Vehicle formation method and device, electronic equipment and storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a vehicle formation method and device, electronic equipment and a storage medium, and belongs to the technical field of automatic driving. The method comprises the following steps: confirming a target vehicle from an original motorcade based on a current task state; obtaining the original position information of each target vehicle, and constructing a vehicle initial formation based on the original position information; determining a target head vehicle and a target vehicle based on the original position information; determining a target following relationship between the target head vehicle and the target following vehicle according to the original position information; performing path planning on each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to the formation instruction to obtain a target vehicle planning path, and controlling multiple target vehicles to form a target formation based on the target vehicle planning path; and when the initial formation of the vehicles forms a target formation, performing path planning for the target head vehicle, and controlling each target vehicle to follow based on the multiple pairs of target following relationships so as to maintain the target formation. The embodiment of the invention can improve the maneuverability of the vehicle formation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of autonomous driving technology, and in particular to a vehicle platooning method and apparatus, electronic equipment, and storage medium. Background Art

[0002] During platooning, in addition to dealing with conventional issues such as obstacle avoidance, vehicle following, and path planning, it is also necessary to ensure close coordination between vehicles within the platoon, including but not limited to maintaining consistent formation, matching driving speeds, and coordinated control of driving paths.

[0003] Currently, mainstream platooning solutions primarily employ a leader vehicle's control mechanism over follower vehicles. Under this mechanism, the platoon is clearly divided into a leader vehicle and follower vehicles, with the leader vehicle capable of independent driving and the follower vehicles adapting to the leader vehicle's movements. However, in practical applications, this leader vehicle's control mechanism over follower vehicles only supports the basic coordinated mode of column-following and is unable to accomplish more complex platooning tasks, thus limiting the platoon's maneuverability.

[0004] Therefore, how to improve the maneuverability of vehicle formations has become a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The main purpose of the embodiments of the present application is to propose a vehicle platooning method and device, an electronic device, and a storage medium, aiming to improve the maneuverability of vehicle platoons.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, a first aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a vehicle platooning method, the method comprising:

[0007] Obtaining the current mission status of each original vehicle in the original fleet, and identifying a target vehicle from the original fleet based on the current mission status; wherein the target vehicle is the original vehicle whose current mission status is no platooning mission;

[0008] Obtaining original position information of each target vehicle, and constructing an initial vehicle formation based on the original position information;

[0009] Determine the lead vehicle of the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information to obtain a target lead vehicle;

[0010] Determine the following vehicle based on the target lead vehicle and the initial vehicle formation to obtain a target following vehicle;

[0011] Determine the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and the target follower vehicle according to the original position information to obtain a target following relationship;

[0012] Performing path planning for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to a pre-acquired formation instruction to obtain a target vehicle planned path, and controlling a plurality of target vehicles to form a target formation based on the target vehicle planned path; wherein the formation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to form the target formation;

[0013] When the initial formation of the vehicles forms the target formation, path planning is performed for the target lead vehicle, and each of the target follower vehicles is controlled to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the target formation.

[0014] In some embodiments, determining the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and the target follower vehicle based on the original position information to obtain the target following relationship includes:

[0015] Determine the target following vehicle adjacent to the target lead vehicle according to the original position information to obtain a candidate following vehicle;

[0016] Screening the target accompanying vehicle based on the candidate accompanying vehicle to obtain an alternative accompanying vehicle;

[0017] The following relationship between the target lead vehicle and each of the candidate following vehicles is determined, and the following relationship between the candidate following vehicles and the candidate following vehicles is determined to obtain the target following relationship.

[0018] In some embodiments, performing path planning for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to the pre-acquired formation instruction to obtain a planned path for the target vehicle includes:

[0019] Parsing the formation instruction to obtain the target formation;

[0020] Determining a formation position of each of the target vehicles based on the target formation;

[0021] Get real-time traffic information;

[0022] Path planning is performed based on the formation position and the real-time road condition information to obtain the planned path of the target vehicle.

[0023] In some embodiments, the target following relationship includes multiple pairs of basic following relationships; and controlling each target to follow the vehicle based on the multiple pairs of target following relationships includes:

[0024] Determining a following slave vehicle and a following master vehicle according to the basic following relationship;

[0025] Obtaining the current direction angle of the following slave vehicle relative to the following master vehicle;

[0026] determining a target direction angle according to the target formation;

[0027] Performing a deviation calculation on the current direction angle based on the target direction angle to obtain a target following deviation;

[0028] The following slave vehicle is controlled to follow the target master vehicle based on the target following deviation.

