Vehicle driving control method, vehicle formation driving system and storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a vehicle driving control method, a vehicle formation driving system and a storage medium, and relates to the technical field of automatic driving. The vehicle driving control method comprises the steps that road condition data of a road are collected in the driving process, and whether the road condition data indicate that the road has an abnormal road condition or not is detected; when it is detected that the current road condition data indicates that the road has an abnormal road condition, generating an abnormal processing strategy for the abnormal road condition; and controlling the pilot vehicle to execute the abnormity processing strategy, and sending the road condition information of the abnormal road condition to each vehicle in the vehicle formation, so that each vehicle processes the abnormal road condition based on the road condition information of the abnormal road condition. According to the invention, the vehicle formation can effectively cope with complex road conditions, and the continuity, stability and safety of the vehicle formation in the driving process are further improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of autonomous driving technology, and in particular to a vehicle driving control method, a vehicle platoon driving system and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] With the development of autonomous driving technology, single-vehicle autonomous driving has been widely promoted and applied, which also provides a basis for the realization of autonomous driving platoon driving, which can effectively improve transportation efficiency. Autonomous driving platoon driving refers to two or more vehicles, based on technologies such as smart sensors, wireless communications and cloud platforms, through data sharing and collaborative decision-making, autonomous driving in the form of a queue in specific scenarios.

[0003] When a vehicle formation is driving, there may be potholes, bumps and even obstacles on the road that may affect the driving stability, comfort and safety of the formation. Especially for the following vehicles at the rear, since the following distance is not too far, it is not easy to detect these abnormal conditions in time, which may even lead to safety hazards. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a vehicle driving control method, a vehicle formation driving system and a storage medium. The leading vehicle will first process the abnormal road condition and send the road condition information of the abnormal road condition to the following vehicle at the rear. The following vehicle at the rear can be informed of the abnormal road condition ahead in advance and can have sufficient time to give a corresponding processing strategy; thereby, the vehicle formation can effectively cope with complex road conditions and further improve the continuity, stability and safety of the vehicle formation during driving.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides a vehicle driving control method, which is applied to a leading vehicle of a vehicle formation, wherein multiple vehicles in the vehicle formation are arranged and travel in sequence; the method comprises: collecting road condition data of a road during driving, and detecting whether the road condition data indicates that an abnormal road condition occurs on the road; when it is detected that the current road condition data indicates that an abnormal road condition occurs on the road, generating an abnormality handling strategy for the abnormal road condition; controlling the leading vehicle to execute the abnormality handling strategy, and sending the road condition information of the abnormal road condition to each vehicle in the vehicle formation, so that each of the vehicles can handle the abnormal road condition based on the road condition information of the abnormal road condition.

[0006] The present invention also provides a vehicle formation driving system, comprising: a plurality of vehicles communicating with each other, the plurality of vehicles being arranged and driving in sequence to form a vehicle formation; a pilot vehicle of the vehicle formation being used to execute the above-mentioned vehicle driving control method; and each vehicle in the vehicle formation except the pilot vehicle being used to process the abnormal road condition based on the road condition information of the abnormal road condition sent by the pilot vehicle.

[0007] The present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is a non-volatile storage medium or a non-transient storage medium, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the vehicle driving control method as described above are executed.

[0008] In one embodiment, detecting whether the road condition data indicates that an abnormal road condition occurs includes:

[0009] Based on the collected images and / or point cloud data of the road, determine whether there are abnormal road conditions such as potholes, bumps or obstacles on the roadbed surface of the road.

[0010] In one embodiment, generating an exception handling strategy for the abnormal road condition includes:

[0011] Determining whether the abnormal road condition is an abnormal road condition that needs to be avoided based on the road condition data;

[0012] If the abnormal road condition is an abnormal road condition that does not need to be avoided, generating an abnormal handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to decelerate or adjust the suspension;

[0013] If the abnormal road condition is an abnormal road condition that needs to be avoided, an abnormality handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to avoid the abnormal road condition is generated.

[0014] In one embodiment, generating an abnormality handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to avoid abnormal road conditions includes:

[0015] Determine whether there is a target lane available for driving in the adjacent lanes of the current road;

[0016] If there is a target lane available for borrowing among the adjacent lanes of the current road, an exception handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to enter the target lane is generated.

