CN109017781B

CN109017781B - Vehicle auxiliary or automatic driving method and system based on road resources

Info

Publication number: CN109017781B
Application number: CN201810942004.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李俊宏; 李希明
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-08-17
Filing date: 2018-08-17
Publication date: 2020-07-31
Anticipated expiration: 2038-08-17
Also published as: CN109017781A

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for vehicle assistance or automatic driving based on road resources, comprising: a function of detecting a current lane and other lanes in the same direction by a vehicle; determining whether a lane change is required to avoid a rear vehicle based on the functions of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes and the routing plan of the vehicle; and assisting or automatically driving based on the determination.

Description

Vehicle auxiliary or automatic driving method and system based on road resources

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to vehicle assist or autonomous driving.

Background

Vehicles today are provided with various auxiliary or automatic systems to improve driving comfort and safety. One typical system is a lane keeping assist system. The system provides support for keeping a lane while driving, and a camera is used for identifying a sign line of the driving lane. If the vehicle approaches the identified marking line and may leave the driving lane, the driver is alerted by the vibration of the steering wheel. If the lane keeping assist system recognizes the mark lines on both sides of the own lane, the system is in a standby state. This is indicated by a green indicator light in the instrument cluster. If the turn signal is turned on before the marker line is crossed while the system is in the standby state, there is no warning because the system accepts a purposeful lane change. Since the system is designed to travel on motorways and well-conditioned rural roads, it only starts to operate at a vehicle speed of about more than 65 km/h.

The video adopts a modified MJPEG + compression format, is high in definition, and supports 30FPS recording speed, a video file can be displayed in real time by connecting a DVD, a navigator and an independent display, the system is convenient to operate and control in the running process, and the required pictures can be automatically switched according to the running state (for example, when the vehicle turns right, an L CD display image only displays pictures recorded by a right camera), and the pictures can also be switched forcibly.

However, the above-mentioned assistance system is still insufficient in solving traffic congestion, and cannot provide drivers with safer and more effective assistance to avoid congestion, especially in the case where roads have multiple functions. With the advancement of 4G, 5G, etc., technologies, it is possible to provide more useful information to a vehicle assist or automatic driving system, thereby improving the performance of the vehicle assist or automatic driving system.

The present disclosure is directed to, but is not limited to, the above deficiencies of existing systems.

Disclosure of Invention

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a road resource-based vehicle assistance or automatic driving method, including: a function of detecting a current lane and other lanes in the same direction by a vehicle; determining whether a lane change is required to avoid a rear vehicle based on the functions of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes and the routing plan of the vehicle; and assisting or automatically driving based on the determination.

According to a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, the function of detecting the current lane and the other co-directional lanes includes at least one of: detecting the current lane and other lanes in the same direction by an on-board sensor of the vehicle; receiving information from other vehicles around the vehicle regarding the function of the current lane of the vehicle and other co-directional lanes; or receiving information from a remote server regarding the function of the current lane and other co-directional lanes of the vehicle.

According to a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, the function of detecting the current lane and the other co-directional lanes by the vehicle-mounted sensor includes capturing an image of an indication line on a road surface or a roadside or a front signpost by the vehicle-mounted camera, and determining the function of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes based on the image.

According to a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, detecting the functions of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes comprises determining whether the current lane and the other co-directional lanes are used for only a single function or a plurality of functions, the functions comprising at least one or more of: straight running, left turning, right turning, turning around, straight running forbidding, left turning forbidding, right turning forbidding and turning around.

According to a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, the route planning of the vehicle comprises a set of lanes with respective functions required for the vehicle to reach a destination.

According to a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, determining whether a lane change is required comprises determining that the vehicle needs to change to one of the other co-directional lanes when the current lane comprises more functions than the one of the co-directional lanes and the one co-directional lane comprises a road function required by the vehicle.

According to a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, determining whether a lane change is required further comprises determining that a lane change is required further based on information from a vehicle behind a current lane of the vehicle, the information comprising a road function that the vehicle needs to assume the current lane of the vehicle that is different from a road function used by the vehicle.

According to a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, the information further comprises route planning information of the rear vehicle, and the vehicle further alters the route planning of the host vehicle to avoid the rear vehicle based on this route planning information.

