AUTONOMOUS DRIVING METHOD AND ROAD CONDITIONS DETECTION SYSTEM AND VEHICLE

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of autonomous driving of automobiles, and particularly to an autonomous driving method and system capable of recognizing road conditions, and a vehicle.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] A current autonomous driving control system mainly performs longitudinal control for traffic participants, such as front vehicles and pedestrians, and obstacles with collision risks, but some objects, such as short road surface obstacles (such as speed bumps and pits) without collision risks and bumpy road surfaces, are not within the longitudinal control scope of the current autonomous driving, and when an autonomous driving system drives over the obstacles at a high speed, since the system does not perform control for the obstacles, the vehicle may bump greatly, thus influencing comfort of passengers and possibly causing faults, such as aggravated abrasion of tires and a suspension. The following prior art is acknowledged: WU JIAN ET AL: "Ride Comfort Optimization via Speed Planning and Preview Semi-Active Suspension Control for Autonomous Vehicles on Uneven Roads", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, IEEE, USA, vol. 69, no. 8, 22 May 2020 (2020-05-22), pages 8343-8355, XP011804349, ISSN: 0018-9545, DOI: 10.1109 / TVT.2020.2996681 [retrieved on 2020-08-13]BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0003] An object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous driving method capable of recognizing road conditions which is used for calculating a road surface condition in front of a vehicle and controlling the vehicle to pass through a front region at a most appropriate speed, according to the appended claims.

[0004] A further object of the present invention is to improve comfort of an autonomous driving vehicle when the vehicle passes through the above-mentioned road surface and obstacles.

[0005] Another object of the present invention is to reduce vehicle use faults caused by road surface irregularity.

[0006] Particularly, the present invention provides an autonomous driving method capable of recognizing road conditions, including: dividing a road surface in front of a vehicle into regions, and performing gridding subdivision on the regions; calculating road surface unevenness in gridding-subdivided grid units in each of the regions; determining road surface unevenness of each region according to an influence weight of the region, an average height variance in the region, and the road surface unevenness of all grid units corresponding to the region, the influence weight being determined according to a distance between the region and the vehicle; determining a vehicle speed corresponding to the road surface unevenness of each region according to the road surface unevenness of the region; and controlling the vehicle to pass through the road surface of the corresponding regions in front of the vehicle at the corresponding vehicle speeds.

[0007] Preferably, the calculating road surface unevenness in gridding-subdivided grid units in each of the regions includes: acquiring a maximum levelness value h jmax and a minimum levelness value h jmin in a jth grid unit of a certain region, the maximum levelness value h jmax being a largest height difference between a convex road surface in the jth grid unit and a horizontal plane, and the minimum levelness value h jmin being a largest height difference between a concave road surface in the jth grid unit and the horizontal plane; determining the influence weight k j of the jth grid unit according to a position relationship between the jth grid unit and the vehicle; and calculating the road surface unevenness M j in the jth grid unit of the region according to M j = k j h jmax + h jmin .

[0008] Preferably, in the step of determining road surface unevenness of each region according to an influence weight, an average height variance in the region, and the road surface unevenness of all grid units corresponding to the region, the influence weight being determined according to a distance between the region and the vehicle, the road surface unevenness y n of an nth region is calculated according to the following formula: y n = ∑ i = 1 j M j + k n ∗ v wherein parameter k n represents the influence weight of the nth region, and parameter V represents the average height variance of the nth region.

[0009] Preferably, the determining a vehicle speed corresponding to the road surface unevenness of each region according to the road surface unevenness of the region includes: determining an unevenness grade of each region according to the road surface unevenness of the region; and inquiring a mapping relationship table for representing the unevenness grade of each region and the vehicle speed at which the vehicle is about to drive according to the unevenness grade of each region, and determining the corresponding vehicle speed when the vehicle passes through each region.

[0010] Preferably, the higher the unevenness grade, the more uneven the road surface in front of the vehicle, and the lower the speed of passing the grade.

[0011] The present invention discloses an autonomous driving system capable of recognizing road conditions, including: a detection module, a data processing module and a vehicle control module, wherein the data processing module is configured to process data sent by the detection module and send a data processing result to the vehicle control module, and the vehicle control module is configured to implement the above-mentioned autonomous driving method capable of recognizing road conditions.

[0012] Preferably, the detection module includes an out-of-vehicle detection module and an in-vehicle detection module, the out-of-vehicle detection module is configured to acquire a maximum levelness value h jmax and a minimum levelness value h jmin in a jth grid unit in a certain region, and the in-vehicle detection module is configured to acquire information of a driver and passengers of a vehicle for optimizing influence weights k j and k n .

