Method, computer program, device, vehicle and control center for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation of a vehicle

Abstract

Embodiments provide methods, computer programs, apparatus, vehicles, and control centers for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation in a vehicle. The method (10) for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle includes: detecting (11) a deadlocked traffic situation, and reporting (12) the deadlocked traffic situation to a control center. The method (10) further includes: coordinating with the control center to enter (13) a teleoperated driving session, and coordinating with the control center to determine (14) information regarding an identification of the deadlocked traffic situation. The method (10) further includes: forwarding (15) the information regarding the identification of the deadlocked traffic situation to other vehicles, and resolving (16) the deadlocked traffic situation using teleoperation performed by the control center.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method, a computer program, an apparatus, a vehicle and a control centre for resolving a deadlock traffic situation of vehicles and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a concept enabling efficient handling of multiple vehicles facing the same deadlock situation. Background Art

[0002] Vehicle communications are an area of ​​research and development. To enable autonomous or semi-autonomous driving of vehicles, vehicles are expected to use vehicle-to-vehicle communications (V2V) and vehicle-to-network (V2N) communications, for example to coordinate driving maneuvers and / or receive teleoperated driving instructions. Such communications are typically wireless, i.e., the vehicle may communicate wirelessly with other vehicles in its vicinity and / or with backend services via a cellular mobile communication system.

[0003] Teleoperated driving (ToD) is gaining more and more attention. The main concept of ToD is an automated vehicle (AV) driven remotely by a control / command center (CC). The CC and AV may be far away from each other. They are connected via a radio communication system (e.g., fourth-generation, fifth-generation mobile communication systems (4G, 5G)) and their backhaul. Therefore, a certain end-to-end (E2E) latency and data rate are expected. The CC controls the automated vehicle (AV) via remote control. In direct control, the CC directly controls one or more actuators of the AV.

[0004] Document WO 2019 / 180700 A1 describes the concept of using a vehicle artificial intelligence (AI) unit, which is configured to: receive input from multiple vehicle sensors of a vehicle; locally process at least a first portion of the input within the vehicle; wirelessly transmit at least a second portion of the input to a remote control driving processor located outside the vehicle via a vehicle wireless transmitter; wirelessly receive a remotely calculated processing result from the remote control driving processor via a vehicle wireless receiver, the remotely calculated processing result being received from the remote artificial intelligence (AI) unit; and implement vehicle operation commands based on the remotely calculated processing result via the vehicle's autonomous driving unit or via the vehicle's remote control driving unit.

[0005] Document US 2019 / 0011912 A1 discloses a method for operating an unmanned vehicle, which may include: receiving sensor signals related to the operation of the unmanned vehicle and road network data from a road network data storage device at the unmanned vehicle. The method may also include: determining a driving corridor in which the unmanned vehicle is traveling according to the trajectory, and causing the unmanned vehicle to autonomously traverse the road network according to a path from a first geographic location to a second geographic location. The method may also include: determining that an event associated with the path has occurred, and sending a communication signal to a remote control operation system, the communication signal including a request for guidance and one or more of the sensor data and the road network data. The method may include: receiving a remote control operation signal from the remote control operation system at the unmanned vehicle, so that the vehicle controller determines a corrected trajectory based at least in part on the remote control operation signal.

[0006] Prior art concepts describe sharing information about the environment including obstacles between vehicles, so individual vehicles can benefit from other sensor data. However, while improved knowledge or models of the environment may also improve ToD, in the case of deadlock situations (i.e. situations that cannot be resolved by the vehicles alone), further information about the environment cannot help improve the signaling or resource efficiency of the communication system for coverage, or the signaling involved in remotely controlling vehicles outside the corresponding situation.

[0007] There is a need for an improved concept for ToD of vehicles in a deadlock situation. This need is met according to the independent claims.

[0008] Embodiments are based on the discovery that ToD information can be reused for vehicles in the same deadlock situation. Typically, if a deadlock situation occurs (e.g., a sudden obstacle), vehicles will queue up and then independently seek help from a ToD control center. It is discovered that once a deadlock situation or a ToD session to resolve the deadlock situation can be identified, it can be reused by other vehicles facing the same deadlock situation. Summary of the invention

[0009] An embodiment provides a method for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle. The method includes detecting a deadlocked traffic situation and reporting the deadlocked traffic situation to a control center. The method further includes entering a teleoperated driving session in coordination with the control center and determining information regarding an identification of the deadlocked traffic situation in coordination with the control center. The method includes forwarding the information regarding the identification of the deadlocked traffic situation to other vehicles and using teleoperation performed by the control center to resolve the deadlocked traffic situation. Thus, the other vehicles can identify the deadlocked situation and use the information in their requests.

[0010] The method may further comprise: receiving information about the identification of the teleoperation session from the control centre and forwarding the information about the identification of the teleoperation session to the other vehicles. The vehicles may then refer to the teleoperation session in their requests and thus have referenced the ToD session that previously resolved the deadlock situation.

