Autonomous Vehicle Remote Assistance Timing and Waiting Position Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
In autonomous driving systems, frequent remote control requests from vehicles can overwhelm limited human operator resources, leading to vehicles stopping on roads and hindering traffic, as existing systems lack efficient methods to manage remote assistance frequency and waiting periods.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle control system that calculates a target trajectory and determines the necessity of remote assistance based on driving environment data, including a traveling efficiency level, to delay or adjust remote assistance requests, reducing the frequency of transmissions and optimizing waiting positions to minimize traffic disruption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If remote control requests are transmitted frequently to ensure vehicle safety and operational assistance, then the reliability of autonomous driving control is improved, but the productivity of the remote facility operators deteriorates due to overwhelming request volumes
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary evaluation of remote assistance necessity by calculating traveling efficiency levels and predicting future driving scenarios before actual remote control requests are generated. This advance assessment filters out requests that can be handled autonomously, reducing the volume of requests sent to operators while maintaining safety reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
An intelligent intermediary system acts between the autonomous vehicle and human operators, automatically evaluating whether remote assistance is truly necessary by analyzing traveling efficiency levels and driving conditions. This intermediary filters requests before they reach operators, reducing their workload while preserving reliable control when actually needed.
2Speed
If remote control requests are transmitted immediately when assistance is needed, then the response time to handling critical situations is improved, but the loss of time for vehicle waiting on roads increases due to operator unavailability
Solution Approach 1:
The system calculates expected waiting positions and predicts optimal request timing in advance by analyzing traveling efficiency levels. This preliminary planning allows the vehicle to maintain motion or select optimal stopping positions before remote assistance is actually required, reducing idle waiting time on roads.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the timing and positioning of remote assistance requests based on real-time traveling efficiency calculations. Instead of fixed protocols, the vehicle adapts its assistance-seeking behavior to current traffic conditions, maintaining speed when possible and only stopping when truly necessary.
3Ease of operation
If the vehicle waits for remote assistance at the current position, then the ease of operation for remote control is improved, but the productivity of vehicle transportation deteriorates due to unnecessary stopping
Solution Approach 1:
The system preliminarily calculates expected waiting positions that optimize both operational simplicity and transportation productivity. By predicting future driving scenarios and traveling efficiency levels, the system identifies positions where stopping causes minimal disruption to overall transportation efficiency while still enabling effective remote control operation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A processor (26a; 34a) of a vehicle (2) determines whether remote assistance from a remote facility (3) is necessary during autonomous driving control. When a determination is made that the remote assistance is necessary, the processor (26a; 34a) generates a target trajectory (TR21; TR22; TR23; TR24; TR25; TR26; TR27) of the vehicle (2) that includes an expected waiting position (WP). The expected waiting position (WP) is a position where the vehicle (2) is expected to wait for reception of an assistance signal from the remote facility (3). The processor (26a; 34a) calculates a traveling efficiency level (EL) indicating a level of traveling efficiency required in the vehicle (2), and calculates, based on the traveling efficiency level (EL), a request timing (RT) to transmit a request signal (RS) for the remote assistance to the remote facility (3). When the traveling efficiency level (EL) is low in a calculation of the request timing (RT), the processor (26a; 34a) outputs a late timing.