Vehicle Lane-Change Signal Control in Minimal Risk Maneuvers
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Solution Overview
Problem
In autonomous driving, there is a challenge in controlling the flashing of emergency lights and turn indicators during lane changes, particularly in minimal risk management (MRM) states, where existing systems fail to appropriately adjust lighting based on time to collision and driving conditions.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that utilize sensors to obtain driving environment and vehicle information, calculating time to collision and controlling the flashing of emergency lights and turn indicators based on specific time thresholds to ensure safe lane changes, adjusting speed and lighting states accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the vehicle performs a lane change while flashing an emergency light in an MRM state, then the vehicle can execute a minimal risk maneuver, but it may cause confusion for surrounding vehicles about the vehicle's intent and reduce safety
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically switches between emergency light flashing and turn indicator flashing based on the calculated time to collision. When TTC is below a threshold, emergency lights flash to indicate danger; when TTC exceeds the threshold, turn indicators flash to indicate lane change intent. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction by adjusting the lighting signal according to the actual safety margin.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of lighting signal type from emergency light to turn indicator based on the time to collision parameter. This parameter change allows the system to convey different information to surrounding vehicles depending on the safety condition, thereby resolving the confusion between MRM execution and lane change intent.
2Reliability
If the vehicle calculates time to collision and adjusts lighting signals accordingly, then the clarity of driving intent is improved, but the control system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates the time to collision between the host vehicle and rearward vehicle before executing the lane change maneuver. This preliminary calculation allows the system to determine in advance which lighting signal to use, simplifying the real-time control decision and reducing the perceived complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from the calculated time to collision to automatically select the appropriate lighting signal. This closed-loop control simplifies the overall system architecture by using a clear decision rule based on the TTC feedback, rather than requiring complex multi-factor analysis.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and a method for controlling driving of a vehicle are provided. The apparatus includes a sensor configured to obtain driving environment information and vehicle driving information, and a controller configured to calculate a time to collision with a following vehicle based on the driving environment information when a lane change is necessary to be performed while flashing an emergency light, and to control flashing of the emergency light or a turn indicator based on the time to collision and the vehicle driving information when the lane change is performed.