments with 17 configurations in scenarios metioned above, we employ success rate (SR) and success steps (SS) as metrics to quantify LLMs’ generalization capabilities in different driving scenarios. The results reveal significant scenario-dependent performance variations: the LLM achieves a peak SR of 99% at 30 m/s in low-speed merges but declines to 69% at 60 m/s. In intersection scenarios, the LLM outperforms traditional reinforcement learning methods (DQN, PPO) by about three times (61% SR vs. 24% SR). Furthermore, expanding memory entries from 2-shot to 5-shot enhances median SS by 114% in roundabouts and 69% in intersections, highlighting the role of experience accumulation in dynamic environments. These findings provide empirical evidence for LLMs’ scenario-aware generalization capabilities and offer actionable insights for optimizing their deployment in real-world autonomous driving systems.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11039763/Large language models (LLMs)autonomous drivingknowledge-driven frameworkmultiple driving scenarios
spellingShingle Guanzhi Xiong
Siyang Liu
Yihong Yan
Qile Li
Hangze Li
Efficacy of Autonomous Vehicle’s Adaptive Decision-Making Based on Large Language Models Across Multiple Driving Scenarios
IEEE Access
Large language models (LLMs)
autonomous driving
knowledge-driven framework
multiple driving scenarios
title Efficacy of Autonomous Vehicle’s Adaptive Decision-Making Based on Large Language Models Across Multiple Driving Scenarios
title_full Efficacy of Autonomous Vehicle’s Adaptive Decision-Making Based on Large Language Models Across Multiple Driving Scenarios
title_fullStr Efficacy of Autonomous Vehicle’s Adaptive Decision-Making Based on Large Language Models Across Multiple Driving Scenarios
title_full_unstemmed Efficacy of Autonomous Vehicle’s Adaptive Decision-Making Based on Large Language Models Across Multiple Driving Scenarios
title_short Efficacy of Autonomous Vehicle’s Adaptive Decision-Making Based on Large Language Models Across Multiple Driving Scenarios
title_sort efficacy of autonomous vehicle x2019 s adaptive decision making based on large language models across multiple driving scenarios
topic Large language models (LLMs)
autonomous driving
knowledge-driven framework
multiple driving scenarios
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11039763/
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