[0013] The present invention further discloses a vehicle including the above-mentioned autonomous driving system. capable of recognizing road conditions

[0014] In the present invention, a road in front of the vehicle is divided into regions, gridding subdivision is then performed on each region, and the road surface unevenness of each grid is calculated, such that road surface unevenness information in the region is obtained, thereby controlling the vehicle to pass through the front region at a most appropriate speed.

[0015] Further, in the present invention, the unevenness of different regions is graded, and the passing speed most suitable for the grade is specified, thereby improving the comfort of the driving vehicle when the vehicle passes through the road surface and the obstacles.

[0016] As a further object of the present invention, by planning the passing speeds in different regions, the action of scratching a chassis when the vehicle runs on different road surfaces is prevented, thereby reducing the vehicle use faults caused by the uneven road surfaces.

[0017] According to the following detailed description of specific embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with drawings, those skilled in the art will better understand the aforementioned and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Some specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail in an exemplary rather than restrictive manner with reference to the drawings. Identical reference numerals in the drawings represent identical or similar components or parts. Those skilled in the art should understand that these drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a control flow chart of an autonomous driving method according to an embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of division of regions in front of a vehicle in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Fig. 1 is a control flow chart of an autonomous driving method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment, as shown in Fig. 1, an autonomous driving method capable of recognizing road conditions mainly includes: S1: dividing a road surface in front of a vehicle into fixed regions, so as to divide the road surface ahead into n large regions in an equidistant dividing mode; S2: further performing gridding subdivision on each large region, so as to divide each large region into j gridded square regions in an equidistant mode; S3: collecting road surface unevenness data in each small grid by a vehicle detection module, and performing calculation on the collected data to obtain unevenness information of the grid; S4: determining an influence weight of each grid according to a position relationship between each grid and the vehicle, thereby calculating unevenness information of all grids in the large region; S5: determining an influence weight of the large region according to a distance between the large region and the vehicle, thereby determining road surface unevenness information of the large region according to an average height variance in the region and the road surface unevenness of all grid units corresponding to the region; S6: determining a vehicle speed corresponding to the road surface unevenness of each large region according to the road surface unevenness information of the region; and S7: controlling the vehicle to pass through the road surface of the corresponding regions in front of the vehicle at the corresponding vehicle speeds.

[0020] Further, a maximum levelness value h jmax and a minimum levelness value h jmin in a jth grid unit in a target large region are acquired, the maximum levelness value h jmax being a largest height difference between a convex road surface in the jth grid unit and a horizontal plane, and the minimum levelness value h jmin being a largest height difference between a concave road surface in the jth grid unit and the horizontal plane; the influence weight k j of the jth grid unit is determined according to a position relationship between the jth grid unit and the vehicle; and the road surface unevenness M j in the jth grid unit of the region is calculated according to M j = k j (|h jmax | + |h jmin |).

[0021] Unevenness values M j of all grids in the region are calculated, the influence weight k n of the region in the region is determined according to the distance between the region and the vehicle, and the average height variance V in the region is determined, the unevenness information y n of the region is further calculated according to y n = ∑ i = 1 j M j + k n ∗ v , a passing vehicle speed value corresponding to the region y n is further inquired through a mapping relationship table of an unevenness grade of each region and the vehicle speed at which the vehicle is about to drive according to the unevenness information y n of each large region, the vehicle speed value is fed back to an execution mechanism, and the execution mechanism controls the vehicle to pass through the region at a target vehicle speed.

[0022] In the present embodiment, a road in front of the vehicle is divided into regions, gridding subdivision is then performed on each region, and the road surface unevenness of each grid is calculated, such that the road surface unevenness information in the region is obtained, thereby controlling the vehicle to pass through the front region at a most appropriate speed, and further improving comfort of the driving vehicle when the vehicle passes through the road surface and obstacles; the action of scratching a chassis when the vehicle runs on different road surfaces is prevented, thereby reducing vehicle use faults caused by the uneven road surfaces.

[0023] In one embodiment, the higher the unevenness grade of the vehicle, the more uneven the road surface in front of the vehicle, and the lower the vehicle speed at which the vehicle passes through the region; meanwhile, the passing speed of the vehicle is also related to information of a driver and passengers in the vehicle, and when an in-vehicle detector detects that there are the elder, children or pregnant women in the vehicle, the influence weights k j and k n in the vehicle calculation can be subjected to data optimization according to relevant proportions, such that the driver and passengers have better driving and taking experience.