[0011] For example, determining information about the identification of the deadlock traffic situation in coordination with the control center includes assigning the identification to the deadlock traffic situation and reporting information about the assigned identification of the deadlock traffic situation to the control center. In such an embodiment, the first vehicle that discovers the deadlock situation can set an identification, which can then be transmitted to the control center and the following vehicles for reference.

[0012] Embodiments also provide a method for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle. The method includes receiving information about an identification of a deadlocked traffic situation from another vehicle, and verifying that the information about the identification relates to an upcoming deadlocked traffic situation. The method further includes reporting the information about the identification to a control center, and entering a teleoperated driving session in coordination with the control center to resolve the deadlocked traffic situation if the deadlocked traffic situation occurs. Receiving the information about the identification and using it as a reference can simplify the process of finding a path to resolve the deadlocked traffic situation at the control center, because the solution information for the deadlocked situation with the identification may already be available.

[0013] The method may further comprise receiving information about the identification of the teleoperation session from the other vehicle and reporting the information about the identification of the teleoperation session to the control centre.Using the identification of the ToD session may further help identify a solution to the deadlock situation at the control centre.

[0014] For example, the information about the identification of the teleoperation session indicates the teleoperation session of a specific control center, and the reporting includes reporting to the specific control center.Thus, once the information about the identification is received, the control center that has previously resolved the situation may also be identified.

[0015] In some embodiments, the verification may include determining whether the autonomously operated vehicle is in queue behind the other vehicle. Thus, it may be verified that a queue or blockage occurs due to a gridlock situation in order to distinguish such a situation from a situation that occurs, for example, at a traffic light due to high traffic density.

[0016] Embodiments further provide a method for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation for an autonomously operated vehicle in a control center. The method includes receiving information about the deadlocked traffic situation from the autonomously operated vehicle, and determining information about an identification of the deadlocked situation. The method further includes remotely operating the vehicle to resolve the deadlocked traffic situation, and storing the information about the deadlocked traffic situation for later use. Once the deadlocked situation is determined, storing the information about the deadlocked situation may enable reuse and identification of a solution to the deadlocked situation.

[0017] The method may further comprise: determining information about an identification of a teleoperated driving session for teleoperating the vehicle to resolve a deadlocked traffic situation; and providing information about the identification of the teleoperated driving session to the vehicle. Thereby, the vehicle may be enabled to further communicate the information to other vehicles, which may then refer to the information.

[0018] In some embodiments, the method may further include: receiving information about an identification of a deadlocked traffic situation from another vehicle, and retrieving information about the deadlocked traffic situation based on the information about the identification of the deadlocked traffic situation. The method further includes: remotely operating the other vehicle based on the information about the deadlocked traffic situation. Embodiments may enable efficient reuse of information to resolve deadlocked traffic situations.

[0019] The method may further include receiving information about the teleoperation session from the other vehicle, and coordinating teleoperation of the other vehicle based on the information about the teleoperation session. If the vehicle has already reported information about a ToD session, the information about that session may be reused even if it refers to another control center.

[0020] An embodiment further provides a computer program with a program code for performing one or more of the methods described when the computer program is executed on a computer, a processor or a programmable hardware component. A further embodiment is a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer, a processor or a programmable hardware component, cause the computer to implement one of the methods described herein.

[0021] Another embodiment is an apparatus for resolving a deadlock traffic situation of a vehicle. The apparatus comprises one or more interfaces configured to communicate in a communication network, and a control module configured to control the one or more interfaces. The control module is further configured to perform one of the methods described herein. A further embodiment is a vehicle and a control center comprising the apparatus. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Some other features or aspects will be described, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, the following non-limiting embodiments of using an apparatus or a method or a computer program or a computer program product, in which:

[0023] Figure 1 A block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for resolving a gridlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle;

[0024] Figure 2 A block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for resolving a gridlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle;

[0025] Figure 3 A block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for resolving a gridlocked traffic situation for autonomously operated vehicles in a control center; and

[0026] Figure 4 A block diagram of an embodiment of an apparatus for resolving a gridlock traffic situation for a vehicle, an embodiment of a vehicle, and an embodiment of a network component or control center is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Various example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which some example embodiments are illustrated. In the accompanying drawings, the thickness of lines, layers or regions may be exaggerated for clarity. Broken lines, dashed lines or dotted lines may be used to illustrate optional components.

[0028] Therefore, although the exemplary embodiment is capable of various modifications and alternative forms, its embodiments are shown in the figures by way of example and will be described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that there is no intention to limit the exemplary embodiment to the specific form disclosed, but on the contrary, the exemplary embodiment is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention. The same reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements throughout the description of the figures.

