The Homicidal Chauffeur Problem

r

min

3

v

car

/

v

pedestrian

2

mode

setup

running

In this Demonstration, a chauffeur driving a car with a minimum turning radius

r

min

pursues a slower pedestrian with an unrestricted turning radius. The car is red and the evading pedestrian is blue. Click "setup" to set values for

r

min

and the velocity ratio

v

car



v

pedestrian

, and drag the locators to set the initial positions of the car and pedestrian and the orientation of the car. Then click "running" and move the locator to control the goal position of the pedestrian; after three seconds, the car attempts to run over the pedestrian. Avoid the car as long as possible!