Control Device for Automated Valet Parking
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Solution Overview
Problem
In automated valet parking systems, vehicles that arrive late at pick-up areas often wait for extended periods, causing congestion and delaying other users, as existing systems lack efficient methods to manage vehicle departure based on predicted user arrival times.
Innovation Solution
A control device that calculates predicted user arrival times and determines which vehicle to move out of the pick-up area based on these calculations, ensuring that vehicles with late-arriving users are prioritized for departure, thereby reducing wait times and congestion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vehicles wait at the pick-up area for users who arrive late, then the user can be picked up, but congestion occurs and other users are delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The control device calculates predicted user arrival times in advance before vehicles actually arrive at the pick-up area. By predicting arrival times beforehand and pre-determining which vehicles should move out, the system prepares ahead of time to avoid congestion when multiple vehicles arrive simultaneously, thus maintaining both service reliability and area throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors actual user arrival times and compares them with predicted times. Based on this feedback, the control device adjusts its predictions and vehicle movement decisions dynamically. This feedback mechanism ensures that vehicles are moved out at optimal times to prevent congestion while still providing reliable pick-up service.
2Ease of operation
If vehicles occupy the pick-up area for extended periods, then late-arriving users can be picked up, but congestion and waiting times for other users increase
Solution Approach 1:
The control device dynamically determines vehicle movement timing based on real-time conditions and predicted arrival times rather than using fixed schedules. This dynamic approach allows the system to flexibly accommodate late-arriving users by keeping their vehicles in the pick-up area longer when necessary, while simultaneously managing other vehicles to minimize wait times for their users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of vehicle stay duration at the pick-up area based on predicted user arrival times. Vehicles with users predicted to arrive later are allowed to occupy the pick-up area longer, while vehicles with users arriving sooner are moved out earlier. This parameter adjustment optimizes both user service and overall system efficiency.
3Device complexity
If the control device manages vehicle departures without predicted arrival times, then system complexity is reduced, but congestion management becomes inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical coordination of vehicle movements with an information-processing approach using predicted arrival time calculations. Instead of requiring complex communication and coordination mechanisms between vehicles, the control device uses computational predictions to automatically determine optimal movement timing, achieving high efficiency with relatively simple system architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A control device is configured to cause a vehicle parked in a parking lot to move to a pick-up area in accordance with a call from a user of the vehicle. The control device includes a predicted time calculator and a moving-out vehicle determiner. The predicted time calculator is configured to, with regard to the vehicle that has arrived at the pick-up area in response to the call, acquire a user position and calculate a predicted user arrival time on the basis of the user position. The user position is a current position of the user. The predicted user arrival time is a time in which the user is predicted to arrive at the pick-up area. The moving-out vehicle determiner is configured to determine a moving-out vehicle on the basis of the calculated predicted user arrival time. The moving-out vehicle is a vehicle that is to be moved out of the pick-up area.