Autonomous Vehicle Path Deviation for Partial Lane Boundary Crossing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face inefficiencies when encountering obstructions in their planned path, often requiring human intervention or remote control due to limitations in lane boundary crossing, leading to increased failure events and poor user experience.
Innovation Solution
The autonomous vehicle system identifies obstructions and generates motion plans that allow partial lane boundary crossing without full lane changes, optimizing motion plans based on geometric constraints and cost functions to navigate around obstacles efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the autonomous vehicle strictly adheres to lane boundaries, then it maintains regulatory compliance and lane discipline, but it cannot effectively navigate around obstructions leading to increased failure events
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial lane boundary crossing by allowing the vehicle to exceed lane boundaries by a controlled amount (e.g., 0.5 to 2 meters) when obstructions are detected. This partial violation of the no-crossing rule enables the vehicle to navigate around obstacles while maintaining overall lane discipline and regulatory compliance for normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The lane boundary constraint is made dynamic rather than static. The system continuously evaluates whether to enforce or relax boundary constraints based on real-time obstruction detection. When obstructions are present, the system dynamically adjusts the motion plan to permit boundary crossing; when clear, it maintains strict lane adherence.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the autonomous vehicle implements full lane change maneuvers to avoid obstructions, then it can navigate around obstacles, but it increases operational complexity and may not be suitable for all obstruction scenarios
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of implementing full lane change maneuvers, the system uses partial boundary crossing where the vehicle deviates only as much as needed to clear the obstruction (e.g., 0.5-2 meters). This reduces the complexity of motion planning compared to complete lane changes while still achieving obstacle avoidance for various obstruction types and positions.
3Reliability
If the autonomous vehicle requires human intervention for obstruction handling, then it maintains safety through human judgment, but it increases loss of time and reduces productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by autonomously detecting obstructions, evaluating boundary crossing options, generating appropriate motion plans, and executing navigation maneuvers without human intervention. The vehicle independently handles the entire obstruction avoidance process, eliminating wait times for human response while maintaining safety through automated evaluation of safety conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the environment for obstructions and feedback from previous boundary crossing actions. This real-time feedback loop enables the vehicle to make autonomous decisions about when and how to cross boundaries, adjusting its behavior based on current conditions without requiring human judgment or intervention.
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.