Verification of the Operational Design Domain Covering the Relative Speed of Adjacent Lanes

Abstract

Verification of the operating design domain covering the relative speed of adjacent lanes. A control system for an autonomous vehicle with driver support functions is proposed. The control system includes a control circuit configured to: obtain sensor data including information about the surrounding environment of the vehicle; determine the relative speed of at least one external vehicle with respect to the autonomous vehicle based on the sensor data and compare the relative speed with a maximum speed threshold; generate a control signal based on the comparison to control the availability of the driver support function so that the driver support function is available to the vehicle occupants if: at least one of the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed below the maximum speed threshold during a first time period and no external vehicle has been verified to have a relative speed above the maximum speed threshold during a second time period.

Description

[0001] Cross - reference to related applications

[0002] This patent application claims the priority of a European patent application with application number 19209642.8, invention title "Verification of the Operational Design Domain Covering the Relative Speed of Adjacent Lanes", and filing date November 18, 2019, which is assigned to the assignee here and is incorporated herein by reference. Technical field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to autonomous driving (AD) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for vehicles such as cars, buses, trucks, and the like. Background art

[0004] Autonomous systems (AS) have the ability to act independently of direct human control and in transient situations. These systems enable a wide range of applications such as autonomous vehicles, humanoid robots, and post - delivering drones. However, this increased ability and flexibility comes at a cost: the difficulty in assessing the reliability and safety of autonomous systems.

[0005] Primarily due to the combinatorial explosion of possible scenarios to be analyzed, traditional testing methods fall short of providing the desired level of assurance. There are stringent requirements to ensure AS safety and reliability. Safety standards enforce that the AS operates in a harmless state, and reliability requirements enforce that the system delivers services as specified. These requirements are typically associated with a low threshold of system failure in a given environment (i.e., a high probability of fault - free operation), which in turn requires expensive and time - consuming verification and validation of the AS.

[0006] Thus, the stringent safety requirements imposed on autonomous driving (AD) systems translate into a huge verification requirement. Moreover, these stringent safety requirements are imposed not only on software components but also on decision - making and control components and the vehicle's perception system (e.g., for accurately determining the vehicle's position in a lane). The high safety requirements for the perception system imply significant redundancy and expensive sensors and / or HD map capabilities.

[0007] Therefore, there is a need for new and improved methods and systems that mitigate the problems of currently known solutions, and specifically, methods and systems that achieve the transition from ADAS to AD in a less complex and more cost - effective manner compared to currently known solutions while still meeting the associated safety requirements. Summary of the invention

[0008] Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a control system, a vehicle including such a control system, a method, and a computer-readable storage medium, which mitigate all or at least some of the drawbacks of currently known solutions.

[0009] More specifically, an object of the present disclosure is to mitigate problems associated with autonomous driving systems in terms of huge inspection requirements and high hardware costs.

[0010] This object is achieved by a control system, a vehicle including such a control system, a method, and a computer-readable storage medium as defined in the appended claims. The term "exemplary" will be understood in this context as serving as an instance, example, or illustration.

[0011] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control system for an autonomous vehicle traveling in a first direction in a first lane of a road section, wherein the vehicle has a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering the vehicle. The control system includes a control circuit configured to acquire sensor data including information about the surrounding environment of the vehicle. The control circuit is further configured to determine, based on the acquired sensor data, a relative speed of at least one external vehicle traveling in a second lane adjacent to the first lane with respect to the autonomous vehicle, and compare the determined relative speed with a maximum speed threshold. Moreover, the control circuit is configured to generate a control signal based on the comparison to control the availability of the driver support function for the road section, so that the driver support function is available to the occupants of the vehicle in the following cases:

[0012] · at least one of the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed lower than the maximum speed threshold during a first time period; and

[0013] · none of the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed higher than the maximum speed threshold during a second time period.

[0014] By means of the control system proposed above, strict integrity requirements can be shifted to the monitoring part of the vehicle's system and thus the need for a large amount of resources to verify the driver support function and other features associated with high-end, very expensive sensor equipment, such as the feature of keeping the vehicle in the lane, can be mitigated.

[0015] More specifically, the proposed control system implements the following system design, in which integrity / reliability requirements are allocated in a way that enables driver support functions in the form of traffic jam cruise or highway cruise to be implemented in a more cost-effective manner compared to previously known ones. More specifically, since the exposure to high relative speeds is reduced, the requirements for the ability integrity of the driver support function to keep the vehicle in the lane are relaxed.

[0016] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a vehicle comprising: a speed determination device for monitoring the speed of the vehicle, a perception system including at least one sensor for monitoring the surrounding environment of the vehicle, and a control system according to any one of the embodiments disclosed herein. Regarding this aspect of the present disclosure, similar advantages and preferred features are presented as in the first aspect of the present disclosure discussed previously.

[0017] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for controlling a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering a vehicle traveling in a first direction on a road section. The method includes: obtaining sensor data including information about the surrounding environment of the vehicle, determining a relative speed of at least one external vehicle traveling in a second lane adjacent to the first lane with respect to the autonomous vehicle based on the obtained sensor data. Further, the method includes comparing the monitored relative speed with a maximum speed threshold and controlling the availability of the driver support function for the road section based on the comparison so that the driver support function is available for the occupants of the vehicle when:

[0018] · at least one of the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed lower than the maximum speed threshold during a first time period; and

[0019] · none of the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed higher than the maximum speed threshold during a second time period.