[0029] In some embodiments, before obtaining the current direction angle of the following slave vehicle relative to the following master vehicle, the method further includes:

[0030] Obtaining a current following distance of the following slave vehicle relative to the following master vehicle;

[0031] If the current following distance exceeds a preset master-slave following distance threshold, the following slave vehicle is controlled to perform path planning to restore the target formation.

[0032] In some embodiments, determining the lead vehicle of the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information to obtain a target lead vehicle includes:

[0033] Performing position statistics on the original position information to obtain vehicle distribution information;

[0034] A middle vehicle is determined from the initial vehicle formation based on the vehicle distribution information, and the middle vehicle is used as the target lead vehicle.

[0035] In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0036] Receive formation change instructions,

[0037] performing path planning for each of the target vehicles in the initial vehicle formation according to the formation transformation instruction to obtain a transformed vehicle planned path, and controlling a plurality of the target vehicles to form a transformed formation based on the transformed vehicle planned paths; wherein the formation transformation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to switch from the target formation to the transformed formation;

[0038] When the initial formation of the vehicles forms the transformed formation, path planning is performed for the target lead vehicle, and each target follower vehicle is controlled to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the transformed formation.

[0039] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, a second aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a vehicle platooning device, the device comprising:

[0040] a target vehicle determination module, configured to obtain the current mission status of each original vehicle in the original fleet and determine a target vehicle from the original fleet based on the current mission status; wherein the target vehicle is the original vehicle whose current mission status is no platooning mission;

[0041] A position information acquisition module, configured to acquire original position information of each target vehicle and construct an initial vehicle formation based on the original position information;

[0042] a target lead vehicle determination module, configured to determine the lead vehicle of the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information to obtain a target lead vehicle;

[0043] A target accompanying vehicle determination module is used to determine an accompanying vehicle based on the target lead vehicle and the initial vehicle formation to obtain a target accompanying vehicle;

[0044] A following relationship determination module is used to determine the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and the target following vehicle according to the original position information to obtain a target following relationship;

[0045] a formation planning module, configured to plan a path for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to a pre-acquired formation instruction, obtain a target vehicle planned path, and control a plurality of target vehicles to form a target formation based on the target vehicle planned path; wherein the formation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to form the target formation;

[0046] The formation maintaining module is used to plan a path for the target lead vehicle when the vehicles are initially formed into the target formation, and to control each target follower vehicle to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the target formation.

[0047] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the third aspect of an embodiment of the present application proposes an electronic device, which includes a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor implements the method described in the first aspect when executing the computer program.

[0048] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application proposes a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the method described in the first aspect.

[0049] The vehicle formation method and device, electronic device and storage medium proposed in the present application identify vehicles without formation tasks as target vehicles based on the current task status of each original vehicle in the original vehicle fleet, and construct an initial vehicle formation; identify the target lead vehicle, target following vehicle and the following relationship between every two vehicles from the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information of each target vehicle; adopt path planning to make all target vehicles form a target formation formation when the vehicle formation is formed; after the target formation formation is formed, the vehicle formation can be maintained based on the following relationship between every two vehicles, and the coupling degree between vehicles is low, which can improve the maneuverability and flexibility of the vehicle formation and complete more complex formation tasks. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] Figure 1 is a flow chart of a vehicle platooning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Flowchart of step S103 in FIG.

[0052] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 Flowchart of step S105 in FIG.

[0053] Figure 4 is a flow chart of a vehicle platooning method provided by another embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Figure 5 is a flow chart of a vehicle platooning method provided by another embodiment of the present application;

[0055] Figure 6 is a flow chart of a vehicle platooning method provided by another embodiment of the present application;

[0056] Figure 7 is a flow chart of a vehicle platooning method provided by another embodiment of the present application;

[0057] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of a scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of a vehicle formation provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] Figure 10 is another schematic diagram of a vehicle formation provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Figure 11 is a structural diagram of a vehicle platooning device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of the electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0062] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of this application more clear, the following further describes this application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain this application and are not intended to limit this application.

[0063] It should be noted that although the device schematics illustrate functional module divisions and the flowcharts illustrate logical sequences, in certain circumstances, the steps shown or described may be performed in a sequence that differs from the module divisions in the device or the sequence in the flowcharts. The terms "first," "second," and so on, in the specification, claims, and drawings, are used to distinguish similar items and are not necessarily used to describe a specific sequence or precedence.

[0064] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this application pertains. The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing the embodiments of this application only and are not intended to limit this application.

