Autonomous Vehicle Velocity Control via Iterative Safety Factor Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous driving vehicles experience sudden acceleration or deceleration due to sudden changes in front obstacles, causing passenger discomfort, as existing systems fail to smoothly adjust velocity profiles in response to environmental changes.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that determine an optimized reference velocity profile by calculating a safety factor, including safety distance, based on environmental and vehicle information, iteratively adjusting the initial reference velocity profile to minimize sudden changes in speed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the autonomous driving system uses a fixed reference velocity profile, then the system is simple to implement, but the vehicle experiences sudden acceleration or deceleration when obstacles change, causing passenger discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The reference velocity profile is transformed from a fixed static value to a dynamic optimized profile that adapts to real-time environmental conditions. The system continuously adjusts the reference velocity based on obstacle distance, relative velocity, and safety factors, enabling smooth velocity transitions that reduce passenger discomfort while maintaining safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of reference velocity from a constant value to an optimized variable profile. By calculating safety factors and adjusting the reference velocity profile based on environmental parameters (obstacle distance, relative velocity), the system achieves smooth acceleration and deceleration that improves passenger comfort without significantly increasing system complexity.
2Measurement precision
If the system iteratively optimizes the reference velocity profile multiple times, then the velocity control accuracy improves, but the computational time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations of safety factors using pre-established formulas that consider obstacle distance, relative velocity, and vehicle characteristics. By preparing safety factor calculations in advance based on current environmental conditions, the system achieves accurate optimized velocity profiles without requiring excessive iterative computational time during critical driving moments.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and a method for controlling a velocity of an autonomous driving vehicle is provided. The method includes steps of: obtaining information of an environment surrounding the vehicle when an obstacle is detected to be on a planning path of the vehicle; obtaining an initial reference velocity profile of the vehicle; determining a safety factor based on the initial reference velocity profile, the information of the environment and information of the vehicle, wherein the safety factor at least comprises a safety distance between the vehicle and the obstacle for the vehicle to follow the obstacle; determining an optimized reference velocity profile based on the information of the environment, the information of the vehicle and the safety factor; and performing the step of determining the safety factor by using the optimized reference velocity profile as the initial reference velocity profile and the step of determining the optimized reference velocity iteratively.