Autonomous Vehicle Control Handover at High-Risk Road Segments

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Solution Overview

Problem

Autonomous vehicles face challenges in navigating through geographic regions with high frequencies of transitions to manual control, traffic accidents, and uncertain navigational actions, which can lead to increased risk and reduced efficiency due to limitations in detecting and responding to emergency scenarios and higher-risk road segments.

Innovation Solution

A method that involves accessing and analyzing historical data to identify road segments with high frequencies of manual control transitions, traffic accidents, and other risk factors, and associating these locations with remote operator triggers on navigation maps, allowing autonomous vehicles to request and transition to manual control when approaching these areas, thereby reducing risk and maintaining efficiency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If autonomous vehicles operate autonomously in high-risk geographic regions, then productivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to high frequencies of transitions to manual control and traffic accidents

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveoperating efficiencyVSAvoidsafety in high-risk regions

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary identification of high-risk road segments by analyzing historical data from a corpus of driving records before autonomous vehicles encounter them. Remote operator triggers are pre-associated with these locations, enabling proactive transition to manual control before accidents or operational failures occur, thus maintaining both productivity and reliability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors and analyzes driving records from the fleet to identify patterns of manual control transitions and traffic accidents. This feedback loop enables dynamic identification of high-risk geographic regions, allowing the system to adapt and improve safety while maintaining autonomous operation efficiency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Reliability

If autonomous vehicles transition to manual control frequently, then reliability is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to increased operator intervention

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesafety through operator controlVSAvoidoperating efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies manual control intervention selectively and locally only at specific high-risk road segments identified through data analysis, rather than requiring frequent global transitions to manual control. This targeted approach maintains reliability at critical locations while preserving autonomous operation and productivity in lower-risk areas

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

By pre-identifying high-risk locations and associating them with remote operator triggers before vehicles arrive, the system enables smooth, planned transitions to manual control only when necessary, avoiding unnecessary interruptions and maintaining overall operating efficiency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS11797001B1Method for transferring control to an operator

Publication Date: 2023.10.24 DIRECT CURRENT CAPITAL LLC

AI summary

Control of a mobile device is transferred to and from an operator. In one aspect, a specification for triggering manual control of the mobile device is accessed. A location is identified within a geographic region that exhibits characteristics defined by the specification. The location is represented in a navigation map and is associated with an operator trigger. As the mobile device approaches the location, a request for manual control is provided to the operator based on the operator trigger, and manual control is initiated.