Remote AV Route Assistance Using a Virtual Vehicle Path
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in navigating unmapped, unmarked, or construction-altered areas, leading to potential safety issues and paralysis due to limitations in sensor data and prediction techniques, particularly when high-bandwidth, low-latency communications for real-time control are not guaranteed.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses a virtual vehicle to generate a virtual path, which is continually transmitted to the autonomous vehicle, allowing a remote operator to provide real-time route assistance while the vehicle follows the path using on-board sensing, thereby mitigating latency and bandwidth issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If real-time remote control is implemented using conventional communication methods, then operator assistance can be provided, but high bandwidth and low latency requirements cannot be guaranteed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the autonomous vehicle that travels along the real vehicle's path. This virtual vehicle receives teleoperated control inputs from the operator, and its trajectory is used to generate navigation commands for the real vehicle. This copying approach eliminates the need for direct real-time control communication, reducing bandwidth and latency requirements while maintaining safety through the virtual vehicle's predictive trajectory
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by having the virtual vehicle traverse the entire path ahead of time and store trajectory data. This pre-computed trajectory information is then used to guide the real vehicle, allowing the operator to provide assistance without requiring continuous high-bandwidth communication during actual vehicle operation
2Adaptability or versatility
If autonomous vehicles navigate unmapped or construction-altered areas, then route flexibility is improved, but safety and reliability deteriorate due to sensor data limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtual vehicle as an intermediary between the operator and the real autonomous vehicle. This virtual vehicle processes teleoperated control inputs and generates trajectories that guide the real vehicle through uncertain environments. The intermediary approach allows the system to handle unmapped or construction-altered areas by combining operator judgment with automated trajectory generation, improving safety while maintaining route flexibility
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the virtual vehicle's trajectory is continuously adjusted based on teleoperated control inputs from the operator. This feedback loop allows the operator to provide guidance for navigating uncertain areas, and the system uses this information to generate safe navigation commands for the real vehicle, balancing adaptability with reliability
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for traveling through a transportation network performs a method including generating a display that includes a geographical area about a starting location for route assistance through the transportation network and a virtual vehicle at the starting location, and forming a virtual path for the route assistance using the virtual vehicle. The virtual path includes a first portion obtained from advancing the virtual vehicle from the starting location while an autonomous vehicle (AV) is at the starting location and a second portion obtained from, after the virtual vehicle departs from the starting location, extrapolating from the virtual vehicle through the geographical area to a stopping location or an ending location of the route assistance. Points along the virtual path are continually transmitted to a trajectory planner of the AV while the virtual vehicle advances through the geographical area, and the trajectory planner generates a route for the AV conforming to the virtual path.