AR Map Assistance for Driver Visibility in Fog and Rain
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drivers' visibility is impaired by weather conditions and environmental factors, creating safety hazards during navigation.
Innovation Solution
An augmented reality system using on-board sensors to generate an unobstructed view of the environment by combining static map data with real-time sensor data from multiple vehicles, digitally removing impairing conditions on an in-vehicle display.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If drivers rely on direct visual observation of the road environment, then they can perceive real conditions, but visibility is impaired by environmental conditions such as fog, rain, or smoke
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses sensors (cameras, LIDAR, radar) as intermediaries to detect the road environment when direct visual observation is impaired. These sensors capture data through the obscuring medium (fog, rain, smoke) and transmit it to processing systems that generate compensated views, allowing the driver to perceive road conditions without direct line-of-sight visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy or representation of the road environment using sensor data. This copied view is processed to remove or compensate for the effects of environmental impairments, then displayed to the driver as if they were looking directly at the clear road environment, thereby restoring accurate perception without direct visual access.
2Reliability
If the system processes and generates augmented reality views in real-time, then driver visibility is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary processing of sensor data by capturing raw sensor outputs and pre-processing them into usable formats before AR view generation. This preliminary action prepares the data in advance, reducing the computational burden during critical real-time display generation and minimizing overall processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the level of processing based on environmental conditions and driver needs. When visibility impairment is detected, the system intensifies processing to generate compensated views; when conditions are clear, processing is reduced or eliminated, optimizing the balance between visibility improvement and processing time consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes monitoring environmental conditions surrounding a moving vehicle, using an on-board sensor of the moving vehicle, detecting that at least one of the environmental conditions surrounding the moving vehicle is likely to impair visibility for a driver of the moving vehicle, based on an output of the on-board sensor, acquiring static map data for a location surrounding the moving vehicle, acquiring real time sensor data for the location surrounding the moving vehicle, where the real time sensor data comprises outputs of a plurality of on-board sensors of a plurality of other vehicles, generating an augmented reality view of the location surrounding the moving vehicle, using the static map data, the real time sensor data, and the output of the on-board sensor, and displaying the augmented reality view of the location surrounding the moving vehicle on a display within the moving vehicle.