[0065] First, let’s analyze some of the terms used in this application:

[0066] Vehicle platooning is a traffic control technology that uses communication, positioning, and algorithmic control technologies to tightly arrange multiple vehicles into a pre-defined, coordinated driving formation. In platooning, the distance between vehicles is precisely controlled, and they maintain coordination through wireless communication, enabling a range of platooning behaviors, such as formation, maintenance, contraction, and expansion. With the continuous development of autonomous driving technology and intelligent transportation systems, platooning technology is expected to play an even more important role in future transportation.

[0067] During platooning, in addition to dealing with conventional issues such as obstacle avoidance, vehicle following, and path planning, it is also necessary to ensure close coordination between vehicles within the platoon, including but not limited to maintaining consistent formation, matching driving speeds, and coordinated control of driving paths.

[0068] Currently, mainstream platooning solutions primarily utilize a lead vehicle controlling follower vehicles. Under this mechanism, the platoon is clearly divided into a lead vehicle and follower vehicles, with the lead vehicle capable of independent driving, while the follower vehicles replicate and adjust based on the lead vehicle's movements. However, in practical applications, this lead vehicle-to-follower vehicle control mechanism can only support basic coordinated column-following modes and is unable to accomplish more complex platooning tasks, such as in-line, herringbone, V-shaped, containment, and column formations. This limits the platoon's maneuverability.

[0069] Based on this, embodiments of the present application provide a vehicle platooning method and apparatus, an electronic device, and a storage medium, aiming to improve the maneuverability of vehicle platoons.

[0070] The vehicle platooning method and apparatus, electronic device, and storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application are specifically described through the following embodiments. First, the vehicle platooning method in the embodiments of the present application is described.

[0071] It should be noted that in each specific embodiment of the present application, when it comes to the need to perform relevant processing based on data related to the user's identity or characteristics, such as user information, user behavior data, user historical data, and user location information, the user's permission or consent will be obtained first, and the collection, use, and processing of such data will comply with relevant laws, regulations, and standards. In addition, when the embodiment of the present application needs to obtain the user's sensitive personal information, the user's separate permission or consent will be obtained through a pop-up window or by jumping to a confirmation page. After clearly obtaining the user's separate permission or consent, the necessary user-related data for the normal operation of the embodiment of the present application will be obtained.

[0072] Figure 1 This is an optional flowchart of the vehicle platooning method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 The method may include but is not limited to steps S101 to S107.

[0073] Step S101, obtaining the current mission status of each original vehicle in the original fleet, and identifying a target vehicle from the original fleet based on the current mission status; wherein the target vehicle is an original vehicle whose current mission status is no platooning mission;

[0074] Step S102, obtaining the original position information of each target vehicle, and constructing an initial vehicle formation based on the original position information;

[0075] Step S103, determining the lead vehicle of the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information to obtain the target lead vehicle;

[0076] Step S104, determining the following vehicle based on the target lead vehicle and the initial vehicle formation to obtain the target following vehicle;

[0077] Step S105, determining the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and the target follower vehicle based on the original position information to obtain a target following relationship;

[0078] Step S106, performing path planning for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to the pre-acquired formation instruction, obtaining a target vehicle planned path, and controlling multiple target vehicles to form a target formation based on the target vehicle planned path; wherein the formation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to form the target formation;

[0079] In step S107 , when the initial vehicle formation forms a target formation, a path planning is performed for the target lead vehicle, and each target follower vehicle is controlled to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the target formation.

[0080] In steps S101 to S107 illustrated in the embodiment of the present application, vehicles without formation tasks are identified as target vehicles based on the current task status of each original vehicle in the original vehicle fleet, and an initial vehicle formation is constructed; the target lead vehicle, target following vehicle, and the following relationship between every two vehicles are identified from the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information of each target vehicle; path planning is used to enable all target vehicles to form a target formation formation when the vehicle formation is formed; after the target formation formation is formed, the vehicle formation can be maintained based on the following relationship between every two vehicles, and the coupling degree between vehicles is low, which can improve the maneuverability and flexibility of the vehicle formation and complete more complex formation tasks.

[0081] It is understandable that after the target formation is formed, only the two vehicles with a following relationship in the initial formation are maintained, decoupling the strong correlation between the vehicles in the formation, but retaining the following relationship between the two vehicles, thereby maintaining the formation and reducing the consumption of computing resources.

[0082] In step S101 of some embodiments, the original fleet includes multiple original vehicles. Some of these original vehicles are currently performing other platooning tasks, i.e., their current task status is "in platooning tasks," while some of these original vehicles are idle, i.e., their current task status is "out of platooning tasks." Therefore, based on the current task status of each original vehicle, original vehicles with a current task status of "out of platooning" are selected from the original fleet as target vehicles.

