Autonomous Vehicle Communication for Sensor Impairment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in safe operation due to impaired sensor functionality and environmental conditions, such as fog or heavy rain, which can lead to increased risks and impracticality, especially when sensors or components are damaged.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a communication system between autonomous vehicles to alert other vehicles of maneuvers and coordinate actions, including sharing road segment conditions like traffic, potholes, or construction, to enhance safety and avoid collisions by analyzing and responding to sensor data and external communications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If autonomous vehicles rely solely on onboard sensors for operation, then the vehicle can operate independently, but sensor impairment from environmental conditions (fog, heavy rain) or damage reduces reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces communication systems as intermediaries between autonomous vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure. Vehicles exchange sensor data and maneuver information through wireless communication, allowing vehicles to overcome individual sensor limitations by utilizing data from other sources. This mediator approach enables reliable operation even when onboard sensors are impaired by environmental conditions or damage.
2Reliability
If autonomous vehicles communicate with each other in real-time, then collision avoidance and path coordination improve, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The communication system is segmented into distinct functional modules: data transmission components, reception components, processing components, and control components. Each module handles specific aspects of vehicle-to-vehicle communication, such as transmitting sensor data, receiving maneuver information, analyzing communications, and executing coordinated actions. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by dividing the communication function into manageable, specialized subsystems.
3Reliability
If vehicles share real-time maneuver and sensor data, then path coordination and safety improve, but data processing requirements and communication bandwidth increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and transmits only the most critical maneuver information and sensor data relevant to collision avoidance and path coordination, rather than transmitting all sensor data. By selecting and transmitting only essential information such as intended maneuvers, position, and key environmental hazards, the system maintains high path coordination accuracy while significantly reducing communication bandwidth requirements and data processing loads.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for communicating between autonomous vehicles are described herein. Such communication may be performed for signaling, collision avoidance, path coordination, and/or autonomous control. A first autonomous vehicle may receive a communication from a second autonomous vehicle travelling on the same road as the first autonomous vehicle, where the communication includes an indication of a maneuver which will be performed by the second autonomous vehicle. The first autonomous vehicle may then analyze the communication to identify a first maneuver for the first autonomous vehicle in response to the second maneuver performed by the second autonomous vehicle. Thus, the first autonomous vehicle may move in accordance with the first maneuver.