Integrating Knowledge Graphs into Autonomous Vehicle Technologies: A Survey of Current State and Future Directions

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) represent a transformative innovation in transportation, promising enhanced safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Despite these promises, achieving robustness, reliability, and adherence to ethical standards in AV systems remains challenging due to the complexity of integrating diverse technologies. This survey reviews literature from 2017 to 2023, analyzing over 90 papers to explore the integration of knowledge graphs (KGs) into AV technologies. Our findings indicate that KGs significantly enhance AV systems by providing structured semantic understanding, improving real-time decision-making, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. The paper identifies that while KGs contribute to better environmental perception and contextual reasoning, challenges remain in their seamless integration with existing systems and in maintaining processing speed. We also address the ethical dimensions of AV decision-making, advocating for frameworks that prioritize safety and transparency. This review underscores the potential of KGs to address critical challenges in AV technologies, offering a hopeful and optimistic outlook for the development of robust, reliable, and socially responsible autonomous transportation solutions.