[0083] In step S102 of some embodiments, original position information can be obtained through a positioning system provided on each target vehicle, which facilitates more accurate formation control.

[0084] Specifically, target vehicles with similar positions may be screened based on the original position information to construct an initial vehicle formation; or all target vehicles may be used to construct the initial vehicle formation.

[0085] See also Figure 2 In some embodiments, step S103 may include but is not limited to steps S201 to S202:

[0086] Step S201, performing position statistics on the original position information to obtain vehicle distribution information;

[0087] Step S202: determine the middle vehicle from the initial vehicle formation based on the vehicle distribution information, and use the middle vehicle as the target lead vehicle.

[0088] In steps S201 to S202 shown in the embodiment of the present application, vehicle distribution information is obtained by performing azimuth statistics on the original position information; the middle vehicle is determined from the initial vehicle formation based on the vehicle distribution information, and the middle vehicle is used as the target head vehicle. This can reduce the formation disorder and communication delay problems that may be caused by the front or rear position of the head vehicle, improve the stability and maneuverability of the formation, and help to form a formation more quickly.

[0089] It should be noted that there is only one target lead vehicle. Selecting the middle vehicle as the target lead vehicle can, on the one hand, reduce the formation disruption and communication delays that may arise from the lead vehicle being positioned too far forward or too far back, thereby improving the formation's stability and maneuverability and facilitating faster formation formation. On the other hand, once the formation is formed, the target lead vehicle is positioned in the middle, allowing vehicles to maintain the formation to the left, right, and rear based on their following relationship with the target lead vehicle.

[0090] It should be noted that in the initial vehicle formation, all vehicles except the target lead vehicle are target follower vehicles.

[0091] See also Figure 3 In some embodiments, step S105 may include but is not limited to steps S301 to S303:

[0092] Step S301, determining target following vehicles adjacent to the target lead vehicle based on the original position information to obtain candidate following vehicles;

[0093] Step S302, screening the target accompanying vehicle based on the candidate accompanying vehicles to obtain an alternative accompanying vehicle;

[0094] Step S303: determine the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and each candidate following vehicle, determine the following relationship between the candidate following vehicles and the candidate following vehicles, and obtain the target following relationship.

[0095] In steps S301 to S303 shown in the embodiment of the present application, a target following vehicle adjacent to the target lead vehicle is determined based on the original position information to obtain a candidate following vehicle; vehicles other than the candidate following vehicle are filtered out from the target following vehicles as alternative following vehicles; a following relationship between the target lead vehicle and each candidate following vehicle is determined, and a following relationship between the alternative following vehicle and the candidate following vehicle is determined to obtain a target following relationship.

[0096] It should be noted that the candidate following vehicle is the vehicle adjacent to the target leading vehicle among the target following vehicles, that is, it may be the vehicle to the left, left rear, right, right rear, or rear of the target leading vehicle.

[0097] These candidate following vehicles need to determine the following relationship with the target lead vehicle respectively;

[0098] The candidate following vehicles are vehicles other than the candidate following vehicles in the target following vehicle group, which are not adjacent to the target lead vehicle but are adjacent to the candidate following vehicles. Therefore, the following relationship of the candidate following vehicles needs to be determined with the adjacent candidate following vehicles.

[0099] It can be understood that the target following relationship includes multiple pairs of basic following relationships, which are all relationships between two vehicles, such as the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and any candidate following vehicle, and the following relationship between a candidate following vehicle and a candidate following vehicle.

[0100] See also Figure 4 In some embodiments, the step of "planning a path for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to the pre-acquired formation instruction to obtain a planned path for the target vehicle" in step S106 may include but is not limited to steps S401 to S404:

[0101] Step S401, parsing the formation instruction to obtain the target formation;

[0102] Step S402, determining the formation position of each target vehicle based on the target formation;

[0103] Step S403, obtaining real-time traffic information;

[0104] Step S404: Path planning is performed based on the formation position and real-time traffic information to obtain a planned path for the target vehicle.

[0105] In steps S401 to S404 shown in the embodiment of the present application, the target formation shape is determined by parsing the formation instruction, and then a formation position is assigned to each target vehicle according to the target formation shape. Then, real-time road condition information is obtained, and path planning is performed based on the formation position and real-time road condition information to obtain the planned path of the target vehicle. This can ensure that the initial formation of vehicles quickly forms the target formation shape, improve the efficiency and safety of formation driving, and reduce delays or potential risks caused by changes in road conditions.

[0106] In step S401 of some embodiments, the formation instruction is used to control the initial formation of vehicles to form a target formation, including the formation position of each vehicle in the formation.

[0107] Therefore, the formation position of each target vehicle can be determined according to the target formation formation.

