Lane Selection Using Continuously Travelable Distance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Lane keeping systems struggle to maintain vehicle position in changing road geometries where lane markers are difficult to recognize, leading to potential lane changes into undesired lanes.
Innovation Solution
A lane determination apparatus that retrieves and compares continuously travelable distances for each lane, determining whether a lane change is suitable by identifying the current lane and other lanes using a combination of sensors and data storage units, and outputs instructions for the driver or cruise control to adjust lane selection accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the lane keeping function relies on recognizing lane markers from forward images, then the own vehicle can be kept in the traveling lane when lane markers are visible, but the lane keeping function terminates when lane markers become difficult to recognize due to road geometry changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by acquiring and storing map data containing lane information in advance before the vehicle reaches the relevant road sections. This allows the system to have lane information available even when lane markers are not visible, enabling continuous lane determination through a combination of camera recognition and map data matching
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces map data as an intermediary element between the camera and the lane determination process. When lane markers become difficult to recognize, the map data serves as a substitute source of lane information, allowing the lane keeping function to continue without termination
2Duration of action of stationary object
If the lane keeping function continuously recognizes lane markers to maintain operation, then the function remains active, but the own vehicle may move into an undesired lane different from the driver's desired lane
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by continuously comparing the recognized lane marker positions with the lane information from map data. This comparison allows the system to verify whether the currently recognized lane matches the desired lane, and to detect when lane markers may be misleading due to road geometry changes such as lane reductions or merges
Solution Approach 2:
By having map data with lane information prepared in advance, the system can predict the desired lane configuration before reaching complex road sections. This allows the system to anticipate when continuous lane marker recognition might lead to incorrect lane selection and take preventive actions
Data Source
AI summary
In a lane keeping apparatus, a first retrieving unit retrieves, for each lane, a continuously travelable distance. The continuously travelable distance for each lane represents a distance for which an own vehicle is able to travel while keeping the corresponding lane. A first identifying unit identifies a road, as a traveling road, on which the own vehicle is traveling, and one of the lanes, as a traveling lane, in which the own vehicle is traveling. A first determiner compares a continuously travelable own-lane distance with at least one continuously travelable other-lane distance to accordingly determine whether lane change from the traveling lane to at least one other lane included in the lanes is suitable.