AR Overlay for Autonomous Vehicle Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication methods between autonomous vehicles and vulnerable road users are limited in type and content, failing to effectively distinguish and prioritize various situations, particularly at intersections, which can lead to unsafe conditions.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of augmented reality (AR) systems on mobile devices of vulnerable road users, which receive navigational intent data from autonomous vehicles, overlaying virtual information onto real-world maps to provide warnings and instructions through graphics, sounds, and other visual cues, enabling improved situational awareness and collision avoidance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If basic visual and audible transmissions are used for communication, then the communication system is simple and easy to implement, but the ability to distinguish and prioritize different situations is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces augmented reality overlays that add a visual dimension to the communication interface. By projecting virtual information (arrows, icons, text) onto the real-world view through the mobile device camera, the system enhances the basic visual and audible transmissions with spatially-aware graphical cues that indicate vehicle intent, collision risk, and safe crossing directions, thereby improving situational differentiation without substantially increasing system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device application serves as an intermediary between the autonomous vehicle's communication system and the vulnerable road user. The application receives data from the vehicle, processes it through machine learning models to determine collision risk and vehicle intent, and presents the information through an AR interface that prioritizes critical safety information, thus enabling sophisticated situation discrimination through a software layer
2Reliability
If augmented reality overlays are implemented to provide detailed situational information, then communication effectiveness and safety warnings are improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary processing by having the autonomous vehicle determine its navigational intent and collision risk assessment before communication with the vulnerable road user. The vehicle's controller pre-calculates whether a collision is likely based on projected paths, allowing the mobile device to receive already-processed intent data rather than raw sensor data, reducing the processing burden on the user's device while maintaining high reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device application uses the device's existing camera and display capabilities to provide augmented reality feedback. The system leverages the smartphone's own hardware (camera for AR overlay, display for visualization) rather than requiring additional dedicated hardware, thus improving communication effectiveness while minimizing increases in device complexity and processing requirements
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a method and system for communication between a vulnerable road user and an autonomous vehicle using augmented reality to highlight information to the vulnerable road user regarding potential interactions between the autonomous vehicle and the vulnerable road user.