Platooning Vehicle Pre-Cognitive Braking via Hazard Detection

Solution Overview

Problem

Current vehicle platooning systems face challenges in maintaining safety and avoiding collisions due to hazards encountered on the road, as they often react after the lead vehicle, potentially increasing risks of collision between following vehicles.

Innovation Solution

A system and method where a following vehicle in a platoon uses sensors to detect hazards ahead and takes preemptive actions, such as increasing the gap by reducing velocity, before the lead vehicle reacts, utilizing tiered severity threat levels to determine appropriate actions, and implementing pre-cognitive braking to mitigate risks.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of energy

If the following vehicle maintains a small gap to the lead vehicle for fuel efficiency, then fuel savings are improved, but collision risk increases when the lead vehicle reacts to hazards

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefuel efficiencyVSAvoidcollision avoidance

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The following vehicle performs preliminary hazard detection using its own sensors before the lead vehicle reacts, and takes preemptive braking action to increase the gap. This allows the vehicle to maintain fuel-efficient small gaps during normal operation while having the capability to rapidly increase separation when hazards are detected, thus resolving the contradiction between fuel efficiency and collision avoidance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Device complexity

If the following vehicle reacts after the lead vehicle to hazards, then system simplicity is maintained, but collision risk increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesystem complexityVSAvoidcollision avoidance

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The following vehicle performs preliminary hazard detection using its own sensors before the lead vehicle reacts, and takes preemptive braking action to increase the gap. This allows the vehicle to maintain fuel-efficient small gaps during normal operation while having the capability to rapidly increase separation when hazards are detected, thus resolving the contradiction between fuel efficiency and collision avoidance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If the following vehicle takes preemptive action before the lead vehicle, then collision avoidance is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecollision avoidanceVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The following vehicle performs preliminary hazard detection using its own sensors before the lead vehicle reacts, and takes preemptive braking action to increase the gap. This allows the vehicle to maintain fuel-efficient small gaps during normal operation while having the capability to rapidly increase separation when hazards are detected, thus resolving the contradiction between fuel efficiency and collision avoidance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS10474166B2System and method for implementing pre-cognition braking and/or avoiding or mitigation risks among platooning vehicles

Publication Date: 2019.11.12 PELOTON TECHNOLOGY INC

AI summary

A system and method for mitigating or avoiding risks due to hazards encountered by platooning vehicles. The system and method involve interrogating, with one or more sensors, a space radially extending from a lead vehicle as the lead vehicle travels over the road surface, perceiving the environment within the space, ascertaining a hazard caused by an object in the space, and causing a following vehicle, operating in a platoon with the lead vehicle, to take a preemptive braking action to avoid or mitigate risks resulting from the hazard caused by the object in the space.