Autonomous Vehicle Lane Nudge Around Obstructions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in navigating around obstructions on their planned path without fully transitioning into adjacent lanes or violating lane boundaries, leading to potential stuck situations that require human intervention.
Innovation Solution
The system enables autonomous vehicles to perform a 'nudge' operation by deviating from the center of the current lane to avoid obstructions, allowing partial crossing of lane boundaries without fully transitioning into adjacent areas, thus generating a motion plan to continue on the planned route.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the autonomous vehicle strictly follows lane boundaries, then lane discipline is maintained, but the vehicle cannot avoid obstructions and may get stuck
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows partial crossing of lane boundaries (excessive action relative to normal operation) when obstructions are detected, enabling the vehicle to deviate from the strict lane path temporarily to avoid obstacles while maintaining overall lane discipline through controlled correction maneuvers
2Ease of operation
If the autonomous vehicle fully transitions into adjacent lanes to avoid obstructions, then obstacle avoidance is achieved, but lane boundary violations occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial lane boundary crossing rather than full lane transitions, allowing the vehicle to just enough cross the boundary to clear the obstruction while minimizing violation of lane discipline and maintaining safety
Solution Approach 2:
The lane boundary constraint is made dynamic rather than static - the system adaptively adjusts boundary compliance based on real-time obstruction detection, allowing temporary deviations when necessary while returning to normal lane-following behavior when the path is clear
3Reliability
If the autonomous vehicle requires human intervention for stuck situations, then safety can be ensured, but operational efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables the autonomous vehicle to self-rescue from stuck situations by autonomously determining and executing boundary-crossing maneuvers to navigate around obstructions, eliminating the need for human driver intervention and maintaining continuous operational efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is directed to deviating from a planned path for an autonomous vehicle. In particular, a computing system comprising one or more computing devices physically located onboard an autonomous vehicle can identify one or more boundaries at least in part defining a lane in which the autonomous vehicle is traveling along a path of a planned route. Responsive to identifying one or more obstructions ahead of the autonomous vehicle along the path, the computing system can: determine one or more deviations from the path that would result in the autonomous vehicle avoiding the obstruction(s) and at least partially crossing at least one of the one or more boundaries; and generate, based at least in part on the deviation(s), a motion plan instructing the autonomous vehicle to deviate from the path such that it avoids the obstruction(s) and continues traveling along the planned route.