[0020] Regarding this aspect of the present disclosure, similar advantages and preferred features are presented as in the first aspect of the present disclosure discussed previously.

[0021] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a (non-transitory) computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by one or more processors of a vehicle control system, the one or more programs including instructions for performing a method according to any one of the embodiments disclosed herein. Regarding this aspect, similar advantages and preferred features are presented as in the first aspect of the present disclosure discussed previously.

[0022] As used herein, the term "non-transitory" is intended to describe a computer-readable storage medium (or "memory") other than a propagated electromagnetic signal, but is not intended to otherwise limit the type of physical computer-readable storage device encompassed by the phrase computer-readable medium or memory. For example, the term "non-transitory computer-readable medium" or "tangible memory" is intended to include types of storage devices that do not necessarily store information permanently, such as including random access memory (RAM). Program instructions and data stored on a tangible computer-accessible storage medium in non-transitory form can further be transmitted by a transmission medium or signals such as electronic, electromagnetic, or digital signals that can be conveyed via a communication medium such as a network and / or wireless link. Thus, as used herein, the term "non-transitory" is a limitation on the medium itself as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistence (i.e., tangible, not a signal) (e.g., RAM versus ROM).

[0023] Additional embodiments of the present disclosure are defined in the dependent claims. It should be emphasized that when used in this specification, the term "comprising / including" is used to specify the presence of the stated features, integers, steps, or components. It does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components, or groups thereof.

[0024] These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be further clarified hereinafter with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Additional objects, features, and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:[[]]END]]

[0026] Figures 1a to 1b are two schematic perspective views of a vehicle including a control system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 2 is a schematic flowchart representation of a method for controlling a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figures 3a to 3d is a set of schematic diagrams illustrating a method for controlling a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for controlling a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 5Schematic side view illustration of a vehicle including a control system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed Description

[0031] Those skilled in the art will understand that the steps, services, and functions explained herein can be implemented using standalone hardware circuits, using software running in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor or a general-purpose computer, using one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and / or using one or more digital signal processors (DSPs). It will also be understood that when the present disclosure is described in terms of a method, it can also be embodied in one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, where the one or more memories store one or more programs that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the steps, services, and functions disclosed herein.

[0032] In the following description of the exemplary embodiments, the same reference numerals denote the same or similar components.

[0033] Figure 1a and Figure 1b are two schematic perspective view illustrations of a vehicle 1 (which may also be referred to as an autonomous vehicle 1) including a control system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. More specifically, Figures 1a to 1b the goal is to illustrate examples of how the control system operates in two different scenarios when the vehicle 1 is traveling on a road section 23. The vehicle 1 is provided with a driver support function, which in this context can be understood as an autonomous driving (AD) feature or an autonomous driving system (ADS) feature, and with respect to the latter, according to the SAE J3016 levels of driving automation, it is preferably an ADS feature of level 3 or higher. The driver support function can be, for example, a "traffic jam cruise" feature, i.e., an autonomous driving feature configured to maneuver the vehicle 1 in a traffic jam situation.

[0034] The present inventors have noted that even when an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle 1 is traveling on a "highway-like" road, it does not necessarily mean that the relative speed (Δv) of other vehicles traveling in adjacent lanes is low. The relative speed will be understood in this context as the magnitude of the difference in speed between the autonomous vehicle and other vehicles 2a to 2f traveling in adjacent lanes. For example, if the autonomous vehicle 1 is traveling at 60 km / h in a first direction and an external vehicle is traveling at 80 km / h in the same direction in an adjacent lane, the relative speed is 20 km / h. Similarly, if the autonomous vehicle 1 is traveling at 60 km / h in a first direction and an external vehicle is traveling at 60 km / h in the opposite direction in an adjacent lane, the relative speed is 120 km / h.

[0035] Moreover, if it cannot be proven or even assumed that high relative speeds are "rare events" when an autonomous vehicle is in motion, then a high exposure to high relative speeds must be assumed in order to ensure that the autonomous vehicle 1 operates safely to a sufficiently high degree. However, the high exposure to high relative speeds leads to high reliability / integrity requirements (e.g., ASIL D) for the ability of the driver support function to stay within its own lane (autonomous lane), which in turn leads to high reliability / integrity requirements for the corresponding sensors. These reliability / integrity requirements translate into significant testing requirements (testing of the driver support function) and the use of high-end sensor equipment and systems, which adds significant costs in the highly cost-sensitive automotive industry.

[0036] It has then been recognized that one should instead focus on risk exposure in order to reduce the overall risk assessment for collisions, rather than focusing on the driver support function and specifically on its ability to stay within the lane (a feature that is very expensive and time-consuming to develop and test). More specifically, by moving the high integrity requirements to monitoring the relative speeds in adjacent lanes, the risk exposure can be controlled to a sufficiently low level such that the requirements for the ability of the driver support function to stay within its own lane can be relaxed by a corresponding amount.