According to a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, in a case where a road intersection having a traffic light is ahead of the current lane, determining whether a lane change is required further comprises determining whether a lane change is required further based on traffic indication information of the traffic light, wherein the vehicle determines that a lane change is required to enable a following vehicle to use a road function of the current lane different from a road function currently used by the vehicle when the traffic light indicates a red light.

According to a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further comprises determining whether a lane change is required based on the time information indicated by the traffic light, the vehicle speed of the vehicle, and the distance of the vehicle from the road intersection.

According to a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further comprises the vehicle determining whether a lane change is possible to the one co-directional lane upon determining that a lane change is required, wherein the vehicle sends lane change information to a first vehicle on the one co-directional lane behind the vehicle and changes to the one co-directional lane upon receiving a confirmation by the first vehicle of the lane change information.

According to a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, assisting driving based on the determination comprises providing a suggestion to a driver of the vehicle whether to change lanes and wherein the suggestion is provided through an in-vehicle speaker or an in-vehicle display, and wherein automatically driving based on the determination comprises automatically keeping a current lane or changing lanes based on the determination.

According to a particular embodiment of the disclosure, the vehicle also transmits road function information to be used by itself to surrounding vehicles, either at predetermined periods or when the road function to be used is to be changed.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of an example in accordance with the present disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims.

Drawings

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, similar components or features may have the same reference numerals. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.

FIG. 1 is an illustrative flow diagram of a vehicle assistance or autonomous driving method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustrative schematic diagram of a vehicle assistance or autonomous driving system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

At present, the automobile industry and road traffic develop rapidly, but traffic jam is always a great trouble, especially road resources are not fully utilized, and the existing vehicle-mounted system cannot effectively solve the problems. Therefore, the invention provides an advantageous vehicle auxiliary or automatic driving system and method, which solves the problems and improves the utilization rate of road resources.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are now described with reference to the drawings.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an illustrative flow chart of a vehicle assistance or autonomous driving method 100 is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In one example, method 100 may be performed by an on-board assistance or autonomous driving system. In another example, the method 100 may be performed by a mobile computing device, such as a smartphone. In yet another example, the method 100 may be performed by a mobile computing device in conjunction with an in-vehicle assistance or autonomous driving system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any suitable computing device may perform method 100.

At step 101, the method 100 includes the function of detecting a current lane and other co-directional lanes by the vehicle. In an embodiment, this includes determining whether the current lane and other co-directional lanes are for only a single function or multiple functions, the functions including at least one or more of: straight running, left turning, right turning, turning around, straight running forbidding, left turning forbidding, right turning forbidding and turning around.

In one embodiment, the function of detecting the current lane and the other co-directional lanes includes at least one of: detecting the current lane and other lanes in the same direction by an on-board sensor of the vehicle; receiving information from other vehicles around the vehicle regarding the function of the current lane of the vehicle and other co-directional lanes; or receiving information from a remote server regarding the function of the current lane and other co-directional lanes of the vehicle.

For example, in one example, a vehicle may take images of an indicator line on the road surface or a roadside or front guideboard via an onboard camera and determine the function of the current lane and other co-directional lanes based on the images. In another example, a vehicle may receive information from other vehicles around the vehicle regarding the function of the current lane of the vehicle and other co-directional lanes. In this example, the vehicle may receive information only from other vehicles within a certain threshold distance from the vehicle, and the threshold distance may be predetermined or dynamically determined based on information such as vehicle speed for providing safe driving distance. In yet another example, the vehicle may receive such information from a remote server, such as a map service.

At step 102, the method 100 includes determining whether a lane change is required to avoid a rearward vehicle based on the functions of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes and the route plan of the vehicle. In an example, the route plan of the vehicle includes a set of lanes with respective functions that the vehicle needs to use to reach a destination.

In an example, determining whether a lane change is required includes determining that the vehicle needs to change to one of the other co-directional lanes when the current lane includes more functionality than the one of the co-directional lanes and the one co-directional lane includes road functionality required by the vehicle.