[0029] As used herein, the term "or" refers to a non-exclusive "or" unless otherwise indicated (e.g., "or else," or "or alternatively"). In addition, as used herein, words used to describe the relationship between elements should be broadly interpreted to include direct relationships or the presence of intermediate elements, unless otherwise indicated. For example, when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to other elements, the element may be directly connected or coupled to the other elements or there may be intermediate elements. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another element, there are no intermediate elements. Similarly, words such as "between," "adjacent," etc. should be interpreted in a similar manner.

[0030] The terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "one", "an" and "the" are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "include", "comprise", "include", "include" or "include" when used herein specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components or groups thereof.

[0031] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the exemplary embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms (e.g., terms defined in commonly used dictionaries) should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined as such herein.

[0032] Figure 1A block diagram of an embodiment of a method for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle is illustrated. The method comprises: detecting 11 a deadlocked traffic situation, and reporting 12 the deadlocked traffic situation to a control center. The method 10 further comprises: entering 13 a teleoperated driving session in coordination with the control center, and determining 14 information regarding an identification of the deadlocked traffic situation in coordination with the control center. The method 10 further comprises: forwarding 15 the information regarding the identification of the deadlocked traffic situation to other vehicles, and resolving 16 the deadlocked traffic situation using teleoperation performed by the control center.

[0033] Embodiments may provide a method for managing automated vehicles queuing in a deadlock situation. Remotely operating the vehicle should be understood as remote operation of the vehicle. For example, a remote operator or teleoperator located at a control center (CC) takes over control of the vehicle with the help of control commands (e.g., acceleration / deceleration commands, steering commands, etc.). Remotely operated driving (ToD) may become a key technology for solving problems of L4 / L5 (L4: highly automated, L5: fully automated) driving vehicles, such as interpretation problems or deadlocks (situations that cannot be solved by autonomous or automatic control mechanisms alone).

[0034] These problems occur when an autonomous vehicle (AV) is unable to interpret and resolve a situation due to unclear traffic conditions (e.g., an accident or a construction site), also known as a deadlock. These vehicles may need external instructions from someone else to resolve the situation, which may be a so-called control center (CC). ToD vehicles will be driven remotely by the CC in a ToD session, by an operator therein, respectively.

[0035] This deadlock situation can be detected by the vehicle using an onboard sensor system. In an embodiment, there are multiple options for determining environmental information. For example, information related to the environment can be obtained with the help of sensor data of the vehicle itself (video, radar, lidar, etc.) or through communication with other vehicles (e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V, car-to-car) communication). Information related to the environment can include: determining information related to the environment based on sensor data shared between vehicles in the environment of the vehicle (data from sensors of other vehicles).

[0036] ToD performance is related to the performance of the communication link. In some embodiments, the communication link may include a wireless part and a wired part, and the quality of service (QoS) may involve at least the wireless part. For example, the communication link includes an air interface between the vehicle and the base station (access node) (Uu link in 3GPP (third generation partnership project), the wireless part of the communication link), and then a connection through the operator backbone (core network, the wired part). Depending on the quality of the link, the control of the vehicle will be adapted in an embodiment: the vehicle will be directly controlled (similar to a joystick) or indirectly controlled (waypoint or environmental model edition). The environment can be characterized by road types, such as highways, rural roads, urban roads, residential area roads, number of lanes, traffic density, traffic dynamics, etc. In addition, the time of day, the day of the week, weather, current traffic conditions / density; and other factors can be included in the information related to the environment of the remotely operated vehicle. Transmitting all this information may consume a lot of bandwidth and radio capacity.

[0037] In an embodiment, information about the identification (ID) of the deadlock situation may enable the identification of the same deadlock situation for another vehicle. Identifying the same deadlock situation may enable the reuse of information to resolve the deadlock situation. For example, the information about the identification may be an identifier number that is large enough so that it is unique within a specific time frame and area to avoid different deadlock situations in the vicinity being assigned the same identification. The transmission of the ID may be via a direct link (e.g., dedicated short range communication (DSRC)), because the vehicles are in a queue and they can communicate directly. The vehicle may use direct communication using its position in the queue.

[0038] For example, multiple vehicles subsequently arrive at the same deadlock situation (e.g., an accident or road construction). If all vehicles enter a ToD session as soon as they arrive at the deadlock situation, significant communication overhead will occur, since all vehicles transmit the same information to their CC. The queued or blocked vehicles are then moved out of the deadlock situation one by one in subsequent independent ToD sessions.

[0039] In an embodiment, forwarding of information about the identification allows subsequent vehicles to refer to the gridlock situation. Such reference may allow the CC to identify the gridlock situation and reuse previous information about the gridlock situation itself (accident, construction, vehicles being blocked, pedestrians on the street, etc.) and information for resolving the gridlock situation (e.g., trajectory, alternate routes, waypoints), etc.

