Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Platooning Coordination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicle systems face challenges in navigating safely and efficiently in unstructured open environments, particularly in coordinating multiple vehicles for safe open-road travel and optimizing lane positioning and platooning.
Innovation Solution
A fleet management system that includes a server processor, autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles equipped with sensors, communication devices, and propulsion systems, utilizing software modules for lane positioning, location detection, and navigation to coordinate vehicle movement and adjust for hazards and environmental conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If multiple autonomous vehicles operate independently in unstructured open environments, then each vehicle can navigate autonomously, but coordination and safety between vehicles deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple autonomous vehicles into a coordinated fleet managed by a central server. The server receives sensor data from all vehicles, processes it collectively, and sends coordinated navigation instructions to maintain safe distances and prevent collisions, thereby merging individual autonomous capabilities into a collectively safe system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where each vehicle's sensors monitor its environment and report to the central server. The server processes this feedback data and adjusts navigation instructions in real-time based on the relative positions and speeds of all vehicles, ensuring coordinated safety while maintaining autonomous operation.
2Reliability
If vehicles maintain larger safety distances in platooning formations, then collision risk decreases, but navigation efficiency and route optimization deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic safety distance adjustment where the platoon formation adapts its spacing based on real-time conditions. The central server calculates optimal distances considering vehicle speeds, environmental factors, and hazard levels, allowing vehicles to maintain closer formations when safe and increase spacing when risks are detected, thereby optimizing both safety and efficiency.
3Reliability
If the fleet management system processes data from all sensors in real-time, then navigation safety improves, but system complexity and computational requirements deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the fleet management system into a central server that handles high-level coordination and individual vehicle processors that handle local sensor data processing. This division allows real-time safety processing without requiring the central server to manage all computational complexity, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining safety.
4Use of energy by moving object
If vehicles closely follow lead vehicles in platooning, then energy efficiency improves, but detection precision and hazard response deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-layered detection system where each vehicle's sensors serve dual purposes: monitoring immediate hazards and contributing to collective fleet awareness. Vehicles in platoon formations use their sensors not only for local hazard detection but also to extend the effective detection range of the entire fleet, maintaining energy efficiency while preserving hazard detection precision through shared sensor data.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are systems for navigating an autonomous or semi-autonomous fleet comprising a plurality of autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles within a plurality of navigable pathways within an unstructured open environment.