Remote Guidance for Autonomous Vehicle Obstacle Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles face delays when encountering obstacles in their environment, leading to prolonged waiting times and potential safety risks for passengers, as existing systems lack efficient real-time guidance mechanisms to navigate around impediments.
Innovation Solution
A computing device, remote from the vehicle, provides guidance by determining and transmitting instructions, such as reference trajectories with velocity and direction, based on sensor data and vehicle capabilities, allowing the vehicle to preemptively navigate around obstacles, reducing delays and improving safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the vehicle waits for remote assistance to navigate around an obstacle, then the vehicle can receive expert guidance to safely navigate the obstacle, but the vehicle experiences prolonged waiting time and delays
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having the vehicle capture sensor data and transmit it to the remote computing device before the vehicle actually encounters the obstacle. The remote device processes the data and generates guidance instructions in advance, so that when the vehicle reaches the obstacle, navigation assistance is already available, minimizing waiting time while ensuring safe navigation.
2Productivity
If the vehicle requests assistance only when stuck, then the system remains simple and responsive, but the vehicle cannot preemptively avoid obstacles leading to delays
Solution Approach 1:
The remote computing device acts as an intermediary between the vehicle's sensor data and the navigation decisions. The vehicle captures sensor data, transmits it to the remote computing device, which processes the data and returns guidance instructions. This intermediary approach enables sophisticated obstacle avoidance capabilities while keeping the vehicle's onboard system relatively simple.
3Reliability
If the remote entity provides detailed guidance instructions, then the vehicle can navigate complex obstacles safely, but the processing and transmission time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary data transmission by sending sensor data to the remote computing device before the vehicle actually needs navigation instructions. This allows the remote device to process the data and prepare guidance instructions in advance, reducing the actual waiting time when the vehicle encounters the obstacle while still providing detailed, reliable navigation guidance.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques to provide guidance to a vehicle operating in an environment are discussed herein. For example, such techniques may include sending a request for assistance, receiving a reference trajectory, and causing the vehicle to determine a trajectory based on the reference trajectory. Data such as sensor data and vehicle state data may be sent from the vehicle to a remote computing device. The computing device outputs a user interface using the data and determines the reference trajectory based on receiving an input in the user interface. The techniques can send an indication of the reference trajectory to the vehicle for use in planning a trajectory for the vehicle. A vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, can be controlled to traverse an environment based on the trajectory.