Area vs. Points

• If you want to do obstacle avoidance, you'll need to use area instead of points.
• Remember that a vehicle has size. It's not just a centre of mass.
• You need to take the full size into account so that even the edges don't get in the way.
• A useful shortcut is to take the shape as a circle (or a sphere in 3D).
• As long as the circle doesn't hit the object (which is also a shape), the whole agent won't hit it.
• With collision detection in general, you need the full shape, but approximations can work.
• You can also partition the object, and then do the calculation on parts.