[0024] The present invention discloses an autonomous driving system capable of recognizing road conditions, including a detection module, a data processing module and a vehicle control module, wherein the detection module is configured to collect information of a driver and passengers in a vehicle and road conditions outside the vehicle, i.e., bulges and pits of a road in front of the vehicle and a distance between a road section and the vehicle, and transmit the collected data to the data processing module, the data processing module performs calculation on the transmitted data according to the above-mentioned calculation method and sends a final result to the vehicle control module, and the vehicle control module controls the vehicle to pass through a target region at a preset vehicle speed after receiving the data.

[0025] The detection module includes an in-vehicle detection module and an out-of-vehicle detection module, the out-of-vehicle detection module is configured to detect information of the road in front of the vehicle, and the in-vehicle detection module is configured to detect information of a driver and passengers in the vehicle, judge whether the driver and passengers in the vehicle include the elder, children or pregnant women, and then judge whether influence weights k j and k n of the vehicle are required to be subjected to data optimization.

[0026] The present invention further discloses a vehicle including the above-mentioned autonomous driving system capable of recognizing road conditions.

[0027] So far, those skilled in the art should be aware that, although plural exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein in detail, a lot of other variations or modifications conforming to the principle of the present invention can still be directly determined or derived from the contents disclosed in the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be understood and deemed as covering all of these other variations or modifications, within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An autonomous driving method capable of recognizing road conditions, comprising: dividing a road surface in front of a vehicle into regions, and performing gridding subdivision on the regions; calculating road surface unevenness in gridding-subdivided grid units in each of the regions; determining road surface unevenness of each region using an influence weight of the region, an average height variance in the region, and the road surface unevenness of all grid units corresponding to the region, the influence weight being determined using a distance between the region and the vehicle; determining a vehicle speed corresponding to the road surface unevenness of each region using the road surface unevenness of the region; and controlling the vehicle to pass through the road surface of the corresponding regions in front of the vehicle at the corresponding vehicle speeds.

2. The autonomous driving method according to claim 1, wherein the calculating road surface unevenness in gridding-subdivided grid units in each of the regions comprises: acquiring a maximum levelness value hjmax and a minimum levelness value hjmin in a jth grid unit of a certain region, the maximum levelness value hjmax being a largest height difference between a convex road surface in the jth grid unit and a horizontal plane, and the minimum levelness value hjmin being a largest height difference between a concave road surface in the jth grid unit and the horizontal plane; determining the influence weight kj of the jth grid unit using a position relationship between the jth grid unit and the vehicle; and calculating the road surface unevenness Mj in the jth grid unit of the region using Mj = kj(|hjmax| + |hjmin|).

3. The autonomous driving method according to claim 2, wherein in the step of determining road surface unevenness of each region using an influence weight, an average height variance in the region, and the road surface unevenness of all grid units corresponding to the region, the influence weight being determined using a distance between the region and the vehicle, the road surface unevenness yn of an nth region is calculated using the following formula: y n = ∑ i = 1 j M j + k n ∗ v wherein parameter kn represents the influence weight of the nth region, and parameter V represents the average height variance of the nth region.

4. The autonomous driving method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the determining a vehicle speed corresponding to the road surface unevenness of each region using the road surface unevenness of the region comprises: determining an unevenness grade of each region using the road surface unevenness of the region; and inquiring a mapping relationship table for representing the unevenness grade of each region and the vehicle speed at which the vehicle is about to drive using the unevenness grade of each region, and determining the corresponding vehicle speed when the vehicle passes through each region.

5. The autonomous driving method according to claim 4, wherein the higher the unevenness grade, the more uneven the road surface in front of the vehicle, and the lower the speed of passing the region of the grade.

6. An autonomous driving system capable of recognizing road conditions, comprising: a detection module, a data processing module and a vehicle control module, wherein the data processing module is configured to process data sent by the detection module and send a data processing result to the vehicle control module, and the vehicle control module is configured to implement the autonomous driving method capable of recognizing road conditions according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. The autonomous driving system according to claim 6, wherein the detection module comprises an out-of-vehicle detection module and an in-vehicle detection module, the out-of-vehicle detection module is configured to acquire a maximum levelness value hjmax and a minimum levelness value hjmin in a jth grid unit in a certain region, and the in-vehicle detection module is configured to acquire information of a driver and passengers of a vehicle for optimizing influence weights kj and kn.

8. A vehicle comprising the autonomous driving system capable of recognizing road conditions according to claim 6 or 7.