[0040] In an embodiment, method 10 may further include: receiving information about the identification of the remote control operation session from the control center, and forwarding the information about the identification of the remote control operation session to other vehicles. The information about the identification of the ToD session may also be a number identifier, which allows the ToD session to be identified in a (pseudo) unique manner to avoid ambiguity. The other vehicle can then refer not only to the deadlock situation, but also to the ToD session that was previously used to resolve the ToD session. In this context, a remote control operation driving session indicates a situation or context in which a vehicle is actually manipulated or remotely controlled to get out of a deadlock situation. The session may thereafter be referred to as a remote control operation session, and the session may be identified using information about the identification of the remote control operation session.

[0041] For example, determining 14 information about the identification of the deadlock traffic situation in coordination with the control center may include assigning the identification to the deadlock traffic situation and reporting information about the assigned identification of the deadlock traffic situation to the control center. In this case, the vehicle may assign the information about the identification. In other embodiments, the CC may assign the information about the identification.

[0042] Figure 2 A block diagram of an embodiment of a method 20 for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle is illustrated. The method 20 is formulated from the perspective of a vehicle queued behind a vehicle directly facing the deadlocked traffic situation. The method 20 includes receiving 21 information about an indication of a deadlocked traffic situation from another vehicle, and verifying 22 that the information about the indication relates to an upcoming deadlocked traffic situation. The method 20 further includes reporting 23 the information about the indication to a control center, and entering 24 a teleoperated driving session in coordination with the control center to resolve the deadlocked traffic situation if the deadlocked traffic situation occurs.

[0043] The method 20 may further include receiving information about the identification of the teleoperation session from the other vehicle and reporting the information about the identification of the teleoperation session to the control center. In this way, the ToD session may also be identified, which may further increase efficiency, since information about the referenced ToD session may already be available.

[0044] For example, the information about the identification of the teleoperation session indicates a teleoperation session of a specific control center, and the report includes reporting to the specific control center. Thus, in some embodiments, the CC can be identified at the vehicle, and the ToD request can then be directed to the CC. In some (other) embodiments, the vehicle can always report to the CC of its operator, and the CC can then identify another CC based on the identification. Information about the ToD session can then be retrieved from the other CC, or the other CC can be made responsible for the ToD session of the requesting vehicle.

[0045] In some embodiments, verification 22 includes determining whether the autonomously operated vehicle is queued behind the other vehicle. For example, verification 22 can be done using sensors of the vehicle to detect whether it is queued and whether one of the vehicles ahead has identified a deadlock situation. One mechanism that can be used in embodiments is to check a database that has information about deadlocks on the planned route. If the vehicle ahead has reported a deadlock to the database, the vehicle behind can verify by checking the deadlock identification received by the vehicle against the database.

[0046] Figure 3 A block diagram of an embodiment of a method 30 for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation of an autonomously operated vehicle in a control center is illustrated. The method 30 is formulated from the perspective of the control center. The method 30 includes receiving 31 information about a deadlocked traffic situation from the autonomously operated vehicle, and determining 32 information about an identification of the deadlocked situation. The method 30 further includes remotely operating 33 the vehicle to resolve the deadlocked traffic situation, and storing 34 information about the deadlocked traffic situation for later use.

[0047] The method 30 may further include determining information about an identification of a teleoperation session for teleoperating the vehicle to resolve the deadlocked traffic situation, and providing information about the identification of the teleoperation session to the vehicle. As outlined above, such determination of information about the identification may be performed on the vehicle side (e.g., the vehicle that first arrives at the deadlock) or on the CC side (e.g., the CC that receives the first request for a ToD for resolving the deadlock).

[0048] For example, method 30 may further include: receiving information about the identification of the deadlock traffic situation from another vehicle, and retrieving information about the deadlock traffic situation based on the information about the identification of the deadlock situation. Method 30 may further include: remotely operating the other vehicle based on the information about the deadlock traffic situation. In this embodiment, the CC utilizes information determined during a previous ToD session for the same deadlock, for example, it reuses a trajectory or waypoints. Method 20 may further include: receiving information about the remote control operation session from the other vehicle, and coordinating the remote control operation of the other vehicle based on the information about the remote control operation session. As outlined above, information about the ToD identification can also be received from another vehicle.

[0049] Figure 4 A block diagram of an embodiment of an apparatus for resolving a deadlock traffic situation of a vehicle, an embodiment of a vehicle, and an embodiment of a network component or control center is illustrated. The apparatus includes: one or more interfaces 42, which are configured to communicate in a communication network; and a control module 44, which is coupled to the one or more interfaces and is configured to control the one or more interfaces 42. The control module 44 is further configured to perform any of the methods 10, 20, 30 described herein. Other embodiments are a vehicle 400 including the apparatus 40, a network entity 400 including the apparatus 40, and a control center 400 including the apparatus 40.