[0108] In step S403 of some embodiments, traffic information can be obtained in real time through perception methods such as high-precision maps, lidar, and cameras to obtain real-time road condition information.

[0109] Therefore, path planning is performed based on the formation position and real-time road condition information to obtain the planned path for the target vehicle, which can help the target vehicle achieve driving operations such as obstacle avoidance, overtaking, and waiting for traffic lights.

[0110] It is understandable that each target vehicle has a corresponding target vehicle planning path. Therefore, each target vehicle can be controlled to travel based on the target vehicle planning path to quickly form a target formation.

[0111] It is understandable that after the initial formation of vehicles forms the target formation, if path planning is still used, a large amount of computing resources will be consumed, the computing consumption is not proportional to the benefits, and path planning anomalies may also occur.

[0112] Therefore, the embodiment of the present application proposes a solution that decouples the strong correlation between the vehicles in the formation, but retains the following relationship between the two vehicles. Only the target lead vehicle needs to perform path planning, and the remaining vehicles need to follow the vehicle. That is, each target following vehicle can be controlled to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the target formation formation.

[0113] See also Figure 5 In some embodiments, the step of "controlling each target to follow the vehicle based on multiple pairs of target following relationships" in step S107 may also include but is not limited to steps S501 to S505:

[0114] Step S501, determining a follower vehicle and a follower vehicle according to a basic following relationship;

[0115] Step S502, obtaining the current direction angle of the following vehicle relative to the following vehicle;

[0116] Step S503, determining the target direction angle according to the target formation;

[0117] Step S504, calculating a deviation of the current direction angle based on the target direction angle to obtain a target following deviation;

[0118] Step S505 : Controlling the following vehicle based on the target following deviation to achieve following the target main vehicle.

[0119] In steps S501 to S505 shown in the embodiment of the present application, by determining the following vehicle and the following main vehicle according to each basic following relationship, obtaining the current direction angle of the following vehicle relative to the following main vehicle, and determining the target direction angle according to the target formation, the deviation of the target direction angle from the current direction angle, i.e., the target following deviation, is calculated. Then, the following vehicle is controlled based on the target following deviation to follow the target main vehicle and maintain the target formation, thereby ensuring that the following vehicle can effectively and smoothly follow the target main vehicle, thereby improving the accuracy and stability of the vehicle formation driving.

[0120] See also Figure 6 In some embodiments, after step S501 and before step S502, the vehicle formation includes but is not limited to steps S601 to S602:

[0121] Step S601, obtaining the current following distance of the following vehicle relative to the following vehicle;

[0122] Step S602: If the current following distance exceeds a preset master-slave following distance threshold, the following slave vehicle is controlled to perform path planning to restore the target formation.

[0123] In steps S601 to S602 shown in the embodiment of the present application, the current following distance of the following vehicle relative to the following main vehicle is obtained, and the current following distance is compared with a preset master-slave following distance threshold. If the current following distance exceeds the preset master-slave following distance threshold, it indicates that the following vehicle has left the formation, and it is necessary to control the following vehicle to perform path planning to restore the target formation, which helps to ensure that the convoy maintains the predetermined formation and improves the overall driving safety and coordination.

[0124] It can be understood that if the following vehicle has not fallen behind, the current direction angle of the following vehicle relative to the following main vehicle is obtained, and the target direction angle is determined according to the target formation. The deviation of the current direction angle is calculated based on the target direction angle to obtain the target following deviation. The target following deviation is used to control the following vehicle to perform driving control to maintain the target formation.

[0125] In some embodiments, after the initial formation of vehicles forms a target formation, they can also perform operations such as obstacle avoidance and overtaking based on real-time road condition information to maintain the target formation.

[0126] Specifically, when operations such as obstacle avoidance and overtaking are required, path planning is required. The specific path planning method is basically the same as the specific implementation method of the above steps S401 to S404, and will not be repeated here.

[0127] In step S505 of some embodiments, driving control includes acceleration, deceleration, and direction control, so that the target formation can be maintained even on a road with a curve.

[0128] See also Figure 7 In some embodiments, after step S107, the vehicle platooning method may further include but is not limited to steps S701 to S703:

[0129] Step S701: receiving a formation change instruction.

[0130] Step S702: performing path planning for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to the formation transformation instruction to obtain a transformed vehicle planned path, and controlling multiple target vehicles to form a transformed formation based on the transformed vehicle planned paths; wherein the formation transformation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to switch from the target formation to the transformed formation;

[0131] In step S703, when the initial vehicle formation forms a transformed formation, a path is planned for the target lead vehicle, and each target follower vehicle is controlled to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the transformed formation.

