Adaptive Lateral Vehicle Control Under Reduced Electronic Horizon

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing vehicle control systems face challenges in maintaining effective control when the onboard trajectory sensor's electronic horizon is reduced, leading to potential vehicle deviation from the lane due to inadequate road layout visibility, even with advanced autonomous driving systems.

Innovation Solution

A vehicle control system that includes a perception system with a lateral control device capable of dynamic adaptation, featuring a maximum distance determination unit and a control adapter to adjust control parameters based on the available electronic horizon, ensuring optimal lateral control and stability by minimizing yaw rate errors and adapting to degraded sensor conditions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If the autonomous control system is activated when road pattern visibility is poor, then the system can operate in degraded conditions, but the vehicle may veer off the road due to insufficient trajectory information

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem operation in degraded sensor conditionsVSAvoidvehicle lane following accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The control system dynamically adapts the lateral controller parameters based on the available electronic horizon distance. When trajectory visibility is poor, the system modifies controller gains and tuning parameters in real-time to maintain stability and accuracy, transforming a static control system into a dynamic one that responds to changing sensor conditions

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system changes control parameters (such as controller gains, lookahead distances, and weighting factors) based on the quality and extent of trajectory information available from the sensor. This allows the controller to operate effectively across a range of visibility conditions by adjusting parameters to match the current sensor performance

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Device complexity

If a static vehicle controller is used to follow the reference trajectory, then the control system is simple to implement, but the controller may require relatively distant road layout information and generate undesired behavior when visibility is limited

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontroller structure simplicityVSAvoidvehicle lane following accuracy in degraded conditions
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent transforms a static controller into a dynamic adaptive controller that modifies its parameters based on the available electronic horizon. The controller structure remains relatively simple but gains adaptability through real-time parameter adjustment based on trajectory visibility conditions

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system incorporates feedback about the quality and extent of trajectory information available to the controller. This feedback loop allows the controller to adjust its behavior based on sensor performance, ensuring reliable operation even when road layout visibility is limited

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Loss of information

If the trajectory sensor's electronic horizon is reduced, then the sensor's field of vision is limited, but the control system needs distant road layout information for optimal performance

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetrajectory visibility distanceVSAvoidcontroller performance
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system adjusts controller parameters such as lookahead distance and prediction horizons to match the available electronic horizon. When trajectory visibility is reduced, the controller uses shorter lookahead distances and adapts its prediction models to work effectively with the limited information available

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentEP4263312B1Device and method for trajectory-dependent vehicle control
Publication Date: 2025.01.22 AMPERE SAS
  • EP4263312B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4263312B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP4263312B1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

Disclosed is a vehicle control system (100) comprising a lateral control device (10), the lateral control device comprising: - a road detector (101) for determining, for a current state of the vehicle, information on the road layout in front of the vehicle, on the basis of information provided by the vehicle perception system, the road layout being represented by a polynomial function having a given order; - a lateral controller (102) for performing lateral control of the vehicle defined by a set of control parameters, on the basis of minimising a difference in a control value between a reference trajectory curve of the vehicle and a current trajectory curve described by the vehicle, corresponding to the current state of the vehicle; - a maximum distance determination unit (103) for projecting the determined road layout information up to a given distance in front of the vehicle, and for determining the maximum distance at which the polynomial function satisfies one or more control conditions on the basis of projected road layout information; - a limit checking unit (104) for determining, for the current state of the vehicle, a stability envelope of the vehicle, defined by limits corresponding to the application conditions of a control adapter (105) of the vehicle, and for checking whether the limits of the stability envelope are reached by the vehicle on the basis of the determined maximum distance; the control adapter (105) being configured to adapt the control parameters of the lateral controller if the limits are reached, on the basis of the current state of the vehicle.