[0037] In addition, in the context of automotive safety integrity level (ASIL) classification, there are three classification categories (severity classification, exposure classification (E), and controllability classification (C)), which can be used when determining the ASIL requirements for driver support features. It should be noted that although the following discussion is made with respect to ASIL classification, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, as the same logical reasoning can be applied to any other current or future risk classification scheme used in the context of specifying safety requirements for autonomous and semi-autonomous driving features of a vehicle. Thus, the discussion related to ASIL levels and the corresponding classification categories (S, E, and C) will be understood as examples used to illustrate at least some of the advantages of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0038] Thus, in the conventional case of a driver support feature in traffic jam cruise mode, there is a high exposure level (E4) to the upcoming traffic because the relative speed of vehicles in adjacent lanes is not prioritized for monitoring, and thus a high exposure to high relative speeds must be assumed. Moreover, the severity level is significantly higher (S3) because the severity of the injury caused by a dangerous event (a collision with a vehicle traveling at a high relative speed) is life-threatening, and it is difficult for the driver to prevent the injury because the controllability is low (C3), i.e., once a dangerous event occurs, the driver can do little to prevent the injury. Therefore, the ASIL for the driver support feature's ability to stay within its own lane should be set to ASIL D, i.e., for 10 9 hours of driving, the vehicle system should not fail to stay within the lane more than once. Thus, in many cases, the task of developing and providing autonomous driving features becomes an infeasible task due to the significant requirements and costs associated with it.

[0039] Therefore, by shifting the focus to the exposure level, and more specifically shifting the high ASIL requirements to the monitoring of the vehicle's surrounding environment (at design time or runtime), the ASIL requirements for the driver support feature's ability to stay in the lane can be relaxed. More specifically, it has been recognized that monitoring the relative speed of vehicles traveling in adjacent lanes is far less complex than ensuring that the vehicle can always stay within its own lane. Thus, by determining when the vehicle is and is not in a "high-risk environment" (i.e., exposed to high relative speeds), and ensuring that the driver support feature is only available when the vehicle is not in such a "high-risk environment", the exposure to failures can be kept at a low level (E2), and the requirements for the driver support feature to stay in its lane can be relaxed to (e.g., ASIL B). Additional criteria for keeping the exposure at a low level can ensure that when entering a so-called "high-risk environment", the driver support feature transitions to DDT (Dynamic Driving Task) fallback.

[0040] Therefore, it can be said that in the normal case, the need for the driver support feature to keep the vehicle in its own lane is at ASIL D, because a dangerous event (a collision with a vehicle moving at a high relative speed) can be associated with high severity (S3), high exposure (E4), and low controllability (C3). By focusing the feature on only the environments where a specific criterion (low relative speed) is met, the residual risk is split into two cases: a collision with a vehicle in an adjacent lane at a low relative speed, and a collision with a vehicle at a high relative speed. A collision with a vehicle at a low relative speed can be associated with low severity (S1), high exposure (E4), and low controllability (C3) which translate into an ASIL B need to stay in the lane. A collision with a vehicle at a high relative speed can now instead be associated with high severity (S3), low exposure (E2), and low controllability (C3) which translate into an ASIL B need to stay in the lane. Of course, these classification categories can be estimated or judged in other ways depending on, for example, the specific scenario, the type of vehicle, the geographical location, etc. However, the general concepts and conclusions are similarly applicable.

[0041] Moving on, in Figure 1a , vehicle 1 is traveling in a first direction 21 on a road section 23 in the form of a controlled access highway (which can also be referred to as a freeway, expressway, or motorway). More specifically, the controlled access highway is a dual carriageway where each carriageway has two lanes, and the road section 23 is part of one of the carriageways. A dual carriageway can be understood as a highway of this level: having two carriageways for traffic moving in opposite directions separated by a median strip (which can also be referred to as a central reserve).

[0042] The driver support function of vehicle 1 can operate within a specific operational design domain (ODD). The operational design domain (ODD) is to be understood as a description of the operational domain for which an automated or semi - automated driving system (i.e., ADS or ADAS) is designed to function, including but not limited to geography, carriageway (e.g., type, surface, geometry, edges, and markings), environment, connectivity, surrounding objects, and speed limits. Thus, the ODD of the driver support function defines the set of requirements that must be met if the driver support function is to be able to operate.

[0043] In some embodiments, the ODD includes a relative speed metric that would be satisfied if the driver support function 29 is capable of operating within the ODD. More specifically, the relative speed metric can be understood in this context as a set of parameters related to the relative speed (the relative difference in speed between the autonomous vehicle 1 and the surrounding vehicles 2a to 2c) that would be within a predefined range in order to achieve ODD fulfillment. For example, the set of parameters can include a maximum threshold for the speed difference between the autonomous vehicle 1 and the "external" vehicles 2a to 2c traveling in a second lane adjacent to the autonomous lane (i.e., the current lane of the autonomous vehicle 1). Moreover, the set of parameters can additionally include a time aspect, i.e., at least one external vehicle 2a to 2c traveling in an adjacent lane with a relative speed below the maximum speed threshold must have been detected during a time period (e.g., during the last 60 seconds of operation). The maximum speed threshold can be, for example, in the range of 20 km / h - 80 km / h or in the range of 40 km / h - 80 km / h, such as 60 km / h.

