Off-Road Drivability Guidance Using Surface and Weather Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drivers navigating off-road terrain face challenges in assessing the drivability of unpaved paths, particularly due to varying natural conditions like mud, snow, or steep slopes, which can lead to undesirable situations such as getting stuck, as existing systems lack comprehensive real-time guidance.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising sensors and communication networks between vehicles and server computers that evaluate driving surface conditions, weather factors, and vehicle capabilities to provide real-time drivability status and recommendations, allowing drivers to adjust their vehicles or plans accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If drivers navigate off-road terrain without comprehensive real-time guidance, then they maintain simple navigation, but they face higher risk of encountering hazardous conditions like mud, snow, or steep slopes that can lead to getting stuck
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple data sources including sensor data from the vehicle, weather data, terrain data, and historical off-road data into a unified drivability assessment system. This integration of diverse information streams enables comprehensive real-time guidance while managing system complexity through centralized processing architecture
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that collects, evaluates, and synthesizes data from multiple sources before presenting drivability assessments to drivers. This intermediary layer manages the complexity by handling data integration and analysis centrally, allowing individual components to remain relatively simple while achieving reliable comprehensive guidance
2Loss of information
If drivers obtain detailed real-time drivability assessments, then they can make informed decisions about vehicle selection and route modification, but they require access to complex multifactor evaluation systems
Solution Approach 1:
The drivability assessment system is segmented into distinct functional modules: sensor data collection, weather data acquisition, terrain analysis, historical data retrieval, and integrated evaluation. Each module handles specific aspects of data processing independently, then combines results to provide comprehensive information without requiring any single component to be overly complex
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a universal evaluation platform that handles multiple types of data (sensor, weather, terrain, historical) and provides diverse outputs (drivability assessments, route recommendations, vehicle suitability analysis) through a single multifunctional architecture, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining information completeness
3Measurement precision
If the system evaluates multiple factors including sensor data, weather conditions, and terrain characteristics, then it provides accurate drivability status, but it requires extensive data collection and processing resources
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary data collection and processing by gathering sensor data, weather information, and terrain characteristics in advance before they are critically needed for drivability assessment. This allows preprocessing and filtering of data to reduce the computational burden during real-time decision-making, thereby reducing energy consumption while maintaining measurement precision
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements selective data processing where not all available data is processed with equal depth. Instead, it focuses computational resources on the most critical factors affecting drivability based on current conditions, processing only the necessary subset of data at full precision while using simpler assessments for less critical parameters, thus optimizing energy usage
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for providing off-road track drivability guidance. In an example scenario, a processor receives a sensor signal that is generated when a vehicle is driven on an off-road track. The processor evaluates the sensor signal to obtain information about a driving surface of the off-road track such as, a material composition, a gradient, and/or an amount of provided traction. The processor conveys the information to another processor (which may be a part of a server computer) that determines a drivability status of the off-road track based on the information about the driving surface and additional parameters, such as present and/or future weather conditions. The server computer may provide the drivability status in response to a query from a processor that is located in another vehicle (or in a personal communication device carried by a driver of the vehicle).