  This paper proposes a framework to recognize driving intentions and to
predict driving behaviors of lane changing on the highway by using externally
sensable traffic data from the host-vehicle. The framework consists of a
driving characteristic estimator and a driving behavior predictor. A driver's
implicit driving characteristic information is uniquely determined and detected
by proposed the online-estimator. Neural-network based behavior predictor is
developed and validated by testing with the real naturalistic traffic data from
Next Generation Simulation (NGSIM), which demonstrates the effectiveness in
identifying the driving characteristics and transforming into accurate behavior
prediction in real-world traffic situations.