[0044] The vehicle 1 has a control system that includes a control circuit configured to obtain sensor data (e.g., from the vehicle 1's perception system). Additionally, the control circuit is configured to determine or obtain the relative speed of the external vehicles 2a to 2c traveling in adjacent lanes with respect to the autonomous vehicle 1 based on the sensor data. "Determine or obtain" is intended to illustrate that, depending on how the vehicle platform and peripherals are designed, the control circuit can either derive the relative speed from the raw sensor data itself or obtain the relative speed directly from the perception system.

[0045] The relative speed can be derived, for example, by obtaining the speed of the autonomous vehicle 1, determining the speeds of the external vehicles 2a to 2c (indicated by arrows 22a to 22c), and determining the difference between the determined speeds of the external vehicles 2a to 2c and the obtained speed of the autonomous vehicle 1, which difference defines the relative speed of the external vehicles 2a to 2c. For example, if the autonomous vehicle 1 is traveling at a speed of 20 km / h in a first direction 21 and the external vehicle 22a is traveling at a speed of 80 km / h in a direction parallel to the first direction, then the relative speed Δv is 60 km / h (Δv = |80 - 20| = 60).

[0046] Additionally, the control circuit is configured to compare the determined relative speed with the maximum speed threshold Δv max In other words, the control circuit is configured to verify / check whether the external vehicles 2a to 2c have a relative speed below the maximum speed threshold Δv maxThe relative speed Δv. Moreover, the control circuit is configured to generate a control signal based on the comparison in order to control the availability of the driver support functions 28, 29 for the road section. More specifically, the control circuit is configured to enable the driver support function for the occupants of the vehicle if the following two conditions are met:

[0047] · At least one of the plurality of external vehicles 2a to 2c has been verified to have a relative speed Δv below the maximum speed threshold during a first time period max of Δv.

[0048] · None of the plurality of external vehicles 2a to 2c has been verified to have a relative speed Δv above the maximum speed threshold during a second time period max of Δv.

[0049] In other words, the control circuit must verify that at least one of the external vehicles 2a to 2c has been observed to have a relative speed Δv below the maximum speed threshold during the first time period (e.g., during the last or most recent 60 seconds), max and that none of the external vehicles 2a to 2c has been observed to have a relative speed Δv above the maximum speed threshold during the second time period (e.g., during the last or most recent 90 seconds). max of Δv. Thus, the control system performs an inspection to see if during the last 60 seconds of operation the autonomous vehicle 1 has overtaken or been overtaken by vehicles 2a to 2c having a relative speed Δv below the maximum speed threshold max of Δv, and if during the last 30 seconds of operation the autonomous vehicle 1 has overtaken or been overtaken by vehicles 2a to 2c having a relative speed Δv above the maximum speed threshold max of Δv. If any of these inspections "fails", the driver support function is made unavailable to the occupants of vehicle 1.

[0050] By introducing the first and second time periods, the types of "dead reckoning filter" and "cooling period" are combined, and the overall safety of the system is improved and the availability is increased according to the following reasoning.

[0051] The first time period provides "dead reckoning" filter characteristics by adding a "dead reckoning period" to the relative speed measurement and thus ensures system operation with respect to relevant data. More specifically, the first time period helps to ensure that not too much time has passed since the "low relative speed" and can reduce the risk of the driver support function operating in an environment outside its ODD due to sensor failures or software errors. For example, in a scenario where the sensor stops detecting any relative speed (sensor failure), without the first time period, there is a risk of allowing the driver support function to operate in an unsafe environment (several vehicles in adjacent lanes have a relative speed higher than the threshold). In other words, if vehicle 1 does not receive a report of the relative speed of the vehicle in the adjacent lane, then vehicle 1 cannot be trusted to be in a "safe environment" with a low speed, and the driver support function is made unavailable until the relative speed is indeed known to be below the threshold.

[0052] The second time period provides a "cooling period" for detecting maximum speed violations. More specifically, without the second time period, one would have to perform some type of averaging function on the measurement data and set a threshold that defines the percentage of maximum speed threshold violations allowed (e.g., <1%). In such a solution, if the autonomous vehicle determines that the first external vehicle is a speeding vehicle (relative speed higher than the threshold), then in order to be able to use the driver support function, the autonomous vehicle user would have to wait until it is confirmed that 99 other vehicles have a relative speed below the threshold or until a sufficient measurement time has passed without additional violations. Thus, even if a "speeding vehicle" is a rare event, if it occurs at an "inconvenient" time, it will severely affect the availability of the driver support function.

[0053] In Figure 1a the illustrated example, the autonomous vehicle has been passed by an external vehicle 2c with a relative speed Δv higher than the maximum speed threshold Δv max (e.g., within the last 10 seconds), and is being passed by an external vehicle 2b with a relative speed also higher than the maximum speed threshold Δv max . Moreover, a third external vehicle 2a with a relative speed Δv lower than the maximum speed threshold is detected in the adjacent lane. Thus, even though one of the criteria for making the driver support function available is met, there are already two external vehicles with a relative speed Δv higher than the threshold Δv max during the second time period, thus making the driver support function 27 unavailable 28.

