Drive-by-wire Control System for Autonomous Vehicle Mode Transition
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in safely transitioning between autonomous and manual driving modes, particularly at high speeds, due to inefficiencies in conventional machine vision cameras that operate asynchronously, leading to potential navigation errors and safety concerns.
Innovation Solution
A control system that synchronizes sensor data from multiple sensors using a shared clock signal, enabling precise and timely data capture and combination to generate accurate 3D sensor images, and an autonomy controller that ensures vehicle operations are only transitioned to autonomous mode when all control interfaces are in a ready condition, with safety features to prevent unsafe transitions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If conventional machine vision cameras operate asynchronously to capture sensor data, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision and reliability deteriorate due to potential navigation errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between asynchronous and synchronous camera operation modes. During autonomous vehicle operation, both cameras operate asynchronously to reduce complexity, but switch to synchronous operation when sensor data combination is required, ensuring measurement precision while maintaining operational flexibility
Solution Approach 2:
The synchronization state of the cameras is changed as a controllable parameter. The system can adjust the operational mode of each camera (synchronized vs. asynchronous) based on the current driving mode and sensor data requirements, optimizing both complexity and precision
2Productivity
If the autonomy controller enables autonomous mode without checking control interface readiness, then productivity is improved by faster mode transition, but reliability deteriorates due to unsafe transitions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary checks of control interface readiness status before enabling autonomous mode. The autonomy controller verifies that all necessary control interfaces are ready to receive and execute autonomous commands, preventing unsafe transitions while maintaining efficient operation
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the autonomy controller continuously monitors the readiness status of control interfaces. Based on this feedback, the controller dynamically determines whether to enable autonomous mode, ensuring reliable operation while allowing fast transitions when conditions are met
Data Source
AI summary
A user interface device for an autonomous vehicle (AV) can include an autonomy engage selector and a plurality of vehicle interfaces connected in series. Each of the plurality of vehicle interfaces can correspond to a respective vehicle operation and can include a relay that engages when the vehicle interface is in a ready state. The user interface device can also include a drive-by-wire controller to autonomously operate each of the plurality of vehicle interfaces in response to an engage input on the autonomy engage selector when the user interface device is in a ready condition.