For example, if the vehicle is traveling straight on a lane having straight and right turn functionality, and its left adjacent lane is the lane for straight only, the vehicle may determine to change to the adjacent lane for a rear vehicle on the current lane to use the right turn functionality of that lane. In this example, the vehicle may further determine that a lane change is required based on information from a vehicle behind the current lane of the vehicle, the information including a road function that the vehicle needs to assume the current lane of the vehicle that is different from a road function used by the vehicle. For example, continuing the above example, upon receiving right turn information from a rear vehicle, the vehicle may determine to change to an adjacent lane. Additionally, the information received from a rear vehicle may also include route planning information for the rear vehicle, and the vehicle also alters the route plan of the host vehicle to avoid the rear vehicle based on this route planning information. For example, the vehicle may determine that the rear vehicle will use the right turn function of the lane based on the route planning information of the rear vehicle, thereby determining that a transition to an adjacent lane is required for avoidance.

Continuing with the above example, the information from the rear vehicle may be information from a plurality of rear vehicles. For example, there may be a first vehicle and a second vehicle in sequence behind the host vehicle. The rear first vehicle and the rear second vehicle can transmit corresponding information to the vehicle; or the rear first vehicle may receive the corresponding information of the rear second vehicle and transmit its own information together with the information of the second vehicle to the own vehicle, i.e., the first vehicle may act as a relay station for the second vehicle.

In yet another embodiment, each vehicle may send its routing information to a remote server, enabling the server to make global scheduling decisions for each vehicle to use the respective optimal lane, and send the results of the decisions to each vehicle for execution.

In yet another embodiment, where the rearward vehicle is a special vehicle, such as an ambulance, fire truck, military vehicle, municipal service vehicle, or the like, the current vehicle may take emergency avoidance measures based on this information to make lane changes for avoidance. For example, when an ambulance needs to use the corresponding road resources, a vehicle ahead of the ambulance may receive this information (e.g., routing of the ambulance, etc.) from the ambulance or a remote server and take avoidance measures; this information is also relayed forward so that the vehicle further ahead takes avoidance measures accordingly. In this example, the ambulance may be notified when the information is relayed so that it no longer transmits its routing information, to avoid redundancy and waste of channel resources. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that such notification may be taken in other examples where a relay is present.

In another example, where forward of the current lane is a road intersection with a traffic light, determining whether lane change is required further comprises determining whether lane change is required further based on traffic indication information of the traffic light, wherein the vehicle determines that lane change is required to enable a rear vehicle to use a different road function of the current lane than a road function currently used by the vehicle when the traffic light indicates a red light. In this example, method 100 further includes determining whether a lane change is required based on the time information indicated by the traffic light, the vehicle speed of the vehicle, and the distance of the vehicle from the road intersection. For example, continuing the above example, if a rearward vehicle is to turn right at a forward intersection, the current green light indicates that 10 seconds remain, the vehicle speed is 60 km/h, and the distance from the intersection is 50m, the vehicle may determine that it is able to pass through the intersection in 10 seconds, and thus no lane change is necessary. Otherwise, if the vehicle determines that it is not possible to pass through the intersection for the remaining time, it is determined that a lane change is required.

In further examples, the vehicle, upon determining that a lane change is required, may also determine whether a lane change is possible. For example, if the vehicle determines that a lane change is not possible (e.g., due to traffic regulation constraints, the vehicle on the lane to be changed refusing to avoid, etc.), the vehicle foregoes the lane change. In this example, the vehicle may also inform the rear vehicle of this decision.

At step 103, method 100 includes assisting or automatically driving based on the determination. In an embodiment, assisting driving based on the determination comprises providing a recommendation to a driver of the vehicle whether to change lanes and wherein the recommendation is provided through an in-vehicle speaker or an in-vehicle display, and wherein automatically driving based on the determination comprises automatically keeping a current lane or changing lanes based on the determination.

In another embodiment, the vehicle also transmits road function information to be used by itself to surrounding vehicles, the transmission being performed at a predetermined cycle or when the road function to be used is to be changed.

In one embodiment, each vehicle shares information about its speed, location, direction of travel, lanes occupied, road resources to be used, routing, etc. through L TE direct connections, for example, each vehicle is within a neighborhood aware network formed through L TE direct connections and exchanges information through the network.

In one embodiment, the assist control includes displaying a map on the in-vehicle display, the map including a dynamic display of the current vehicle and other vehicles within a threshold distance. For example, the map may display the rear vehicles and apply corresponding markings to the rear vehicles to indicate that the rear vehicles need to use the corresponding function of the current lane (e.g., go straight, turn right, etc.).

