Road Friction Fusion for Predictive Vehicle Maneuver Control

The patent combines road friction information processing with road user intention prediction into a unified safety constraint calculation system. The friction map generated from sensor data is integrated with the object map to create a risk map, which is then used by the motion planner to generate safe trajectories. This merging of previously separate functions (friction estimation, object detection, intention prediction) into a single fused system improves reliability while managing complexity through functional integration.

The patent divides the road environment into discrete regions or cells, creating a grid-based friction map where each cell contains friction information for a specific location. This segmentation allows the system to process road friction data in manageable units rather than as a continuous complex field. The motion planner can then query friction values for specific regions of interest, reducing the overall computational load while maintaining precision for maneuvers in high-risk or low-friction areas.