Collision Avoidance Torque Control for Lane Change Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current collision avoidance systems fail to adequately reduce the risk of unsafe maneuvers by not fully considering the influence of future trajectories of other external objects on the road, leading to potential conflicts and the need for improved vehicle control methods that maintain driver control while minimizing collision risks.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that estimate future trajectories of external objects, applying a torque to prevent lane changes into neighboring lanes with detected conflicts, allowing drivers to maintain control while reducing collision risks by considering the traffic situation and interactions between external objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the future trajectory of an object is estimated based solely on position and velocity without considering influence from other objects, then the estimation is simpler and faster, but the accuracy and safety are reduced due to unaccounted traffic situation changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary estimation of future trajectories for all detected objects considering their mutual influences and interactions. By pre-calculating these trajectories before making lane change decisions, the system ensures accurate conflict detection while maintaining efficient real-time operation. The controller estimates how objects will move in response to each other's presence before the host vehicle executes any maneuver.
2Reliability
If the host vehicle is controlled by an autopilot that selects the safest route freely based on Monte Carlo reasoning, then collision avoidance is maximized, but driver control is lost and legal acceptance is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system acts as an intermediary safety layer between the driver and the road environment. It provides specific warnings when trajectory conflicts are detected, allowing the driver to maintain control while being alerted to dangerous situations. The system supplements rather than replaces driver decision-making, maintaining legal acceptance and driver preference while enhancing safety through automated conflict detection.
3Reliability
If torque is applied to prevent lane changes in all detected conflict situations, then collision risk is reduced, but driver maneuverability and responsiveness are overly restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies torque only in specific local situations where trajectory conflicts are detected between the host vehicle and other objects. Rather than universally restricting all lane changes, it selectively intervenes only when necessary based on real-time conflict assessment. This localized application of prevention torque maintains driver freedom for normal maneuvers while providing safety intervention only when actual conflicts exist.
Data Source
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AI summary
The application relates to a method and system for collision avoidance for a host vehicle (20). First, input data relating to external objects (22,24,26,28,30,32) is received, said input data including object position (r,Φ) and an object velocity (dr/dt). Second, future trajectories for each external object (22,24,26,28,30,32) are determined, considering influence by the future trajectories of the other external objects on each other, e.g. whether there is a risk of collision between external objects causing a possible change in trajectory of an external object. Third, it is checked whether the host vehicle (20) about to exit a lane. If the future trajectory (21) of the host vehicle (20) is involved in a conflicting event in a neighbouring lane, a counter-torque is applied. This helps to avoid collision when doing a lane change. A further step is to associate not one, but several future paths to the detected obstacles and to choose one path which is the most probable. Preferably, the lane change is permitted if an obstacle is detected in the host vehicle's lane, allowing the driver to avoid said obstacle.