Research in understanding human behavior is a growing field within the development of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADASs). In this contribution, a state machine approach is proposed to develop a driving behavior recognition model. The state machine approach is a behavior model based on the current state and a given set of inputs. Transitions to different states occur or we remain in the same state producing outputs. The transition between states depends on a set of environmental and driving variables. Based on a heuristic understanding of driving situations modeled as states, as well as one of the related actions modeling the state, using an assumed relation between them as the state machine topology, in this paper, a crisp approach is applied to adapt the model to real behaviors. An important aspect of the contribution is to introduce a trainable state machine-based model to describe drivers’ lane changing behavior. Three driving maneuvers are defined as states. The training of the model is related to the definition/tuning of transition variables (and state definitions). Here, driving data are used as the input for training. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is used to generate the optimized transition threshold. Comparing the data of actual human driving behaviors collected using driving simulator experiments and the calculated driving behaviors, this approach is able to develop a personalized behavior recognition model. The newly established algorithm presents an easy to apply, reliable, and interpretable AI approach.