[0050] The device 40 and the vehicle, the control center or the network component 400 can communicate at least partially via a mobile communication system. The mobile communication system can, for example, correspond to one of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) standardized mobile communication networks, wherein the term mobile communication system is used synonymously with the mobile communication network. Therefore, messages (input data, control information) can be transmitted through multiple network nodes (e.g., the Internet, routers, switches, etc.) and the mobile communication system, which generates the delay or latency considered in the embodiment. For example, the uplink direction refers to the direction from the vehicle to the command center, and the downlink direction refers to the direction from the command center to the vehicle.

[0051] The mobile or wireless communication system may correspond to a fifth generation (5G, or new radio) mobile communication system, and may use millimeter wave technology. The mobile communication system may correspond to or include, for example, long term evolution (LTE), advanced LTE (LTE-A), high speed packet access (HSPA), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) or UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN), evolved UTRAN (e-UTRAN), global system for mobile communications (GSM) or enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) network, GSM / EDGE radio access network (GERAN), or a mobile communication network with different standards (e.g., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) network IEEE 802.16 or wireless local area network (WLAN) IEEE 802.11), generally an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, a wideband CDMA (WCDMA) network, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) network, a space division multiple access (SDMA) network, and the like.

[0052] Service provision may be performed by a network component such as a base transceiver station, a relay station or a UE, for example, to coordinate service provision in a cluster or group of multiple UE / vehicles. A base transceiver station may be operable or configured to communicate with one or more active mobile transceivers / vehicles, and the base transceiver station may be located in or adjacent to the coverage area of ​​another base transceiver station, such as a macro cell base transceiver station or a small cell base transceiver station. Thus, an embodiment may provide a mobile communication system comprising two or more mobile transceivers / vehicles and one or more base transceivers station, wherein the base transceiver station may establish a macro cell or a small cell, such as a micro cell, a metropolitan cell or a femto cell. A mobile transceiver or UE may correspond to a smart phone, a cellular phone, a laptop, a notebook computer, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a universal serial bus (USB) stick, a car, a vehicle, a road participant, a traffic entity, a traffic infrastructure, and the like. A mobile transceiver may also be referred to as a user equipment (UE) or a mobile device conforming to 3GPP terminology. The vehicle may correspond to any conceivable means of transportation, such as a car, a bicycle, a motorcycle, a van, a truck, a bus, a ship, a boat, an airplane, a train, a tram, etc.

[0053] A base transceiver station may be located in a fixed or stationary part of a network or system. A base transceiver station may be or correspond to a remote radio head, a transmission point, an access point, a macro cell, a small cell, a micro cell, a femto cell, a metropolitan area cell, etc. A base transceiver station may be a wireless interface of a wired network that enables the transmission of radio signals to a UE or a mobile transceiver. Such radio signals may comply with radio signals as standardized by, for example, 3GPP or generally conform to one or more of the systems listed above. Therefore, a base transceiver station may correspond to a NodeB, an eNodeB, a gNodeB, a base transceiver station (BTS), an access point, a remote radio head, a relay station, a transmission point, etc., which may be further subdivided into remote units and central units.

[0054] A mobile transceiver or vehicle may be associated with a base transceiver station or a cell. The term "cell" refers to the coverage area of ​​a radio service provided by a base transceiver station (e.g., NodeB (NB), eNodeB (eNB), gNodeB, remote radio head, transmission point, etc.). A base transceiver station may operate one or more cells on one or more frequency layers, and in some embodiments, a cell may correspond to a sector. For example, a sector may be implemented using a sector antenna that provides characteristics for covering an angular portion around a remote unit or base transceiver station. A base transceiver station may operate multiple sectorized antennas. In the following, a cell may refer to a corresponding base transceiver station that generates the cell, or similarly, a base transceiver station may refer to a cell generated by the base transceiver station.

[0055] In an embodiment, the apparatus 40 may be included in a server, a base station, a NodeB, a UE, a vehicle, a network component, a relay station or any service coordination network entity. It should be noted that the term network component may include multiple subcomponents, such as a base station, a server, etc.

[0056] In an embodiment, one or more interfaces 42 may correspond to any component for obtaining, receiving, transmitting or providing analog or digital signals or information, such as any connector, contact, pin, register, input port, output port, conductor, channel, etc., which allows providing or obtaining signals or information. The interface may be wireless or wired, and it may be configured to communicate with other internal or external components, i.e., transmit or receive signals, information. One or more interfaces 42 may include other components to implement corresponding communications in a (mobile) communication system, such components may include transceiver (transmitter and / or receiver) components, such as one or more low noise amplifiers (LNA), one or more power amplifiers (PA), one or more duplexers, one or more antenna duplexers, one or more filters or filter circuits, one or more converters, one or more mixers, correspondingly adapted radio frequency components, etc. One or more interfaces 42 may be coupled to one or more antennas, which may correspond to any transmitting and / or receiving antennas, such as horn antennas, dipole antennas, patch antennas, sector antennas, etc. In some examples, one or more interfaces 42 may be used for the purpose of transmitting or receiving information (such as information, input data, control information, further information messages, etc.), or both.

