Autonomous Vehicle Control Architecture for Steering-Speed Coordination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in navigating complex environments, particularly in determining accurate steering and speed commands to reach destinations while avoiding obstacles and adhering to traffic rules, due to the complexity of integrating sensor data and dynamic movement models.
Innovation Solution
The system receives reference trajectories, lateral, and speed constraints, and uses control circuits to determine independent steering and speed commands, predicting paths and adjusting control components based on dynamic conditions, such as curvature and object classification, to navigate autonomously.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the system integrates sensor data and dynamic movement models to determine steering and speed commands, then navigation accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is divided into separate independent modules: a speed command determination module that processes speed constraints independently, and a steering command determination module that processes lateral constraints independently. This segmentation allows each module to specialize in specific sensor data integration and constraint processing, improving navigation accuracy while managing system complexity through modular architecture
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a reference trajectory as an intermediary element that couples the independent speed and steering command modules. The reference trajectory serves as a mediator that integrates sensor data and dynamic models into a unified path representation, allowing both independent modules to operate with simplified inputs while maintaining high navigation accuracy through coordinated output
2Productivity
If the system determines steering and speed commands independently, then processing efficiency is improved, but coordination difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The command determination process is segmented into independent parallel streams: speed command determination based on speed constraints, and steering command determination based on lateral constraints. This segmentation enables simultaneous processing of speed and steering commands, improving processing efficiency while the reference trajectory provides the coordination framework to maintain proper coupling between the independent streams
3Measurement precision
If the system processes multiple constraints simultaneously, then navigation accuracy is improved, but computational load increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple constraints are segmented and processed in specialized independent modules: speed constraints are processed exclusively in the speed command module, and lateral constraints are processed exclusively in the steering command module. This segmentation allows each module to optimize its computational approach for specific constraint types, improving command precision while reducing overall computational energy through avoided redundant processing
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and separates the processing of different constraint types into distinct computational pathways. By taking out speed constraint processing from the general constraint processing framework and placing it in a dedicated independent module, the system reduces computational load while maintaining precise handling of each constraint type through specialized processing
Data Source
AI summary
The subject matter described in this specification is generally directed control architectures for an autonomous vehicle. In one example, a reference trajectory, a set of lateral constraints, and a set of speed constraints are received using a control circuit. The control circuit determines a set of steering commands based at least in part on the reference trajectory and the set of lateral constraints and a set of speed commands based at least in part on the set of speed constraints. The vehicle is navigated, using the control circuit, according to the set of steering commands and the set of speed commands.