Automatic Driving System Path Following with Visual Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
In controlled areas with predefined paths, drivers face challenges in efficiently and safely navigating vehicles due to obstacles and the need for repetitive maneuvers, often resulting in errors and increased time consumption, especially in unfamiliar environments.
Innovation Solution
An automatic driving system utilizing onboard sensors and actuators, including GPS, artificial vision, and short-range communication, to guide vehicles along predefined paths, with a central processing unit managing steering, braking, and acceleration, and allowing for manual override for safety, and dynamic correction using visual references like painted stripes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual driving is used in controlled areas with predefined paths, then the driver can handle unexpected situations, but the time consumption and error rates increase due to repetitive maneuvers and reduced attention
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-programs the paths to be followed within the controlled area during a learning phase, storing these paths for automatic execution. This preliminary action eliminates the need for repeated manual planning and execution of the same maneuvers, directly reducing time consumption and error rates in routine operations
Solution Approach 2:
The automatic driving system enables the vehicle to autonomously execute predefined paths without continuous human intervention. The system monitors its own position using onboard sensors and automatically steers along the stored path, allowing the vehicle to serve itself in routine maneuvers while the driver remains available for unexpected situations
2Measurement precision
If automatic driving systems with external positioning systems are used, then path following accuracy improves, but the system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the positioning function from external GPS systems and implements it using onboard sensors already present in the vehicle. By taking out the dependency on external positioning infrastructure, the system achieves path following accuracy while reducing overall system complexity and cost
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces external electronic positioning systems with an onboard sensor-based detection approach. Optical sensors and other detectors mounted on the vehicle directly measure position and orientation relative to the path, substituting complex external electronic infrastructure with simpler onboard mechanical and optical detection mechanisms
3Reliability
If repetitive routine maneuvers are performed manually, then the driver maintains situational awareness, but attention reduction leads to increased error rates
Solution Approach 1:
The automatic driving system performs routine maneuvers autonomously without requiring sustained driver attention. The vehicle self-monitors its position and self-corrects its path following, eliminating the attention reduction problem associated with repetitive manual maneuvers while maintaining high reliability through automated execution
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the vehicle's actual position using onboard sensors and compares it with the predefined path. Automatic feedback control adjusts steering and other controls in real-time to correct deviations, ensuring reliable path following without requiring driver attention. The feedback loop operates autonomously to maintain maneuver execution reliability
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed herein is an automatic driving system for a motor vehicle (1), including an automatic driving unit (11) configured to be arranged on board the motor vehicle (1) and including actuators (14) configured to control one or more driving devices of the motor vehicle (1); a storage unit (15) configured to store driving data defining at least one programmed path (T1) intended to be run by the motor vehicle (1) from a starting point (P) to a target point (A1) within a given area; and a processing unit (16) operatively coupled to the actuators (14) and to the storage unit (15) and configured to manage programming of the programmed path (T1) and to operate the actuators based on the stored driving data to cause the motor vehicle (1) to run the programmed path (T1).