[0057] like Figure 4 As shown in , the corresponding one or more interfaces 42 are coupled to the corresponding control module 44 at the device 40. In an embodiment, the control module 44 can be implemented using one or more processing units, one or more processing devices, any components for processing (such as, processors, computers, or programmable hardware components operable with corresponding adapted software). In other words, the described functions of the control module 24 can also be implemented with software, which is then executed on one or more programmable hardware components. Such hardware components may include general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), microcontrollers, and the like.

[0058] In an embodiment, communication (i.e., transmission, reception, or both) may occur directly in a mobile transceiver / vehicle, such as forwarding input data or control information to / from a control center. Such communication may utilize a mobile communication system. Such communication may be implemented directly, for example, by means of device-to-device (D2D) communication. Such communication may be implemented using the specifications of a mobile communication system. An example of D2D is direct communication between vehicles, also referred to as vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V), car-to-car, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), etc. Technologies for implementing such D2D communication include 802.11p, 3GPP systems (4G, 5G, NR, and beyond these), etc.

[0059] In an embodiment, one or more interfaces 42 may be configured to perform wireless communication in a mobile communication system, such as in an embodiment in which the apparatus 40 is implemented in a vehicle 400 and the methods 10, 20 are performed at the vehicle 400. To do so, radio resources are used, such as frequency, time, code and / or space resources, which may be used for wireless communication with a base transceiver station and for direct communication. The assignment of radio resources, i.e., determining which resources are used for D2D and which resources are not used for D2D, may be controlled by the base transceiver station. Here and in the following, the radio resources of the respective components may correspond to any radio resources conceivable on a radio carrier, and they may use the same or different granularity on the respective carriers. The radio resources may correspond to a resource block (such as an RB in LTE / LTE-A / unlicensed LTE (LTE-U)), one or more carriers, subcarriers, one or more radio frames, radio subframes, radio time slots, one or more code sequences potentially with corresponding spreading factors, one or more spatial resources (such as, spatial subchannels, spatial precoding vectors), any combination thereof, and the like. For example, in direct cellular vehicle-to-anything (C-V2X) (where V2X includes at least V2V, V2-Infrastructure (V2I), etc.), transmissions from 3GPP Release 14 onwards can be managed by the infrastructure (so-called Mode 3) or run in the UE.

[0060] For example, a first automated vehicle (AV) is in a deadlock situation. Multiple AVs are following it and are also stopped. If each AV detects its own deadlock situation, a cascade of ToD session requests will be generated, which will cause the CC support system to be overloaded. The AVs then resolve the deadlock situation in a queue, and each AV waits for the vehicle in front to resolve the problem. Thus, for example, overhead occurs when each new ToD session requires the CC to obtain a new understanding of the same scenario. Embodiments can improve the management of the queuing system by enabling the queued vehicles to identify and reference the deadlock situation.

[0061] For example, a combination of CC identification (ID) and deadlock ID may be used to cause these AVs to request a ToD session with the same CC operator as the preceding vehicle. Embodiments may reduce the overhead associated with handling the situation at the CC. In fact, once the CC operator has resolved the problem for the first vehicle, it may use the knowledge it has gained to resolve the same problem for subsequent vehicles.

[0062] For example, in one embodiment, the following steps may apply:

[0063] 1. The first AV1 identifies a deadlock situation and assigns ID OB1 to the obstacle (which could be a stopped truck, a fallen branch on the road, etc.);

[0064] 2. The first AV1 requests a ToD session and connects to the command center CC1;

[0065] 3. CC1 assigns ID ToD 1 to the ToD session and resolves the issue;

[0066] 4. The first AV1 broadcasts the fact that it is resolving the issue OB1 by using CC1 in the TOD1 session;

[0067] 5. The second AV2 following AV1 in the queue may include ID OB1 and TOD1 in its ToD request in order to connect to CC1 which already knows the problem and does not need to understand the situation a second time, and not connect to the second CC2 which does not know the problem and needs to understand the situation; and

[0068] 6. These steps can be repeated until the queue of vehicles is clear.

[0069] For example, a technical effect of sharing identification numbers of obstacles and command centers may be to enable the same command center to be reused for the next automated vehicle and thus reduce the overhead time to understand the scene.

[0070] In an embodiment, a deadlock situation can be defined as any situation that the scene interpreter of the AV cannot interpret. This may occur on the first AV that arrives at the deadlock situation. The first vehicle uses wireless communication (e.g., a corresponding message) to notify subsequent vehicles about the deadlock and its ID. After receiving the message, the subsequent vehicles can prepare and request their corresponding ToD sessions, including IDs. They can send their requests to the same CC as the first vehicle or to another CC, such as the CC of their corresponding operators. Then, further coordination can be performed between CCs, such as based on the ToD session ID or the deadlock ID, such as via a central traffic coordination entity. In some embodiments, the CC can develop or coordinate a common strategy on how to resolve a queue in a deadlock situation. For example, a sequence of vehicles can be determined, which are remotely operated to get out of the deadlock situation. Other examples are common trajectories or common waypoints to be passed that allow manipulation to get out of the deadlock situation.