[0054] In Figure 1a and Figure 1bin which an autonomous vehicle has been overtaken (e.g., within the last 10 seconds) by a first external vehicle 2f with a relative speed Δv below a maximum speed threshold Δv max and is being overtaken by a second external vehicle with a relative speed Δv below a maximum speed threshold Δv max Moreover, the relative speed Δv of a third external vehicle 2d is also below the maximum speed threshold Δv max Thus, in this case, two conditions are met and the driver support function 27 is made available 29

[0055] Figure 2 is a schematic flowchart representation of a method 100 for controlling a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering a vehicle traveling in a first direction on a road segment. The method includes obtaining 101 sensor data including information about the vehicle's surroundings. The sensor data can be obtained, for example, from the vehicle's perception system, which includes one or more sensor devices arranged to monitor the surroundings. The term obtaining will be generally interpreted herein and encompasses receiving, retrieving, collecting, obtaining, etc

[0056] The method 100 further includes determining 102 the relative speed Δv of each vehicle traveling in a second lane adjacent to the autonomous lane based on the obtained 101 sensor data. Naturally, the step of determining the relative speed Δv of an external vehicle includes: determining the relative speed Δv of a vehicle whose position will be sufficiently close to the autonomous vehicle to be detected and measured by the sensors of the autonomous vehicle, as will be readily understood by a skilled reader. In some embodiments, the relative speed with respect to the autonomous vehicle is determined by obtaining the speed of the autonomous vehicle, determining the speed of the external vehicle, and determining the difference between the determined speed of the external vehicle and the obtained speed of the autonomous vehicle. The difference thus defines the relative speed of the external vehicle with respect to the autonomous vehicle

[0057] Additionally, the method 100 may include a step of determining 105 whether the monitored / detected external vehicle is an emergency vehicle (e.g., law enforcement, ambulance, fire truck) with one or more activated warning devices (e.g., flashers and sirens). Moreover, if the monitored / detected external vehicle is an emergency vehicle (responding to an emergency situation), then for the purpose of controlling the availability of the driver support function, any determined relative speed of the emergency vehicle with one or more activated warning devices is ignored. This is advantageous in a situation where an autonomous vehicle is under traffic jam cruise control and is overtaken by an ambulance rushing through the traffic jam to, for example, reach the cause of the traffic jam. Thus, by ignoring the relative speed of the emergency response vehicle, traffic jam cruise is not unnecessarily interrupted and user satisfaction is increased

[0058] In addition, method 100 includes comparing the detected relative speed Δv with a maximum speed threshold Δv max at 103, and based on the comparison controlling 104 the availability of a driver support function for a road segment such that the driver support function is made available to an occupant of a vehicle if the following two criteria are met:

[0059] · At least one external vehicle has been verified to have a relative speed Δv below the maximum speed threshold Δv max during a first time period.

[0060] · No external vehicle has been verified to have a relative speed Δv above the maximum speed threshold Δv max during a second time period.

[0061] The step of comparing 103 the detected speed with the maximum speed threshold may further include verifying whether each external vehicle has a relative speed below the maximum speed threshold. Additionally, the step of controlling 104 the availability of the driver support function may include: controlling the availability of the driver support function for the road segment based on the comparison so as to maintain the driver support function as available to an occupant of the vehicle until one of the following occurs:

[0062] · Zero external vehicles have been verified to have a relative below the maximum speed threshold during the first time period.

[0063] · One external vehicle has been verified to have a relative speed above the maximum speed threshold.

[0064] In other words, the driver support function is available until no detection of an external vehicle with a relative speed Δv below the threshold is made during a last (e.g., 60 second) period, or until a detection of a vehicle traveling at an excessive speed (i.e., having a Δv above the threshold) is made.

[0065] Executable instructions for performing these functions are optionally included in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or in other computer program products configured for execution by one or more processors.

[0066] Figures 3a to 3d is a schematic diagram showing relative speed measurements in four different scenarios, and the following discussion will be regarding the availability status (i.e., whether it is available or not available to an occupant of the vehicle) of the driver support feature at time t0. Also, in connection with Figures 3a - 3bIn the following discussion, the first time period and the second time period are considered to be the same and extend between –t1 and t0, i.e., [-t1, t0], and can for example correspond to the last 60 seconds, so –t1 can be -60 seconds.

[0067] In Figure 3a four different speed measurements have been made on four different external vehicles during the measurement period. The determined relative speeds 30 for the four different external vehicles are all below the maximum speed threshold, and three of them occur during the first time period, so at time t0, the driver support function is available to the occupants of the vehicle. "Occurrence" can be defined, for example, by the timestamp defined by the moment in time when an external vehicle passes or is passed by the autonomous vehicle. However, in some embodiments, each external vehicle can be "tracked" by the autonomous vehicle as long as the external vehicle is within the measurement range of the sensor device of the autonomous vehicle. Thus, in those embodiments, the measurement can instead include a number of measurement points in time, where the interval between the measurement points is defined by the sampling rate (e.g., 10 ms, 50 ms, or 100 ms). Thus, instead of Figure 3a the data points illustrated in FIGS. 3d, the "relative speed" data points can be in the form of a curve extending between two time points (X-axis).

