Fallback Sensor Selection in Autonomous Drive ECU Failure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current autonomous drive systems face challenges in moving vehicles to a safe location when a failure occurs in the autonomous drive ECU, as they lack environmental sensors necessary for navigation and incur high costs due to redundancy measures.
Innovation Solution
An electronic control unit with at least two microcomputers, a failure detection unit, a mode selection unit, and a sensor selection unit that switches to a fallback operation mode, using selected sensors to generate drive signals for actuators to move the vehicle to a safe escape place, even if the high-performance ECU fails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundancy measures are implemented to ensure continuous operation when autonomous drive ECU fails, then reliability is improved, but cost increases due to high-performance computers and additional sensors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a low-cost microcomputer for fallback operation instead of duplicating the expensive high-performance autonomous drive ECU. The microcomputer is designed to perform only essential safety functions (moving to safe location and stopping), accepting that it is a simplified, single-use backup system rather than a full redundant autonomous drive unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and isolates the critical safety function from the complex autonomous drive system. Instead of providing full redundancy of the autonomous drive ECU, only the essential function of moving the vehicle to a safe location and stopping is implemented in the fallback operation mode, using minimal necessary components.
2Ease of manufacture
If simple system multiplexing is used to avoid cost increase, then cost is reduced, but the system cannot take appropriate measures such as moving to safe place when failure occurs because it lacks environmental sensors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes existing vehicle components serve dual purposes. The microcomputer that normally handles basic vehicle control functions is also equipped to handle autonomous drive failure and execute fallback operations. Environmental sensors already present in the vehicle are repurposed for navigation during fallback operation, eliminating the need for dedicated backup sensors.
3Productivity
If high-performance computer with high calculation load is used for autonomous drive, then autonomous drive performance is improved, but cost increase due to redundancy cannot be avoided
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the vehicle control system into distinct functional layers: the high-performance autonomous drive ECU for normal autonomous operation, and a separate low-cost microcomputer for fallback safety operations. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, avoiding the need to over-provision the expensive autonomous drive ECU for rare emergency scenarios.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous drive ECU 1 includes: at least two microcomputers 10 and 30 capable of receiving sensing data from a plurality of sensors 61; failure detection units 11 and 31 that detect a failure of the plurality of sensors 61 or the microcomputers 10 and 30; a mode selection unit 33 that selects a normal operation mode and a fallback operation mode; and a sensor selection unit that selects the sensor 61 based on a failure part detected by the failure detection unit 31 or a surrounding situation of an own vehicle calculated from the sensing data. Any of the at least two microcomputers 10 and 30 generates a drive signal for operating an actuator using the sensing data received from the sensor 61 selected by the sensor selection unit in the case of the fallback operation mode.