Autonomous Vehicle Lane Position Planning with Dual Control Logic

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing vehicle control systems for autonomous vehicles often fail to accurately designate appropriate lateral lane driving positions, leading to potential collisions and user anxiety, especially when service providers lack knowledge and experience in vehicle control.

Innovation Solution

A vehicle control system that integrates a first control device from the service provider and a second control device from the automaker, where the second device generates a target driving plan based on the first plan and sensor information to ensure accurate lateral lane driving positions and speeds, reflecting automaker knowledge for improved control accuracy.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If service providers use their own programs to generate driving plans, then service-specific driving requirements can be met, but control accuracy and safety deteriorate due to lack of vehicle control expertise

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveservice-specific driving plan customizationVSAvoidlateral lane driving position accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a collaboration mechanism where service providers' driving plan generation programs communicate with automaker-provided vehicle control programs. The automaker's program acts as an intermediary that receives service-specific requirements and translates them into accurate control commands based on professional vehicle control algorithms, thus maintaining both customization and accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent merges two previously separate systems: service providers' driving plan generation capabilities and automakers' vehicle control expertise. By combining these systems into a cooperative architecture, the patent enables service-specific customization while leveraging professional vehicle control algorithms to maintain high accuracy in lateral lane positioning.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Device complexity

If autonomous vehicles use basic route designation, then system complexity is reduced, but service quality deteriorates due to inability to control lateral lane positions

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontrol system simplicityVSAvoidservice quality
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the autonomous vehicle control system into two functional modules: driving plan generation (service-specific requirements) and vehicle control execution (professional algorithms). This segmentation allows basic route designation to handle high-level planning while a specialized control module handles detailed lateral positioning, thus maintaining simplicity at the service level while achieving high service quality through dedicated control functions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Power

If calculation accuracy for obstacle avoidance is low, then computational requirements are reduced, but safety deteriorates due to inability to control lateral lane positions

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecomputational powerVSAvoidobstacle avoidance safety
Core Design Contradiction:
PowerVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a professional vehicle control program as an intermediary between service providers' driving plans and actual vehicle control. This intermediary contains pre-optimized algorithms for obstacle avoidance and lateral positioning that achieve high safety standards without requiring service providers to implement complex computational models from scratch.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP3808625B1Vehicle control system and vehicle control device for autonomous vehicle
Publication Date: 2026.01.28 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK
  • EP3808625B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3808625B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3808625B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A vehicle control system for an autonomous vehicle includes: a first control device (100) configured to generate a first driving plan including desired lateral lane driving positions or desired lateral lane driving position ranges; a plurality of first sensors (30) configured to obtain information on motion of the vehicle and information on surroundings of the vehicle; and a second control device (200) configured to communicate with the first control device, generate, based on the first driving plan obtained from the first control device and the information obtained by the first sensors, a second driving plan different from the first driving plan, the second driving plan including target lateral lane driving positions or target lateral lane driving position ranges, and control driving operation of the vehicle based on the second driving plan.