Bi-Directional Road Beacons for Autonomous Vehicle Response
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current autonomous vehicle systems face challenges in safely and efficiently responding to unknown, unexpected, or unpredicted situations on roadways due to limitations in processing power and sensor capabilities, particularly in complex or harsh conditions, leading to difficulties in real-time decision-making and reaction.
Innovation Solution
A Bi-Directional Beacon Information System (BBIS) that uses a network of beacons to provide autonomous vehicles with instant object/situation identification and adaptive responses by exchanging contextual travel information and recommended actions, leveraging both stationary and mobile beacons for bi-directional communication and data processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If autonomous vehicles rely solely on onboard sensors and processing systems to identify and respond to road conditions, then the vehicle can operate independently without external infrastructure, but the processing burden and complexity increase significantly, limiting the ability to handle unknown or unexpected situations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces beacons as intermediary devices positioned along the roadway that serve as mediators between the road infrastructure and autonomous vehicles. These beacons receive data from road sensors and transmit processed information to vehicles, reducing the processing burden on vehicle systems while maintaining reliable operation. The beacons act as external brains that offload complex decision-making from the vehicles themselves.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extends the autonomous vehicle system from a single-vehicle dimension to a multi-vehicle network dimension by implementing beacons that communicate with multiple vehicles simultaneously. This creates a distributed system where information is shared across the roadway network, enabling vehicles to benefit from collective situational awareness rather than relying solely on individual onboard processing capabilities.
2Productivity
If autonomous vehicles use extensive onboard sensors and processing power to handle all driving decisions, then the vehicle can respond to situations in real-time, but the system complexity and cost increase, making full autonomy difficult to achieve
Solution Approach 1:
Beacons serve as intermediary processing nodes that handle complex data analysis and decision-making externally. Instead of requiring each vehicle to possess full autonomous capabilities, the beacons perform the heavy lifting of interpreting road conditions and generating appropriate responses, which are then transmitted to vehicles for execution. This divides the system complexity between infrastructure and vehicle components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical approach of equipping each vehicle with extensive onboard sensors and processing hardware with an information-based system where beacons transmit processed data to vehicles. This substitution reduces the need for redundant onboard systems while maintaining real-time decision-making capabilities through communicated information.
3Ease of operation
If a network of beacons is implemented to provide situational awareness to autonomous vehicles, then the processing burden on individual vehicles is reduced, but infrastructure complexity and deployment cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The beacons are designed as universal infrastructure components that serve multiple functions: they monitor road conditions, communicate with autonomous vehicles, and potentially assist human-driven vehicles. This multi-functionality justifies the infrastructure investment by providing broad benefits across different vehicle types and operational contexts, reducing the perceived complexity burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The beacon system is designed to operate autonomously, self-monitoring its own status and automatically transmitting data without requiring manual intervention. The infrastructure serves itself by using road sensors to detect conditions and then autonomously communicating this information to vehicles, reducing the operational complexity of managing the beacon network.
4Adaptability or versatility
If autonomous vehicles rely on onboard systems to process all traffic information, then the vehicle can maintain independence from external infrastructure, but the ability to handle complex or unexpected situations is limited
Solution Approach 1:
Beacons act as information intermediaries that aggregate data from multiple road sensors and vehicles, then transmit comprehensive situational information to autonomous vehicles. This external information source supplements onboard sensors, providing vehicles with enhanced awareness of unknown or unexpected situations that would be difficult to detect with individual vehicle sensors alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the sensing and processing capabilities of infrastructure with those of individual vehicles, creating a hybrid system. The beacon network combines information from road sensors, weather sensors, and multiple vehicle sources, then delivers this aggregated intelligence to vehicles, effectively combining distributed information sources to overcome individual processing limitations.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous vehicle is equipped with a beacon, preferably including a transmitter and receiver, or a transceiver, for bi-directional communication, which is programmed to interact with other beacons for the exchange of contextual travel information to assist in autonomous operation of the vehicle. Beacons may be stationary and positioned along a roadway such that a signal transmitted by such a stationary beacon can be received by a passing beacon-equipped vehicle, the operation of which can be adjusted depending on instructions received from the stationary beacon. The vehicle can also transmit information to the stationary beacon, which information can be used to assess traffic conditions to thereafter adjust information and alerts sent to other beacon-equipped vehicles. Beacons located within multiple vehicles may also interact to share information that may be used by individual vehicles to adjust or maintain the autonomous operation of the vehicle.