In another embodiment, the assistance control includes providing advice to a driver of the vehicle, the advice including acceleration, deceleration, lane change, and stopping.

In this embodiment, the recommendation is provided through an in-vehicle speaker or an in-vehicle display. In yet another embodiment, the suggestion also depends on currently detected road conditions, guideboard information, and the like. For example, in this embodiment, if a guideboard is detected indicating a prohibition of parking, the recommendation will not include this option.

In an embodiment, instead of making a recommendation to the driver, the above recommendation may be automatically performed by the vehicle, so that the driving of the vehicle is automatically controlled.

Referring next to FIG. 2, a vehicle assist or autopilot system 200 is illustrated. As can be seen in FIG. 2, system 200 includes a plurality of vehicles and a remote server. The ellipses in fig. 2 indicate that there may be any number of vehicles in the system. In this embodiment, the first vehicle, the second vehicle, … …, the nth vehicle, and the remote server may all perform the example method 100 illustrated in fig. 1. In addition, the remote server in fig. 2 broadcasts decisions regarding the use of road resources to these vehicles.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the front and rear vehicles described herein are relative concepts, and that each vehicle may assume the desired operation of the "front vehicle" and/or the "rear vehicle" with respect to its environment. In addition, information of the facing vehicles and lanes can be shared. For example, a facing vehicle of a first vehicle may notify the first vehicle of an emergency condition at a distance in front of the first vehicle to cause the first vehicle to dynamically adjust its route in real time.

As used herein, the phrase "based on" should not be read as referring to a closed condition set. For example, an exemplary step described as "based on condition a" may be based on both condition a and condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should be interpreted in the same manner as the phrase "based at least in part on".

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The terms "example" or "exemplary" throughout this disclosure indicate an example or instance and do not imply or require any preference for the mentioned example. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method of road resource based vehicle assistance or autonomous driving, comprising:

detecting, by a vehicle, functions of a current lane and other co-directional lanes, wherein detecting the functions of the current lane and other co-directional lanes includes determining whether the current lane and other co-directional lanes are for only a single function or a plurality of functions, the functions including at least one or more of: straight running, left turning, right turning, turning around, straight running forbidding, left turning forbidding, right turning forbidding and turning around forbidding;

determining whether a lane change is required to avoid a rearward vehicle based on the functions of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes and a routing plan of the vehicle, wherein determining whether a lane change is required comprises determining that the vehicle needs to change to one of the other co-directional lanes when the current lane includes more functions than the one of the co-directional lanes and the one co-directional lane includes a road function required by the vehicle; and

driving is assisted or automated based on the determination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the function of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes comprises at least one of:

detecting the current lane and other lanes in the same direction by an on-board sensor of the vehicle;

receiving information from other vehicles around the vehicle regarding the function of the current lane of the vehicle and other co-directional lanes; or

Information relating to the function of the current lane and other co-directional lanes of the vehicle is received from a remote server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting the functions of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes by on-board sensors of the vehicle comprises capturing images of an indicator line on a road surface or a roadside or a front signpost by an on-board camera and determining the functions of the current lane and the other co-directional lanes based on the images.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle's route plan includes a set of lanes with corresponding functions that the vehicle needs to use to reach a destination.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a lane change is required further comprises determining that a lane change is required further based on information from a rear vehicle in a current lane of the vehicle, the information comprising a road function that the rear vehicle needs to employ in the current lane of the vehicle that is different from a road function used by the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the information further includes route planning information for the rear vehicle, and the vehicle further modifies a route plan for the host vehicle to avoid the rear vehicle based on this route planning information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein in a case where a road intersection having a traffic light is ahead of the current lane, determining whether a lane change is required further comprises determining whether a lane change is required further based on traffic indication information of the traffic light, wherein the vehicle determines that a lane change is required to enable a following vehicle to use a different road function of the current lane than a road function currently used by the vehicle when the traffic light indicates a red light.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein assisting driving based on the determination comprises providing a recommendation to a driver of the vehicle whether to change lanes and wherein the recommendation is provided through an in-vehicle speaker or an in-vehicle display, and wherein automatically driving based on the determination comprises automatically keeping a current lane or changing lanes based on the determination.