Intersection Blocking Control for Emergency Vehicle Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, face delays at traffic intersections due to other vehicles entering the intersection, which can hinder their timely arrival at destinations during emergency situations, as existing technologies do not effectively utilize automated driving vehicles for assisting emergency vehicle travel.
Innovation Solution
A traveling assisting method and system that uses automated driving vehicles to communicate with a server, which acquires and compares the expected arrival times of both the emergency vehicle and other vehicles at intersections, instructing the automated driving vehicles to travel to the intersection and prevent other vehicles from entering, ensuring a clear route for the emergency vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If automated driving vehicles are deployed to assist emergency vehicles by blocking intersections, then emergency vehicle travel time is reduced, but system complexity and coordination requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system calculates expected arrival times in advance and proactively dispatches automated driving vehicles to block intersections before the emergency vehicle arrives. This preliminary positioning of assisting vehicles ensures the emergency route is cleared ahead of time, reducing actual travel time while maintaining manageable coordination through advance planning
Solution Approach 2:
A server acts as an intermediary between the emergency vehicle management system and automated driving vehicles. The server receives emergency vehicle route information, calculates arrival times, and transmits blocking instructions to appropriate automated vehicles. This intermediary layer simplifies system complexity by centralizing coordination logic and abstracting communication protocols
2Productivity
If automated driving vehicles are used to block intersections for emergency vehicles, then emergency response efficiency is improved, but traffic flow management becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations of expected arrival times for both emergency vehicles and automated driving vehicles. By determining these times in advance, the system can efficiently decide which vehicles to deploy for blocking intersections, improving emergency response efficiency while keeping traffic management decisions simple and rule-based
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational state parameter of automated driving vehicles from normal transit mode to emergency blocking mode. This parameter change is triggered by simple conditional logic comparing arrival times, making traffic flow management complex only when necessary while maintaining high emergency response efficiency through clear state transitions
Data Source
AI summary
A traveling assisting method for an ambulance vehicle includes the first to third steps. The first step is the step of causing a server to acquire an expected arrival time at which an ambulance vehicle arrives at a traffic intersection that is located on an expected traveling route of the ambulance vehicle. The second step is the step of causing the server to acquire an expected arrival time at which a vehicle arrives at the traffic intersection, when the vehicle is located in surroundings of the expected traveling route. The third step is the step of causing the server to transmit a restraint instruction to the vehicle to travel toward the traffic intersection and to restrain entry of a vehicle other than the ambulance vehicle into the traffic intersection.