  We consider the challenge of automated steering angle prediction for self
driving cars using egocentric road images. In this work, we explore the use of
feudal networks, used in hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL), to devise a
vehicle agent to predict steering angles from first person, dash-cam images of
the Udacity driving dataset. Our method, Feudal Steering, is inspired by recent
work in HRL consisting of a manager network and a worker network that operate
on different temporal scales and have different goals. The manager works at a
temporal scale that is relatively coarse compared to the worker and has a
higher level, task-oriented goal space. Using feudal learning to divide the
task into manager and worker sub-networks provides more accurate and robust
prediction. Temporal abstraction in driving allows more complex primitives than
the steering angle at a single time instance. Composite actions comprise a
subroutine or skill that can be re-used throughout the driving sequence. The
associated subroutine id is the manager network's goal, so that the manager
seeks to succeed at the high level task (e.g. a sharp right turn, a slight
right turn, moving straight in traffic, or moving straight unencumbered by
traffic). The steering angle at a particular time instance is the worker
network output which is regulated by the manager's high level task. We
demonstrate state-of-the art steering angle prediction results on the Udacity
dataset.