[0017] In one embodiment, determining whether there is a target lane available for borrowing lane among the adjacent lanes of the current road includes:

[0018] Determine whether there are vehicles or obstacles in two lanes adjacent to the current vehicle according to the road condition data;

[0019] If there is no vehicle or obstacle in at least one of the two lanes adjacent to the current vehicle, it is determined that there is a target lane available for borrowing in the lanes adjacent to the current road;

[0020] If there are vehicles or obstacles in both lanes adjacent to the current vehicle, it is determined that there is no target lane available for borrowing in the lanes adjacent to the current road.

[0021] In one embodiment, the road condition information of the abnormal road condition includes: the location where the abnormal road condition occurs, the type of the abnormal road condition, and the abnormality handling strategy for the abnormal road condition.

[0022] In one embodiment, the pilot vehicle is equipped with a camera for collecting images in front of the vehicle and a radar sensor for collecting point cloud data in front of the vehicle;

[0023] The road condition data includes road images and road point cloud data.

[0024] In one embodiment, the method further includes: receiving feedback information sent by each vehicle in the vehicle formation after processing the abnormal road condition, and optimizing the processing strategy of the lead vehicle for the abnormal road condition based on the feedback information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 is a specific flow chart of the vehicle driving control method according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 A specific flow chart of step 102 of the vehicle driving control method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The following will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide a clearer understanding of the purpose, features and advantages of the present invention. It should be understood that the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but are only intended to illustrate the essential spirit of the technical solution of the present invention.

[0028] In the following description, certain specific details are set forth for the purpose of illustrating various disclosed embodiments to provide a thorough understanding of the various disclosed embodiments. However, those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other cases, well-known devices, structures, and techniques associated with the present application may not be shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments.

[0029] Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification and claims, the word "comprise" and variations such as "include" and "have" should be construed in an open, inclusive sense, ie, should be interpreted as "including, but not limited to."

[0030] References throughout the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" indicate that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any manner in one or more embodiments.

[0031] As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It should be noted that the term "or" is generally employed in its sense including "or / and" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0032] In the following description, in order to clearly show the structure and working mode of the present invention, many directional words will be used for description, but the words "front", "back", "left", "right", "outside", "inside", "outward", "inward", "up", "down", etc. should be understood as convenient terms and should not be understood as restrictive terms.

[0033] The first embodiment of the present invention relates to a vehicle driving control method, which is applied to a vehicle formation including multiple vehicles, wherein the multiple vehicles in the vehicle formation are arranged and driven in sequence; the vehicles in the vehicle formation can communicate with each other, namely V2V communication, and the vehicles communicate with each other using short-range radio technology (DSRC); for example, the vehicles communicate with each other through an on-board unit OBU (vehicle-to-vehicle), and the on-board unit can obtain information about the surrounding environment through on-board sensors, such as the speed, vehicle position, driving status warning and other information of the surrounding vehicles. The vehicles can realize real-time exchange of various information through V2V communication, and the exchanged information includes but is not limited to text, pictures, audio and video.

[0034] In addition, the vehicle platoon driving system architecture may also include cloud servers, roadside units and V2X (Vehicle to Everything) wireless communication parts, which refers to the technology for vehicles to exchange and communicate information with the surrounding environment (including other vehicles, pedestrians, road infrastructure and networks, etc.), including: V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure), V2C (Vehicle-to-Cloud) and the above-mentioned V2V wireless communications.

[0035] The vehicles in a vehicle formation include a pilot vehicle and a follower vehicle; the pilot vehicle is generally the frontmost vehicle in the formation, and the follower vehicle is the other vehicles behind the pilot vehicle in the vehicle formation. During driving, the follower vehicle can be switched to the pilot vehicle as needed; the pilot vehicle is the decision maker of the entire formation behavior (including formation creation, formation disbanding, vehicles joining the formation, and vehicles leaving the formation, etc.), and controls and makes decisions on the formation behavior. In a vehicle formation, the pilot vehicle leads the entire formation according to the set driving path. The driving path can be the navigation path of the pilot vehicle from the departure point to the destination. The follower vehicle is all other vehicles behind the pilot vehicle in the formation, and has the ability to maintain a reasonable safe distance from the vehicle in front; the vehicle is, for example, a combination of a tractor and a carriage.

[0036] The specific process of the vehicle driving control method of this embodiment is as follows: Figure 1 As shown; the vehicle driving control method is applied to the controller of the pilot vehicle in the vehicle formation; in some embodiments, it can also be executed by the processor of the cloud server. In the vehicle formation, at least the pilot vehicle is equipped with a detection sensor. Of course, the pilot vehicle of the vehicle formation is generally not a fixed vehicle, so all vehicles in the vehicle formation can be equipped with detection sensors. The detection sensors include but are not limited to cameras (front cameras and side cameras), laser radars, millimeter wave radars, etc. During the normal driving of the vehicle formation, the following vehicles behind the pilot vehicle all adopt the tracking mode, that is, they follow the driving trajectory of the pilot vehicle.