[0068] In Figure 3b no external vehicle has been verified to have a relative speed 30 below the maximum speed threshold during the first time period [-t1, t0]. Thus, the driver support feature is not available to the occupants of the vehicle.

[0069] In Figure 3c one of the external vehicles has been verified to have a speed above the maximum speed threshold during the second time period [-t1, t0]. Thus, the driver support feature is not available to the occupants of the vehicle, even though two external vehicles have been verified to have relative speeds below the maximum speed threshold during the first time period [-t1, t0], the driver support function is not available to the occupants of the vehicle.

[0070] In Figure 3d three external vehicles have been verified to have relative speeds below the maximum speed threshold during the first time period [-t1, t0]. Moreover, one external vehicle has been verified to have a relative speed above the maximum speed threshold. However, this verification occurs outside the second time period [-t1, t0], i.e., earlier than the last 60 seconds, when the external vehicle passes or is passed by the autonomous vehicle. Thus, the driver support feature is made available to the occupants of the vehicle.

[0071] Figure 4 is a schematic chart showing the relative speed measurements over time of an autonomous vehicle traveling in a first direction in a first lane on a road segment. The vehicle has a driver support function in the form of traffic jam pilot (TJP), i.e., is configured to manipulate the autonomous driving features of the vehicle when the vehicle is in a traffic situation defined as a "traffic jam" based on a set of predetermined parameters or metrics.

[0072] In Figure 4 the illustrated example, it is assumed that a measurement and control system for controlling the availability of TJP is initiated at time t0. Since there is no confirmation of an external vehicle having a relative speed below a maximum speed threshold, the TJP function is not available to the occupants of the vehicle. However, at time t0, the autonomous vehicle is overtaken by or overtakes an external vehicle having a relative speed below the maximum speed threshold, and makes the TJP function available to the occupants of the vehicle from time t1. Here, as an illustrative example, it can be assumed that the vehicle reaches a traffic jam situation. In some embodiments, the driver support feature is activated once it is available and deactivated once it is not available. In the latter scenario, the control system can initiate a handover to the driver of the vehicle by generating a message via the human-machine interface (HMI) of the vehicle.

[0073] Moving on, it is confirmed that two additional external vehicles have a relative speed below the maximum speed threshold. However, at time t2, the autonomous vehicle is overtaken by or overtakes an external vehicle having a relative speed above the maximum speed threshold, and makes the TJP function available from time t2. The TJP function will not be available for the duration of a second time period and will be made available after the end of the second time period [t2, t3] (e.g., the last 40 seconds) provided that the following conditions are met:

[0074] · At least one external vehicle has been confirmed to have a relative speed Δv below the maximum speed threshold Δv during a first time period max of Δv.

[0075] · No additional external vehicle has been confirmed to have a relative speed Δv above the maximum speed threshold Δv during this second time period max of Δv.

[0076] Accordingly, the second time period can be understood as a "cooling period" from which the last confirmation of an external vehicle having a relative speed higher than the maximum speed threshold was made. Once this "cooling period" has expired and no additional violation above the maximum speed threshold has been made, the above second criterion is met. Moving on, it is confirmed that three additional external vehicles have a relative speed lower than the maximum speed threshold during the second time period [t2, t3], and the TJP function is made available to the vehicle occupants at time t3.

[0077] In addition, at time t4, the last confirmation of an external vehicle having a relative speed lower than the maximum speed threshold is made. Accordingly, assuming that the first time period is of length from t4 to t5 (e.g., 60 seconds), at time t5, the condition of at least one external vehicle having a relative speed Δv that has been confirmed to be lower than the maximum speed threshold Δv during the first time period is no longer met. Accordingly, at time t5, the TJP function is made unavailable to the vehicle occupants. max is a schematic side view of a vehicle 1 including a control system 10 for the vehicle 1. The vehicle 1 has a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering the vehicle 1. The vehicle 1 further includes a sensing system 6, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) 7, and a positioning system 5. The sensing system 6 is understood in this context as a system responsible for obtaining raw sensor data from sensors 6a, 6b, 6c such as cameras, LIDAR and RADAR, ultrasonic sensors, etc. and converting this raw data into scene understanding. The positioning system 5 is configured to monitor the geographical location and heading of the vehicle and can be in the form of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as GPS, etc. However, the positioning system can alternatively be implemented as a real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS in order to improve accuracy. The IMU 7 will be understood as an electronic device configured to measure the inertial movement of the vehicle 1. The IMU 7 typically has six degrees of freedom, three accelerometers and three gyroscopes. Each of the positioning system 5, and the IMU 7 can act as a speed determination device for monitoring the speed of the vehicle 1.

[0078] Figure 5

[0079] ​The control device 10 includes one or more processors 11, a memory 12, a sensor interface 13, and a communication interface 14. The processor 11 may also be referred to as a control circuit 11 or a control line 11. The control circuit 11 is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 12 to perform a method for controlling a vehicle as described in any one of the embodiments disclosed herein. In other words, the memory 12 of the control device 10 can include one or more (non-transitory) computer-readable storage media for storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more computer processors 11, can cause the computer processor 11 to perform the techniques described herein. The memory 12 optionally includes high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM, or other random access solid-state memory devices; and may include non-volatile memory, such as one or more disk storage devices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state storage devices.