[0132] In steps S701 to S703 shown in the embodiment of the present application, a path is planned for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to the received formation transformation instruction to obtain a transformed vehicle planned path, and multiple target vehicles are controlled to form a transformed formation formation based on the transformed vehicle planned path; wherein, the formation transformation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to switch from the target formation formation to the transformed formation formation; after the transformed formation formation is formed, the vehicle formation can be maintained according to the following relationship between each two vehicles, and the coupling degree between the vehicles is low, and the formation transformation can be completed quickly, thereby improving the maneuverability and flexibility of the vehicle formation and completing more complex formation tasks.

[0133] It should be noted that the formation change instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to switch from the target formation to the changed formation, for example, from a straight line to a V shape, or from a herringbone to a V shape, but is not limited thereto.

[0134] It is understandable that when the formation is transformed, each target vehicle needs to perform path planning to quickly form the transformed formation. When forming the transformed formation, only the two vehicles with a following relationship in the initial formation are maintained, and the strong correlation between the vehicles in the formation is decoupled, but the following relationship between the two vehicles is retained, thereby maintaining the formation and reducing the consumption of computing resources.

[0135] See also Figure 8 , Figure 8This is a scenario diagram provided in an embodiment of the present application, including an initial vehicle formation, which includes five target vehicles, namely vehicle 1, vehicle 2, vehicle 3, vehicle 4 and vehicle 5.

[0136] By determining the intermediate vehicles based on the original position of each target vehicle, vehicle 3 is the target lead vehicle, and vehicles 1, 2, 4, and 5 are the target follower vehicles;

[0137] Determine the target following vehicles adjacent to the target lead vehicle based on the original position information, and obtain candidate following vehicles, namely, vehicle 1 and vehicle 4;

[0138] Then, the target accompanying vehicle is screened to obtain the candidate accompanying vehicles, namely, vehicle 2 and vehicle 5;

[0139] Determine the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and each candidate follower vehicle, and determine the following relationship between the candidate follower vehicles and the candidate follower vehicles to obtain the target following relationship. The target following relationship includes multiple pairs of basic following relationships, namely: vehicle 3-vehicle 1, vehicle 3-vehicle 4, vehicle 1-vehicle 2, and vehicle 4-vehicle 5. Among them, the vehicle in front is the following main vehicle, and the vehicle in the back is the following follower vehicle. For example, vehicle 3 is the following main vehicle, and vehicle 1 is the following follower vehicle.

[0140] After receiving the formation command, the formation command is parsed and the target formation is obtained, which is a herringbone.

[0141] Determine the formation positions of five target vehicles based on the target formation and obtain real-time traffic information;

[0142] Path planning is performed based on the formation position and real-time road condition information to obtain the target vehicle's planned path, and multiple target vehicles are controlled to form a herringbone formation based on the target vehicle's planned path;

[0143] See also Figure 9 , Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of a vehicle formation provided by an embodiment of the present application, wherein the vehicle formation is a herringbone formation, vehicle 3 is the target lead vehicle, and after the herringbone formation is formed, only vehicle 3 is performing path planning, vehicle 1 follows vehicle 3 according to the basic following relationship, vehicle 4 follows vehicle 3 according to the basic following relationship, vehicle 2 follows vehicle 1 according to the basic following relationship, and vehicle 5 follows vehicle 4 according to the basic following relationship to maintain the target formation, i.e., a herringbone formation.

[0144] Further, receiving a formation change instruction, the formation change instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to switch from the target formation to the changed formation, and the changed formation is a straight line formation;

[0145] Determine the formation positions of five target vehicles based on the changed formation and obtain real-time traffic information;

[0146] Path planning is performed based on the formation position and real-time road condition information to obtain a transformed vehicle planned path, and multiple target vehicles are controlled to form a straight line based on the transformed vehicle planned path;

[0147] See also Figure 10 , Figure 10 This is another vehicle formation diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application, wherein the vehicle formation is in a straight line, vehicle 3 is the target lead vehicle, and after the straight line formation is formed, only vehicle 3 is performing path planning, vehicle 1 follows vehicle 3 according to the basic following relationship, vehicle 4 follows vehicle 3 according to the basic following relationship, vehicle 2 follows vehicle 1 according to the basic following relationship, and vehicle 5 follows vehicle 4 according to the basic following relationship to maintain the target formation, i.e., a herringbone.