[0037] Step 101 , collecting road condition data during driving, and detecting whether the road condition data indicates abnormal road conditions.

[0038] Specifically, vehicles equipped with detection sensors will collect road data ahead while driving. The road data includes: road images collected by the front camera on the vehicle and road point cloud data collected by the radar sensor. Since the pilot vehicle is the first vehicle to know the road conditions ahead, after collecting the road condition data, the pilot vehicle will detect whether the road condition data indicates abnormal road conditions. Abnormal road conditions include but are not limited to potholes, bumps or obstacles.

[0039] In one example, based on the collected images and / or point cloud data of the road, it is determined whether there are abnormal road conditions such as potholes, bumps or obstacles on the roadbed surface; specifically, the pilot vehicle can obtain the road data of the current road by performing image recognition technology on the road image, or performing point cloud analysis on the road point cloud image. The road data characterizes the current road conditions, such as whether there are potholes, unevenness or obstacles (static obstacles such as stones, or dynamic obstacles such as pedestrians and animals); thus, it can be determined whether there are abnormal road conditions on the current road. Furthermore, the road data can also include the road conditions of the two adjacent lanes of the current road, which can be used as reference information for subsequent processing of abnormal road conditions on the current road.

[0040] Step 102: when it is detected that the current road condition data indicates that an abnormal road condition occurs, an abnormality handling strategy for the abnormal road condition is generated.

[0041] Specifically, when the pilot vehicle detects that the road condition data of the current road indicates that the current road has an abnormal road condition, it generates an abnormality handling strategy for the abnormal road condition;

[0042] For an example, see Figure 2 , generating abnormal handling strategies for abnormal road conditions including:

[0043] Sub-step 1021, based on the road condition data, determines whether the abnormal road condition is an abnormal road condition that needs to be avoided. If so, proceed to sub-step 1022; if not, proceed to sub-step 1023.

[0044] Sub-step 1022, generating an abnormality handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to avoid abnormal road conditions.

[0045] Sub-step 1023, generating an abnormality handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to decelerate or adjust the suspension.

[0046] Specifically, it is possible to determine whether it is necessary to avoid the abnormal road condition based on the abnormal type of the abnormal road condition of the current road; for example, if the abnormal type of the abnormal road condition is potholes or unevenness, it means that the vehicle can pass and there is no need to avoid the abnormal road condition. The bumpy discomfort of passing through these sections can be reduced by decelerating or adjusting the suspension, and an abnormal handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to decelerate or adjust the suspension is generated;

[0047] If the abnormal type of the abnormal road condition is an abnormal road condition with obstacles, it is necessary to judge based on static obstacles and dynamic obstacles respectively. If it is a static obstacle, it is necessary to judge whether the size of the obstacle is passable for the vehicle. If it is passable for the vehicle, the bumpy discomfort of passing through these sections and the possible damage to the vehicle chassis can be reduced by raising the suspension. At this time, an abnormal handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to raise the suspension is generated. Even if the vehicle is passable, in order to avoid damage to the vehicle chassis, in some cases, it is possible to further judge whether there is a target lane available for borrowing in the adjacent lanes of the current road; if there is a target lane available for borrowing in the adjacent lanes of the current road, an abnormal handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to enter the target lane is generated; if there is no target lane available for borrowing in the adjacent lanes of the current road, an abnormal handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to raise the suspension is generated.

[0048] If the obstacle on the current road is a static obstacle but is too large for vehicles to pass, or if the obstacle on the current road is a dynamic obstacle, it is necessary to determine whether there is a target lane in the adjacent lanes of the current road that can be used for borrowing. If there is a target lane in the adjacent lanes of the current road that can be used for borrowing, an exception handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to enter the target lane is generated. If the adjacent lane can be used for avoidance, an exception handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to enter the target lane can be generated; if there is no target lane in the adjacent lanes of the current road that can be used for borrowing, an exception handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to stop can be generated; for dynamic obstacles, the dynamic obstacle can be monitored in real time. When the dynamic obstacle is detected to leave the current road, an exception handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to continue driving is generated, and the exception handling strategy is sent to the rear vehicle through the vehicle communication system in a timely manner.