[0071] As already mentioned, in an embodiment, the corresponding methods may be implemented as computer programs or codes, which can be executed on corresponding hardware. Therefore, another embodiment is a computer program with program code for carrying out at least one of the above methods when the computer program is executed on a computer, a processor or a programmable hardware component. A further embodiment is a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed by a computer, a processor or a programmable hardware component, causes the computer to implement one of the methods described herein.

[0072] Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the steps of various methods described above can be performed by a programmed computer, such as the position of a time slot can be determined or calculated. In this article, some embodiments are also intended to encompass program storage devices, such as digital data storage media, which are machine or computer readable and encode machine executable or computer executable instruction programs, wherein the instructions implement some or all of the steps of the method described in this article. The program storage device can be, for example, a digital memory, a magnetic storage medium such as a disk and a tape, a hard drive, or an optically readable digital data storage medium. The embodiment is also intended to encompass a computer programmed to perform the steps of the method described in this article, or to encompass a (field) programmable logic array ((F) PLA) or a (field) programmable gate array ((F) PGA) programmed to perform the steps of the method described above.

[0073] The description and the accompanying drawings illustrate only the principles of the present invention. It will therefore be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to conceive of various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present invention and are included in its spirit and scope. In addition, all examples recorded herein are in principle explicitly intended to be used only for teaching purposes to assist the reader in understanding the principles of the present invention, and the concepts contributed by (one or more) inventors to promote this area, and should be interpreted as not being limited to such specifically recorded examples and conditions. In addition, all statements recording the principles, aspects and embodiments of the present invention and their specific examples herein are intended to cover their equivalents.

[0074] When functions are provided by a processor, these functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by multiple separate processors (some of which may be shared). In addition, the explicit use of the term "processor" or "controller" should not be interpreted as exclusively referring to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, but is not limited to, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, network processors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), and non-volatile storage devices for storing software. Other conventional or customized hardware may also be included. Their functions may be performed by the operation of program logic, by dedicated logic, by the interaction of program control and dedicated logic, or even manually, and specific techniques may be selected by the implementer, as more specifically understood from the context.

[0075] It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagram herein represents a conceptual view of an illustrative circuit embodying the principles of the present invention. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow chart, flow diagram, state transition diagram, pseudo-random code, etc. represent various processes that can be substantially represented in a computer-readable medium and thus executed by a computer or processor, regardless of whether such a computer or processor is explicitly shown.

[0076] In addition, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, wherein each claim can stand alone as a separate embodiment. Although each claim can stand alone as a separate embodiment, it should be noted that although a dependent claim refers to a specific combination with one or more other claims in the claims, other embodiments may also include a combination of the dependent claim with the subject matter of each other dependent claim. Such combinations are proposed herein unless it is stated that a specific combination is not intended. In addition, it is intended that features of a claim be included in any other independent claim as well, even if the claim is not directly made dependent on the independent claim.

[0077] It is further noted that the methods disclosed in the specification or in the claims may be implemented by an apparatus having means for carrying out each of the respective steps of these methods.

[0078] Reference Symbols List

[0079] 10 Methods for resolving gridlocked traffic situations in autonomously operated vehicles

[0080] 11 Detecting gridlocked traffic situations

[0081] 12 Report traffic jam to control center

[0082] 13 Coordinate with the control center to enter the teleoperated driving session

[0083] 14 Determine information on the identification of deadlocked traffic situations in coordination with the control center

[0084] 15 Forwarding of information about the sign of a deadlock situation to other vehicles

[0085] 16 Use teleoperation from a control center to resolve gridlocked traffic situations

[0086] 20 Methods for resolving gridlocked traffic situations in autonomously operated vehicles

[0087] 21 Receiving information from another vehicle regarding the identification of a deadlocked traffic situation

[0088] 22 Verify that the information about the sign refers to an upcoming gridlock traffic situation

[0089] 23 Report information about the said mark to the control center

[0090] 24 Coordinate with the control center to enter a teleoperated driving session to resolve a deadlocked traffic situation if it occurs

[0091] 30 Method for resolving a gridlocked traffic situation for an autonomously operated vehicle in a control center

[0092] 31. Receiving information about a gridlocked traffic situation from the autonomously operated vehicle

[0093] 32 Identify information about the identification of deadlock situations

[0094] 33 Remote control operation of said vehicle to resolve gridlocked traffic situations

[0095] 34 Storing information about gridlocked traffic situations for later use

[0096] 40. Device for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation of a vehicle

