Automated Intersection Restart Control Using Vehicle Projection Thresholds
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Automated driving vehicles face challenges in navigating intersections with traffic lights, particularly when preceding vehicles stop at the intersection, leading to potential obstruction and discomfort for drivers due to inconsistent driving behaviors.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle travel control apparatus and server apparatus that utilize a camera and automated driving processor to determine if a vehicle can safely restart at an intersection based on a projection amount from a stop position, forcibly executing a preceding vehicle following control when the projection exceeds a threshold, ensuring smooth and safe passage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If special travel control is used together with basic automated driving control, then the vehicle can pass through intersections with traffic lights, but the control complexity increases and reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the special intersection travel control with the basic automated driving control into a unified control system. The automated driving processor integrates both control modes, automatically switching between them based on detection of intersection scenarios and traffic light states, thereby reducing control complexity while maintaining adaptability to handle both basic driving and special intersection passages.
2Reliability
If the vehicle stops at the intersection when the traffic light changes, then the vehicle follows traffic rules, but it may obstruct other vehicles and cause driver discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by calculating the projection amount of the vehicle's current position from the stop position before the traffic light changes. When the projection amount exceeds the threshold, the system proactively determines that the vehicle can safely proceed without stopping, preventing obstruction to other vehicles while still complying with traffic rules through advance position assessment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the vehicle's position, the traffic light state, and calculates the projection amount in real-time. This feedback mechanism allows the automated driving processor to dynamically adjust the vehicle's behavior - stopping when appropriate to follow traffic rules, or proceeding when the projection amount indicates it is safe to do so, thereby avoiding obstruction to other vehicles.
3Productivity
If the vehicle forcibly executes preceding vehicle following control to restart, then the vehicle escapes the intersection smoothly, but the control logic becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the control mode flexible and adaptive rather than fixed. The automated driving processor dynamically switches between basic automated driving control and forced preceding vehicle following control based on real-time conditions - specifically, whether the projection amount exceeds the threshold and whether the traffic light has changed. This dynamic adaptation improves intersection passage efficiency while managing control logic complexity through condition-based decision-making.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle travel control apparatus to be applied to a vehicle includes a camera and an automated driving processor. The camera captures a vehicle's course image. The automated driving processor executes a travel control of the vehicle under an automated driving control including a preceding vehicle following control, based on the image. When the traffic light at the intersection is changed from a lighting state indicating that the vehicle is allowed to pass after the vehicle has stopped at the intersection, the automated driving processor: determines whether the vehicle is allowable to start moving under the automated driving control, based on a projection amount of a vehicle's current position from a stop position of the intersection; and forcibly executes the preceding vehicle following control to restart the vehicle to allow the vehicle to escape from the intersection, when the projection amount is greater than or equal to a threshold.