Off-road vehicles are not restricted to a structured road architecture for their travel. These vehicles travel in open spaces. The terrains may normally be rough for such vehicles. The vehicles themselves are designed so that they do not tumble down on encountering rough terrains. This is unlike on-road vehicles which are meant to travel on smooth well-built roads and offer maximum comfort to the human driver.

The map for navigation of these vehicles may be obtained from satellite imagery, aerial robots hovering around that area, historic information from flying robots in that area, onboard camera or a combination of these. The map is not a simple specification of obstacle-prone and obstacle-free areas, but specifies different terrains which are navigable by different costs and risks of accidents.

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