[0080] More specifically, the control circuit 11 is configured to obtain sensor data from one or both of the perception system 6, the positioning system 5, and the IMU 7. The sensor data includes information about the surrounding environment of the vehicle and the speed of the autonomous vehicle 1. The control circuit 11 is further configured to determine a relative speed of at least one external vehicle traveling in an adjacent lane with respect to the autonomous vehicle based on the obtained sensor data, and compare the determined relative speed with a maximum speed threshold. In addition, the control circuit 11 is configured to generate a control signal based on the comparison to control the availability of a driver support function so that the driver support function is available to the vehicle occupants if the following criteria are met:

[0081] · At least one external vehicle has been verified to have a relative speed Δv lower than the maximum speed threshold during a first time period max of Δv.

[0082] · No additional external vehicle has been verified to have a relative speed Δv higher than the maximum speed threshold during this second time period max of Δv.

[0083] In some embodiments, if the driver support function is available, it can be automatically activated, and if the driver support function is unavailable, it is automatically deactivated. The activated driver support function is arranged to generate a control signal for the control system of the vehicle to control at least one of the steering angle of the vehicle 1, the acceleration of the vehicle 1, and the deceleration of the vehicle 1 (i.e., control the brakes).

[0084] Additionally, the vehicle 1 can be connected to an external network 20 (e.g., for retrieving map data) via, for example, a wireless link. The same or some other wireless link can be used to communicate with other vehicles 2 in the vicinity of the vehicle or local infrastructure elements. Cellular communication technologies can be used for long-range communication with the external network, and if the cellular communication technology used has low latency, it can also be used for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), and / or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) communication between vehicles. Examples of cellular radio technologies are GSM, GPRS, EDGE, LTE, 5G, 5G NR, etc., and also include future cellular solutions. However, in some solutions, medium-range to short-range communication technologies, such as wireless local area network (LAN), e.g., IEEE 802.11-based solutions, are used. ETSI has worked on cellular standards for vehicle communication, and 5G, for example, is considered a suitable solution due to its low latency, high bandwidth, and efficient handling of communication channels.

[0085] The present disclosure has been presented above with reference to specific embodiments. However, other embodiments beyond those described above are possible and within the scope of the present disclosure. Different method steps beyond those described above for performing the methods by hardware or software can be provided within the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, according to an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by one or more processors of a vehicle control system, the one or more programs including instructions for performing the method according to any one of the embodiments discussed above. Alternatively, according to another exemplary embodiment, a cloud computing system can be configured to execute any of the methods presented herein. The cloud computing system can include distributed cloud computing resources that jointly execute the methods presented herein under the control of one or more computer program products.

[0086] Generally speaking, computer-accessible media can include any tangible or non-transitory storage medium or memory medium, such as an electronic, magnetic, or optical medium - for example, a disk or CD / DVD-ROM coupled to a computer system via a bus. As used herein, the terms "tangible" and "non-transitory" are intended to describe computer-readable storage media (or "memory") other than propagating electromagnetic signals, but are not intended to otherwise limit the types of physical computer-readable storage devices covered by the phrase computer-readable medium or memory. For example, the term "non-transitory computer-readable medium" or "tangible memory" is intended to include types of storage devices that do not necessarily store information permanently, such as including random access memory (RAM). Program instructions and data stored on a tangible computer-accessible storage medium in non-transitory form can be further transmitted by a transmission medium or signals such as electronic, electromagnetic, or digital signals that can be conveyed via a communication medium such as a network and / or a wireless link.

[0087] (The processor 11 (associated with the control device 10)) can be or include any number of hardware components for performing data or signal processing or for executing computer code stored in the memory 12. The device 10 has an associated memory 12, and the memory 12 can be one or more devices for storing data and / or computer code for completing or facilitating the various methods described in this specification. The memory can include volatile memory or non-volatile memory. The memory 12 can include database components, object code components, script components, or any other type of information structure for supporting the various activities of this specification. According to an exemplary embodiment, any distributed or local memory device can be utilized with respect to the systems and methods of this specification. According to an exemplary embodiment, the memory 12 (e.g., via circuitry or any other wired, wireless, or network connection) is communicatively coupled to the processor 11 and includes computer code for performing one or more of the processes described herein.

[0088] It should be understood that the sensor interface 13 can also provide the possibility of obtaining sensor data either directly or via a dedicated sensor control circuit 6 in the vehicle. The communication / antenna interface 14 can additionally provide the possibility of sending outputs via an antenna 8 to a remote location (e.g., a remote operator or a control center). Moreover, some sensors in the vehicle can communicate with the control system 10 using a local network setup such as CAN bus, I2C, Ethernet, fiber optic, etc. The communication interface 14 can be arranged to communicate with other control functions of the vehicle and can thus also be regarded as a control interface; however, a separate control interface (not shown) can be provided. The local communication within the vehicle can also be of the wireless type using protocols such as WiFi, LoRa, ZigBee, Bluetooth, or similar medium / short-range technologies, etc.

