Autonomous Vehicle Brake Timing for Lead Vehicle Cut-Out Risk
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous vehicles struggle to accurately assess and prevent collisions with leading vehicles due to inaccuracies in recognizing their states and determining appropriate brake control times, particularly when the leading vehicle is outside the vehicle's field of view.
Innovation Solution
The autonomous vehicle employs sensors to detect a leading vehicle, collects driving information, and determines a likelihood of lane cutting based on lateral position, velocity, direction, and path, switching between two safety control modes with different brake control times to respond to potential lane cutting scenarios.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the autonomous vehicle uses a fixed brake control time for all driving situations, then the control system is simple and easy to implement, but the collision prevention capability is insufficient when the leading vehicle cuts out of the lane
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the brake control time variable rather than fixed. The control processor dynamically adjusts the brake control time based on the detected behavior of the leading vehicle. When the leading vehicle is determined to be likely to cut out of the lane (based on lateral position, velocity, direction, and path analysis), the system switches to a first brake control time that enables faster reaction. When the leading vehicle is not likely to cut out, the system uses a second brake control time. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by improving collision prevention capability through adaptability while managing complexity through conditional logic based on sensor data analysis.
2Speed
If the autonomous vehicle switches between multiple safety control modes with different brake control times, then the reaction speed to potential lane cutting is improved, but the complexity of determining which mode to activate increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing multiple safety control modes with different brake control times before they are needed. The system pre-defines the first brake control time for fast reaction scenarios and the second brake control time for normal scenarios. The control processor continuously monitors leading vehicle behavior parameters (lateral position, lateral velocity, lateral direction, and path) and compares them against predetermined conditions. When the conditions indicate the leading vehicle is likely to cut out, the system immediately switches to the pre-configured first safety control mode. This approach improves reaction speed by having modes ready in advance while managing determination complexity through continuous monitoring of predefined parameters.
3Measurement precision
If the autonomous vehicle continuously monitors multiple parameters of the leading vehicle to determine lane cutting likelihood, then the accuracy of collision risk assessment is improved, but the computational load and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the monitoring and assessment process into distinct parameter evaluations. The control processor separately detects and analyzes four key parameters: lateral position of the leading vehicle, lateral velocity, lateral direction, and path. Each parameter is evaluated independently against predetermined conditions to determine the likelihood of lane cutting. This segmented approach improves measurement precision by comprehensively assessing multiple aspects of leading vehicle behavior while managing processing time by organizing the analysis into discrete, manageable components that can be processed systematically rather than as a monolithic computation.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous vehicle may include one or more sensors configured to detect at least one vehicle, memory, and a processor. The processor may be configured to set a lead vehicle, of the at least one vehicle, as a target vehicle. The lead vehicle may be traveling ahead of the vehicle. The processor may be further configured to: receive, via the one or more sensors, driving information associated with the target vehicle; determine, based on the driving information and a predetermined cut-out condition, a likelihood of the target vehicle cutting out of a lane; and control, based on the determined likelihood, the vehicle to operate in a safety control mode of a plurality of safety control modes.