Generations represent the evolution of the system. As a new trend in the development of intelligent transportation systems(ITS), autonomous transportation systems(ATS) need to carry out relevant theoretical research in advance. In this article, ATS is divided into three generations, and the reference design set is decoupled and reconstructed according to the basic components of ATS, which is used to express the reference scheme of fixed scenes. Then, based on the changing trend of the penetration rate of autonomous vehicles and the changes in communication technology, the scene changes of autonomous driving are divided into three generations. According to the construction method of the reference design set, based on the operation logic of "perception-learning-decision-response", Analyze the main changes of autonomous driving in ATS, and explain the evolution process of ATS between generations. Finally, the change of traffic patterns at road intersections in autonomous driving scenarios is taken as an example to demonstrate the rationality and effectiveness of theoretical research.
 

ATS