[0089] Therefore, it should be understood that the described solution can be implemented in any one of the vehicle, in a system located outside the vehicle, or in a combination of inside and outside the vehicle; for example, in a server (so-called cloud solution) that communicates with the vehicle. For example, sensor data can be sent to an external system and the system performs steps to compare the sensor data (movement of other vehicles) with a predefined maximum speed threshold. Different features and steps of the embodiments can be combined in other combinations than those described.

[0090] It should be noted that the word "comprising" does not exclude the existence of other elements or steps than those listed, and the word "a" before an element does not exclude the existence of a plurality of such elements. It should be further noted that any reference signs do not limit the scope of the claims, that the present disclosure can be implemented at least in part by both hardware and software, and that several "means" or "units" can be represented by the same item of hardware.

[0091] Although the figures may show a specific order of method steps, the order of the steps can be different from the one depicted. Additionally, two or more steps can be executed in parallel or in part simultaneously. Such variations will depend on the selected software and hardware systems and the designer's choices. All such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure. Similarly, software implementations can be realized using standard programming techniques with rule-based logic and other logics to implement various connection steps, processing steps, comparison steps, and decision steps. The above-mentioned and described embodiments are given only as examples and should not be limiting to the present disclosure. For those skilled in the art, other solutions, uses, purposes, and functions within the scope of the present disclosure as claimed in the following patent embodiments should be apparent.

Claims

1. A control system for an autonomous vehicle traveling in a first direction in a first lane of a road segment, wherein, The vehicle has a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering the vehicle, and the control system includes a control circuit configured to perform the following operations: Obtain sensor data, the sensor data including information about the surroundings of the vehicle; Based on the obtained sensor data, determine the relative speed of at least one external vehicle traveling in a second lane adjacent to the first lane with respect to the autonomous vehicle; Compare the determined relative speed with a maximum speed threshold; And Based on the comparison, generate a control signal to control the availability of the driver support function for the road section, so that the driver support function is available to the occupants of the vehicle in the following cases: At least one of the external vehicles has been confirmed to have a relative speed lower than the maximum speed threshold during a first time period; and None of the external vehicles has been confirmed to have a relative speed higher than the maximum speed threshold during a second time period.

2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein The driver support function is available to the occupants of the vehicle, and wherein the control circuit is configured to: Based on the comparison, generate the control signal to control the availability of the driver support function for the road section, so as to maintain the driver support function as available to the occupants of the vehicle until: None of the external vehicles has been confirmed to have a relative speed lower than the maximum speed threshold during the first time period; or An external vehicle among the multiple external vehicles has been confirmed to have a relative speed higher than the maximum speed threshold.

3. The control system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The driver support function is a traffic jam cruise function.

4. The control system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The maximum speed threshold is in the range of 40 km / h to 80 km / h.

5. The control system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The control circuit is further configured to: Determine whether the at least one external vehicle is an emergency vehicle with one or more activated warning devices; And When comparing the monitored relative speed with the maximum speed threshold, ignore the determined relative speed of any emergency vehicle with one or more activated warning devices.

6. The control system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The control circuit is configured to determine the relative speed of the at least one external vehicle with respect to the autonomous vehicle by performing the following operations: Obtain the speed of the autonomous vehicle; Determine the speed of the at least one external vehicle; And Determine the difference between the determined speed of the at least one external vehicle and the obtained speed of the autonomous vehicle, the difference defining the relative speed of the at least one external vehicle with respect to the autonomous vehicle.

7. The control system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The first time period is the last 60 seconds, and the second time period is the last 60 seconds.

8. A vehicle, comprising: A speed determination device for monitoring the speed of the vehicle; A sensing system including at least one sensor for monitoring the surroundings of the vehicle; The control system according to any one of the preceding claims.

9. A method for controlling a driver support function for autonomously maneuvering a vehicle traveling in a first direction on a road section, the method comprising: Obtaining sensor data, the sensor data including information about the surroundings of the vehicle; Determining a relative speed of at least one external vehicle traveling in a second lane adjacent to the first lane with respect to the vehicle based on the obtained sensor data; Comparing the monitored relative speed with a maximum speed threshold; And Controlling the availability of the driver support function for the road section based on the comparison so that the driver support function is available to an occupant of the vehicle when: At least one of the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed below the maximum speed threshold during a first time period; and None of the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed above the maximum speed threshold during a second time period.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The driver support function is available to the occupant of the vehicle, wherein the step of controlling the availability of the driver support function further comprises: Controlling the availability of the driver support function for the road section based on the comparison so as to maintain the driver support function as available to the occupant of the vehicle until: None of the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed below the maximum speed threshold during the first time period; or An external vehicle among the external vehicles has been verified to have a relative speed above the maximum speed threshold.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein, The driver support function is a traffic jam cruise function.

12. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein The maximum speed threshold is in the range of 40 km / h and 80 km / h.

13. The method according to claim 9 or 10, further comprising: Determining whether the at least one external vehicle is an emergency vehicle having one or more activated warning devices; And When comparing the monitored relative speed with the maximum speed threshold, disregarding the determined relative speed of any emergency vehicle having one or more activated warning devices.

14. A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs being configured to be executed by one or more processors of a vehicle control system, the one or more programs including instructions for performing the method according to claim 9.

Images