Multi-Player, Multi-Strategy Quantum Game Model for Interaction-Aware Decision-Making in Autonomous Driving

Although significant progress has been made in decision-making for automated driving, challenges remain for deployment in the real world. One challenge lies in addressing interaction-awareness. Most existing approaches oversimplify interactions between the ego vehicle and surrounding agents, and often neglect interactions among the agents themselves. A common solution is to model these interactions using classical game theory. However, its formulation assumes rational players, whereas human behavior is frequently uncertain or irrational. To address these challenges, we propose the Quantum Game Decision-Making (QGDM) model, a novel framework that combines classical game theory with quantum mechanics principles (such as superposition, entanglement, and interference) to tackle multi-player, multi-strategy decision-making problems. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to apply quantum game theory to decision-making for automated driving. QGDM runs in real time on a standard computer, without requiring quantum hardware. We evaluate QGDM in simulation across various scenarios, including roundabouts, merging, and highways, and compare its performance with multiple baseline methods. Results show that QGDM significantly improves success rates and reduces collision rates compared to classical approaches, particularly in scenarios with high interaction.