Dump Truck Override Control for Manned and Unmanned Auto Modes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing work vehicles, such as dump trucks, face challenges in switching from automatic driving to manual driving modes, especially when the vehicle is unmanned, as current methods rely on camera-based determination of a driver's presence, which can lead to erroneous decisions and abandonment of vehicle control.
Innovation Solution
A work vehicle system that employs selection switches to differentiate between manned and unmanned automatic driving modes, using sensors to detect override operations and ensure proper control transitions, preventing manual driving mode activation when no rider is present to avoid vehicle control abandonment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If camera-based determination is used to detect driver presence for mode switching, then automatic driving mode can be maintained, but erroneous determination may occur leading to abandonment of vehicle control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a rider presence determination switch as an intermediary device that directly provides accurate information about rider presence to the control unit. This switch acts as a reliable mediator between the physical state of rider presence and the control system's decision-making, eliminating the need for indirect camera-based inference and thereby resolving the contradiction between maintaining automatic driving and ensuring accurate rider presence detection.
2Ease of operation
If manual driving mode is activated upon override operation in unmanned automatic driving, then vehicle control can be taken over, but vehicle control abandonment occurs when no rider is present
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit performs preliminary determination of rider presence before allowing mode switching from automatic to manual driving. By checking whether a rider is actually present in the vehicle before activating manual control mode, the system prevents the scenario where manual driving is activated without a rider, thereby ensuring vehicle control availability while still allowing manual takeover when appropriate.
3Adaptability or versatility
If switching between manned and unmanned automatic driving modes is implemented, then versatility is improved, but control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the automatic driving mode into two distinct sub-modes: manned automatic driving mode and unmanned automatic driving mode. This segmentation is achieved through a simple binary switch that directly indicates rider presence, allowing the control unit to select appropriate control strategies for each mode without requiring complex analysis, thereby maintaining control system simplicity while improving versatility.
Data Source
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AI summary
A work vehicle includes an override operation sensor that senses override operation to carry out switching between an automatic driving mode and a manual driving mode and a selection device for selecting any one of the manual driving mode, a manned automatic driving mode, and an unmanned automatic driving mode, as the driving mode of a dump truck. A controller carries out switching from the manned automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode when override operation is sensed by the override operation sensor in the case in which the manned automatic driving mode is selected by the selection device, and continues the unmanned automatic driving mode when override operation is sensed by the override operation sensor in the case in which the unmanned automatic driving mode is selected by the selection device.