Offset Vehicle Lane Positioning for Road Wear Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomously and semi-autonomously driven vehicles consistently wear down roadways due to their centralized path, leading to uneven tire contact and increased road wear.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle lane positioning system that includes a sensor arrangement to determine lateral boundaries, a control unit to calculate a vehicle travel path with a predetermined variation from the center, and an actuator unit to execute this path, allowing for offset pathways that can be adjusted based on time schedules, user input, or random variations, thereby reducing road wear.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the vehicle maintains a centered path within the lane, then the vehicle positioning precision is improved, but the road wear increases due to concentrated tire contact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple path determination strategies (centered path, offset path, and varied path) into a single adaptive system. The control unit selects among these different path types based on conditions such as lane width, traffic patterns, and road characteristics, merging the benefits of each approach to simultaneously maintain positioning precision and reduce road wear
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the vehicle's lateral position within the lane rather than maintaining a fixed centered path. The control unit continuously varies the path offset from the lane center based on real-time conditions, creating a dynamic positioning system that adapts to different situations while distributing tire contact across different road areas
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the vehicle uses a varied path within the lane, then the road wear is reduced through distributed tire contact, but the vehicle positioning stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic variations in the vehicle's lateral position within the lane. Rather than random movements, the path variation follows controlled periodic patterns that systematically distribute tire contact across different road areas while maintaining predictable and stable vehicle behavior throughout the variation cycle
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit changes lateral position parameters within defined ranges while maintaining overall positioning stability. By adjusting the offset distance from the lane center as a variable parameter rather than a fixed value, the system achieves road wear reduction through parameter variation while preserving stability through constrained parameter ranges and controlled transition rates
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the vehicle path is offset from the lane center, then the road wear is reduced, but the lane utilization efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different path strategies to different local conditions within the lane. Rather than uniformly offsetting from the center in all situations, the control unit determines the appropriate lateral position based on local factors such as lane width, adjacent traffic, road curvature, and weather conditions, optimizing both road wear reduction and lane utilization for each specific situation
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle lane positioning system includes a sensor arrangement that is designed to determine lateral boundaries of a vehicle lane. A control unit is designed to calculate a vehicle travel path within the vehicle lane having a predetermined variation from a centered vehicle pathway. An actuator unit is designed to execute the vehicle travel path within the vehicle lane.