[0049] Among them, judging whether there is a target lane available for passing through in the lanes adjacent to the current road includes: judging whether there are vehicles or obstacles in the two lanes adjacent to the current vehicle according to the road condition data; if there is no vehicle or obstacle in at least one of the two lanes adjacent to the current vehicle, judging that there is a target lane available for passing through in the lanes adjacent to the current road; if there are vehicles or obstacles in both lanes adjacent to the current vehicle, judging that there is no target lane available for passing through in the lanes adjacent to the current road.

[0050] As before, the road condition data collected by the pilot vehicle also includes the road conditions of the two adjacent lanes, thereby determining whether there are obstacles or vehicles in the adjacent lane ahead. Furthermore, it can be combined with the road conditions of the two adjacent lanes collected by the rear vehicle to determine whether there are vehicles overtaking in the two adjacent lanes; if at least one of the two adjacent lanes does not have obstacles, vehicles, or vehicles that are overtaking, then the lane is determined to be the target lane and can be used for passing through; if there are obstacles, vehicles, or vehicles that are overtaking in both adjacent lanes, then it is determined that there is no target lane available for passing through in the adjacent lanes of the current road, and an exception handling strategy is generated for controlling the pilot vehicle to stop; at the same time, the road conditions of the adjacent lanes are monitored in real time, and when it is detected that the adjacent lanes are available for passing through, an exception handling strategy is generated for controlling the pilot vehicle to enter the target lane, and the exception handling strategy is promptly sent to the rear vehicle through the on-board communication system.

[0051] Step 103 , controlling the pilot vehicle to execute the abnormality handling strategy, and sending the road condition information of the abnormal road condition to each vehicle in the vehicle formation, so that each vehicle can handle the abnormal road condition based on the road condition information of the abnormal road condition.

[0052] Specifically, after generating an exception handling strategy for abnormal road conditions, the lead vehicle first executes the exception handling strategy and sends the road condition information of the abnormal road condition to each vehicle in the vehicle formation through the on-board communication system. The road condition information of the abnormal road condition includes: the location where the abnormal road condition occurs, the type of abnormal road condition and the exception handling strategy for the abnormal road condition; after receiving the exception handling strategy sent by the lead vehicle, each subsequent following vehicle can obtain the specific road condition information of the abnormal road condition in advance. Under normal circumstances, the loads and models of the vehicles in the vehicle formation are similar, so the subsequent following vehicles can directly adopt the exception handling strategy of the lead vehicle when driving to abnormal road conditions; for some following vehicles with special circumstances, it is necessary to combine their own vehicle information (for example, whether the vehicle suspension is adjustable, whether the vehicle load is too high and the chassis is lower than the lead vehicle, and whether it is passable) to generate handling measures for the abnormal road condition and adaptively take corresponding handling measures.

[0053] After exiting the section with abnormal road conditions, each following vehicle can integrate the processing status and effects of the abnormal road conditions into feedback information and send it to the leading vehicle. After receiving the feedback information sent by each vehicle in the vehicle formation after handling the abnormal road conditions, the leading vehicle can optimize the leading vehicle's processing strategy for abnormal road conditions based on the feedback information. For example, if some vehicles are too heavily loaded and are not suitable for passing through a section with too bumps and potholes, the next time the leading vehicle encounters such abnormal road conditions, it will give priority to the avoidance processing strategy; thus, the leading vehicle can optimize the abnormal road condition processing strategy for the entire vehicle formation, thereby improving the driving safety and comfort of the entire vehicle formation.

[0054] In this embodiment, during the driving of the vehicle formation, the leading vehicle will collect road condition data of the road in real time, and detect whether the road condition data indicates that the road has an abnormal road condition. When it is detected that the current road condition data indicates that the road has an abnormal road condition, an abnormal processing strategy for the abnormal road condition is generated; the leading vehicle is controlled to execute the abnormal processing strategy, and the road condition information of the abnormal road condition is sent to each vehicle in the vehicle formation, so that each vehicle can process the abnormal road condition based on the road condition information of the abnormal road condition; thereby, the leading vehicle will first process the abnormal road condition, and send the road condition information of the abnormal road condition to the following vehicle at the rear, and the following vehicle at the rear can be informed of the abnormal road condition ahead in advance, and can have sufficient time to give a corresponding processing strategy; thereby, the vehicle formation can effectively cope with complex road conditions and further improve the continuity, stability and safety of the vehicle formation during driving.

[0055] A second embodiment of the present invention relates to a vehicle platoon driving system, comprising: a plurality of vehicles communicating with each other, and a central processing unit, wherein the plurality of vehicles are arranged and driven in sequence to form a vehicle platoon.

[0056] The lead vehicle of the vehicle formation is used to execute the vehicle travel control method in the first embodiment.