[0148] See also Figure 11 The embodiment of the present application further provides a vehicle platooning device that can implement the above-mentioned vehicle platooning method, and the device includes:

[0149] The target vehicle determination module 1101 is configured to obtain the current mission status of each original vehicle in the original fleet and determine a target vehicle from the original fleet based on the current mission status; wherein the target vehicle is an original vehicle whose current mission status is no platooning mission;

[0150] A position information acquisition module 1102 is used to obtain the original position information of each target vehicle and construct an initial vehicle formation based on the original position information;

[0151] A target lead vehicle determination module 1103 is configured to determine the lead vehicle of the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information to obtain the target lead vehicle;

[0152] A target accompanying vehicle determination module 1104 is configured to determine an accompanying vehicle based on the target lead vehicle and the initial vehicle formation to obtain a target accompanying vehicle;

[0153] The following relationship determination module 1105 is used to determine the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and the target following vehicle according to the original position information to obtain the target following relationship;

[0154] The formation planning module 1106 is configured to plan a path for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to the pre-acquired formation instruction, obtain a planned path for the target vehicle, and control multiple target vehicles to form a target formation based on the planned path of the target vehicle; wherein the formation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to form the target formation;

[0155] The formation maintaining module 1107 is used to plan a path for the target lead vehicle when the vehicles are initially formed into a target formation, and to control each target follower vehicle to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the target formation.

[0156] The specific implementation of the vehicle platooning device is basically the same as the specific embodiment of the above-mentioned vehicle platooning method, and will not be repeated here.

[0157] The present application also provides an electronic device comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor executes the computer program to implement the vehicle platooning method. The electronic device can be any smart terminal, such as a tablet computer or an in-vehicle computer.

[0158] See also Figure 12 , Figure 12 The hardware structure of an electronic device according to another embodiment is shown. The electronic device includes:

[0159] The processor 1201 may be implemented using a general-purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits, and is configured to execute relevant programs to implement the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0160] The memory 1202 can be implemented in the form of a read-only memory (ROM), a static storage device, a dynamic storage device, or a random access memory (RAM). The memory 1202 can store an operating system and other application programs. When the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this specification are implemented through software or firmware, the relevant program code is stored in the memory 1202 and is called by the processor 1201 to execute the vehicle platooning method of the embodiments of this application.

[0161] Input / output interface 1203, used to implement information input and output;

[0162] Communication interface 1204, used to implement communication interaction between this device and other devices, which can be achieved through wired means (such as USB, network cable, etc.) or wireless means (such as mobile network, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.);

[0163] Bus 1205 , which transmits information between various components of the device (e.g., processor 1201 , memory 1202 , input / output interface 1203 , and communication interface 1204 );

[0164] The processor 1201 , the memory 1202 , the input / output interface 1203 and the communication interface 1204 are connected to each other in communication within the device via a bus 1205 .

[0165] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the above-mentioned vehicle platooning method is implemented.

[0166] The memory, as a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, can be used to store non-transient software programs and non-transient computer executable programs. In addition, the memory may include a high-speed random access memory and may also include a non-transient memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other non-transient solid-state storage device. In some embodiments, the memory may optionally include a memory remotely arranged relative to the processor, and these remote memories may be connected to the processor via a network. Examples of the above-mentioned network include, but are not limited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

[0167] The vehicle formation method and device, electronic device and storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application identify vehicles without formation tasks as target vehicles based on the current task status of each original vehicle in the original vehicle fleet, and construct an initial vehicle formation; identify the target lead vehicle, target following vehicle and the following relationship between every two vehicles from the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information of each target vehicle; adopt path planning to make all target vehicles form a target formation formation when the vehicle formation is formed; after the target formation formation is formed, the vehicle formation can be maintained based on the following relationship between every two vehicles, and the coupling degree between vehicles is low, which can improve the maneuverability and flexibility of the vehicle formation and complete more complex formation tasks.

[0168] The embodiments described in the embodiments of this application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that with the evolution of technology and the emergence of new application scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0169] Those skilled in the art will understand that the technical solutions shown in the figures do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments of the present application, and may include more or fewer steps than shown in the figures, or a combination of certain steps, or different steps.

[0170] The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, i.e., they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected based on actual needs to achieve the objectives of this embodiment.

[0171] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or some of the steps in the methods, systems, and functional modules / units in the devices disclosed above may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, or appropriate combinations thereof.

[0172] The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", etc. (if any) in the specification of the present application and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequential order. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0173] It should be understood that in this application, "at least one (item)" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And / or" is used to describe the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist at the same time, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0174] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the above-mentioned units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. The mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0175] The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0176] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit. The aforementioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units.

[0177] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including multiple instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods of various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk, and other media that can store programs.