[0097] 42 One or more interfaces

[0098] 44 Control Module

[0099] 400 Vehicles, network components, control centers

Claims

1. A method (10) for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle, the method (10) being performed by the autonomously operated vehicle and comprising: Detection (11) of gridlocked traffic situations; Report (12) deadlocked traffic situations to the control center; Coordinated with the control center to enter into (13) a teleoperation session; Using remote control operations from a control center to resolve (16) gridlocked traffic situations; determining (14) information regarding an identification of a deadlock traffic situation in coordination with a control center, wherein the information regarding the identification of the deadlock traffic situation uniquely identifies the deadlock traffic situation within a time frame and a geographic area so as to distinguish the identified deadlock traffic situation from other deadlock traffic situations in the vicinity of the geographic area during the time frame, and wherein the autonomously operated vehicle is the first vehicle to discover the deadlock traffic situation and the autonomously operated vehicle sets the information regarding the identification of the deadlock traffic situation; as well as Information about the identification of the deadlocked traffic situation is forwarded (15) to other vehicles so that if they also reach the same deadlocked traffic situation, they can be remotely operated by the control center.

2. The method (10) according to claim 1, further comprising: Information about the identification of the teleoperation session is received from the control center and the information about the identification of the teleoperation session is forwarded to the other vehicles.

3. The method (10) according to claim 1 , wherein determining (14) information about the identification of a deadlock traffic situation in coordination with a control center comprises: The identification is assigned to the deadlock traffic situation, and information about the assigned identification of the deadlock traffic situation is reported to the control center.

4. A method (20) for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation in an autonomously operated vehicle, the method (20) being performed by the autonomously operated vehicle and comprising: receiving (21) information about an identification of a deadlock traffic situation from another vehicle, wherein the information about the identification of the deadlock traffic situation uniquely identifies the deadlock traffic situation within a time frame and a geographic area so as to distinguish the identified deadlock traffic situation from other deadlock traffic situations in the vicinity of the geographic area during the time frame, and wherein a first vehicle that discovers the deadlock traffic situation sets the information about the identification of the deadlock traffic situation; verifying (22) that the information about the sign relates to an upcoming gridlock traffic situation; reporting (23) information about the identification to a control center; as well as A teleoperation session is entered (24) in coordination with the control center to resolve the deadlocked traffic situation if it occurs.

5. The method (20) according to claim 4, further comprising: Information about the identification of the remote control operation session is received from the other vehicle, and the information about the identification of the remote control operation session is reported to the control center.

6. The method (20) of claim 5, wherein the information regarding the identification of the teleoperation session indicates the teleoperation session of a specific control center, and wherein the reporting comprises reporting to the specific control center.

7. The method (20) according to one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the verification (22) comprises: A determination is made as to whether the autonomously operating vehicle is queued behind the other vehicle.

8. A method (30) for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation of an autonomously operated vehicle in a control center, the method (30) being performed by the control center and comprising: receiving (31) information about a gridlocked traffic situation from the autonomously operating vehicle; determining (32) information regarding an identification of a deadlocked traffic situation in coordination with the autonomously operated vehicle, wherein the information regarding the identification of the deadlocked traffic situation uniquely identifies the deadlocked traffic situation within a time frame and a geographic area so as to distinguish the identified deadlocked traffic situation from other deadlocked traffic situations in the vicinity of the geographic area during the time frame, and wherein the autonomously operated vehicle is the first vehicle to discover the deadlocked traffic situation and the autonomously operated vehicle sets the information regarding the identification of the deadlocked traffic situation; remotely operating (33) the vehicle to resolve a gridlocked traffic situation; as well as Information about the gridlocked traffic situation is stored (34) for later use.

9. The method (30) of claim 8, further comprising: receiving information from another vehicle regarding an indication of a gridlocked traffic situation; retrieving information about the gridlocked traffic situation based on the information about the identification of the gridlocked traffic situation; as well as The other vehicle is remotely operated based on the information regarding the gridlock traffic situation.

10. The method (30) of claim 8, further comprising: determining information regarding an identification of a teleoperation session for teleoperating the vehicle to resolve a deadlocked traffic situation; and providing information regarding an identification of the teleoperation session to the vehicle.

11. The method (30) of claim 9, further comprising: Information about the remote control operation session is received from the other vehicle, and remote control operation of the other vehicle is coordinated based on the information about the remote control operation session.

12. A computer program having a program code for performing one of the methods of claims 1 to 11 when the computer program is executed on a computer, a processor or a programmable hardware component.

13. A device for resolving a deadlocked traffic situation of a vehicle, the device comprising: one or more interfaces configured to communicate in a communication network; as well as A control module configured to control the one or more interfaces, wherein the control module is further configured to perform one of the methods of claims 1 to 11.

14. A vehicle comprising the device of claim 13.

15. A control center comprising the device of claim 13.

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