[0057] Each vehicle in the vehicle formation except the pilot vehicle is used to process the abnormal road condition based on the road condition information of the abnormal road condition sent by the pilot vehicle.

[0058] Since the first embodiment corresponds to this embodiment, this embodiment can be implemented in conjunction with the first embodiment. The relevant technical details mentioned in the first embodiment are still valid in this embodiment, and the technical effects that can be achieved in the first embodiment can also be achieved in this embodiment. In order to reduce repetition, they are not repeated here. Accordingly, the relevant technical details mentioned in this embodiment can also be applied in the first embodiment.

[0059] The third embodiment of the present invention relates to a computer-readable storage medium, which is a non-volatile storage medium or a non-transient storage medium, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the vehicle driving control method in the first embodiment are executed.

[0060] Preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail, but it should be understood that aspects of the embodiments can be modified, if necessary, to employ aspects, features and concepts of the various patents, applications and publications to provide further embodiments.

[0061] These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above detailed description.In general, in the claims, the terms used should not be considered limited to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which these claims are entitled.

Claims

1. A vehicle driving control method, characterized in that: A method for a pilot vehicle in a vehicle formation, wherein a plurality of vehicles in the vehicle formation are arranged and travel in sequence; the method comprising: Collecting road condition data during driving, and detecting whether the road condition data indicates abnormal road conditions; When detecting that the current road condition data indicates that an abnormal road condition occurs on the road, generating an abnormality handling strategy for the abnormal road condition; The pilot vehicle is controlled to execute the abnormality handling strategy, and the road condition information of the abnormal road condition is sent to each vehicle in the vehicle formation, so that each vehicle can handle the abnormal road condition based on the road condition information of the abnormal road condition.

2. The vehicle driving control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Detecting whether the road condition data indicates that an abnormal road condition occurs includes: Based on the collected images and / or point cloud data of the road, determine whether there are abnormal road conditions such as potholes, bumps or obstacles on the roadbed surface of the road.

3. The vehicle driving control method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: Generate an exception handling strategy for the abnormal road condition, including: Determining whether the abnormal road condition is an abnormal road condition that needs to be avoided based on the road condition data; If the abnormal road condition is an abnormal road condition that does not need to be avoided, generating an abnormal handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to decelerate or adjust the suspension; If the abnormal road condition is an abnormal road condition that needs to be avoided, an abnormality handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to avoid the abnormal road condition is generated.

4. The vehicle driving control method according to claim 3, characterized in that: Generating an abnormality handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to avoid abnormal road conditions, including: Determine whether there is a target lane available for driving in the adjacent lanes of the current road; If there is a target lane available for borrowing among the adjacent lanes of the current road, an exception handling strategy for controlling the pilot vehicle to enter the target lane is generated.

5. The vehicle driving control method according to claim 3, characterized in that: Determine whether there is a target lane available for driving in the adjacent lanes of the current road, including: Determine whether there are vehicles or obstacles in two lanes adjacent to the current vehicle according to the road condition data; If there is no vehicle or obstacle in at least one of the two lanes adjacent to the current vehicle, it is determined that there is a target lane available for borrowing in the lanes adjacent to the current road; If there are vehicles or obstacles in both lanes adjacent to the current vehicle, it is determined that there is no target lane available for borrowing in the lanes adjacent to the current road.

6. The vehicle driving control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The road condition information of the abnormal road condition includes: the location where the abnormal road condition occurs, the type of the abnormal road condition, and the abnormality handling strategy for the abnormal road condition.

7. The vehicle driving control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The pilot vehicle is equipped with a camera for collecting images in front of the vehicle and a radar sensor for collecting point cloud data in front of the vehicle; The road condition data includes road images and road point cloud data.

8. The vehicle driving control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method further includes: receiving feedback information sent by each vehicle in the vehicle formation after processing the abnormal road condition, and optimizing the processing strategy of the lead vehicle for the abnormal road condition based on the feedback information.

9. A vehicle platoon driving system, characterized in that: include: A plurality of vehicles communicating with each other, wherein the plurality of vehicles are arranged and travel in sequence to form a vehicle formation; The leading vehicle of the vehicle formation is used to execute the vehicle driving control method according to any one of claims 1 to 8; Each vehicle in the vehicle formation except the pilot vehicle is used to process the abnormal road condition based on the road condition information of the abnormal road condition sent by the pilot vehicle.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is a non-volatile storage medium or a non-transient storage medium, and a computer program is stored thereon, wherein: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the vehicle driving control method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8 are executed.

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