[0178] The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and essence of the present invention should be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A vehicle platooning method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Obtaining the current mission status of each original vehicle in the original fleet, and identifying a target vehicle from the original fleet based on the current mission status; wherein the target vehicle is the original vehicle whose current mission status is no platooning mission; Obtaining original position information of each target vehicle, and constructing an initial vehicle formation based on the original position information; Determine the lead vehicle of the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information to obtain a target lead vehicle; Determine the following vehicle based on the target lead vehicle and the initial vehicle formation to obtain a target following vehicle; Determine the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and the target follower vehicle according to the original position information to obtain a target following relationship; Performing path planning for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to a pre-acquired formation instruction to obtain a target vehicle planned path, and controlling a plurality of target vehicles to form a target formation based on the target vehicle planned path; wherein the formation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to form the target formation; When the initial formation of the vehicles forms the target formation, path planning is performed for the target lead vehicle, and each of the target follower vehicles is controlled to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the target formation.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Determining the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and the target follower vehicle according to the original position information to obtain a target following relationship includes: Determine the target following vehicle adjacent to the target lead vehicle according to the original position information to obtain a candidate following vehicle; Screening the target accompanying vehicle based on the candidate accompanying vehicle to obtain an alternative accompanying vehicle; The following relationship between the target lead vehicle and each of the candidate following vehicles is determined, and the following relationship between the candidate following vehicles and the candidate following vehicles is determined to obtain the target following relationship.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The step of performing path planning for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to the pre-acquired formation instruction to obtain a planned path for the target vehicle includes: Parsing the formation instruction to obtain the target formation; Determining a formation position of each of the target vehicles based on the target formation; Get real-time traffic information; Path planning is performed based on the formation position and the real-time road condition information to obtain the planned path of the target vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The target following relationship includes multiple pairs of basic following relationships; and controlling each target to follow the vehicle based on the multiple pairs of target following relationships includes: Determining a following slave vehicle and a following master vehicle according to the basic following relationship; Obtaining the current direction angle of the following slave vehicle relative to the following master vehicle; determining a target direction angle according to the target formation; Performing a deviation calculation on the current direction angle based on the target direction angle to obtain a target following deviation; The following slave vehicle is controlled to follow the target master vehicle based on the target following deviation.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that Before obtaining the current direction angle of the following slave vehicle relative to the following master vehicle, the method further includes: Obtaining a current following distance of the following slave vehicle relative to the following master vehicle; If the current following distance exceeds a preset master-slave following distance threshold, the following slave vehicle is controlled to perform path planning to restore the target formation.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The step of determining a lead vehicle for the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information to obtain a target lead vehicle includes: Performing position statistics on the original position information to obtain vehicle distribution information; A middle vehicle is determined from the initial vehicle formation based on the vehicle distribution information, and the middle vehicle is used as the target lead vehicle.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive formation change instructions, performing path planning for each of the target vehicles in the initial vehicle formation according to the formation transformation instruction to obtain a transformed vehicle planned path, and controlling a plurality of the target vehicles to form a transformed formation based on the transformed vehicle planned paths; wherein the formation transformation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to switch from the target formation to the transformed formation; When the initial formation of the vehicles forms the transformed formation, path planning is performed for the target lead vehicle, and each target follower vehicle is controlled to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the transformed formation.

8. A vehicle formation device, characterized in that: The device comprises: a target vehicle determination module, configured to obtain the current mission status of each original vehicle in the original fleet and identify a target vehicle from the original fleet based on the current mission status; wherein the target vehicle is the original vehicle whose current mission status is no platooning mission; A position information acquisition module, configured to acquire original position information of each target vehicle and construct an initial vehicle formation based on the original position information; a target lead vehicle determination module, configured to determine the lead vehicle of the initial vehicle formation based on the original position information to obtain a target lead vehicle; A target accompanying vehicle determination module is used to determine an accompanying vehicle based on the target lead vehicle and the initial vehicle formation to obtain a target accompanying vehicle; A following relationship determination module is used to determine the following relationship between the target lead vehicle and the target following vehicle according to the original position information to obtain a target following relationship; a formation planning module, configured to plan a path for each target vehicle in the initial vehicle formation according to a pre-acquired formation instruction, obtain a target vehicle planned path, and control a plurality of target vehicles to form a target formation based on the target vehicle planned path; wherein the formation instruction is used to control the initial vehicle formation to form the target formation; The formation maintaining module is used to plan a path for the target lead vehicle when the vehicles are initially formed into the target formation, and to control each target follower vehicle to follow based on multiple pairs of target following relationships to maintain the target formation.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that: The electronic device includes a memory and a processor, the memory stores a computer program, and the processor implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 when executing the computer program.

10. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented.

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