Road Type Determination Using Ramp History and Slow-Traffic Context
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in accurately determining the type of road they are traveling on, which affects the activation or deactivation of hands-free driving modes, as existing systems struggle to differentiate between limited access highways and local roads, especially in situations with slow-moving vehicles or complex traffic conditions.
Innovation Solution
A road type determination system using sensor data, including processor-executed instructions that analyze vehicle and road information to identify if the vehicle has recently traveled on a ramp leading to a limited access highway, and is traveling at a predetermined speed behind slow-moving vehicles, to determine the road type as a limited access highway.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the system uses basic speed threshold detection to determine road type, then the system complexity is low, but the measurement precision of road type determination deteriorates due to inability to differentiate between highways and local roads with slow-moving vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The road type determination is segmented into multiple independent detection dimensions: speed threshold detection, distance-to-vehicle detection, and ramp-history detection. Each dimension independently evaluates a specific aspect, and their combined results provide comprehensive road type classification, improving accuracy without requiring a single complex detection system
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection of ramp-history before final road type determination. By detecting whether the vehicle recently traveled on a ramp leading to a highway in advance, the system prepares contextual information that improves the accuracy of subsequent road type classification, especially in complex traffic scenarios
2Productivity
If the system activates hands-free driving mode on all high-speed roads, then the productivity is high, but the reliability deteriorates due to false activation on local roads with slow-moving vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The hands-free driving mode activation is made dynamic by continuously evaluating multiple changing parameters: current speed, distance to preceding vehicles, and ramp-history status. The system adaptively adjusts activation decisions based on real-time combinations of these parameters, allowing high productivity on true highways while maintaining reliability by blocking false activations on local roads
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from multiple sensor inputs (speed sensors, distance sensors, and ramp-history detection) to continuously evaluate road type and adjust hands-free mode activation decisions. This multi-source feedback mechanism ensures that activation occurs reliably only when all indicators confirm a highway environment
3Reliability
If the system uses multiple detection parameters (speed, distance, ramp-history), then the reliability of road type determination is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional sensors and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system achieves multi-functionality by using a single integrated determination module that processes multiple parameters (speed, distance, ramp-history) to perform both road type classification and hands-free mode control decisions. This universal module eliminates the need for separate detection systems for each function, improving reliability without proportionally increasing device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses existing vehicle sensors and processing capabilities to detect ramp-history and evaluate road type, rather than requiring entirely new dedicated hardware. By leveraging already-present vehicle systems for multiple purposes, the approach improves determination reliability while minimizing additional complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A system for determining a type of a road upon which a vehicle is traveling includes a processor and a memory in communication with the processor. The memory has a road type determination module having has instructions that cause the processor to determine, using sensor data having information about at least one of a vehicle and a road upon which the vehicle is traveling, that the vehicle previously traveled on a ramp leading to a limited access highway. The road type determination module also has instructions that cause the processor to determine, using the sensor data, that the road is a limited access highway when the vehicle is traveling at or below a first predetermined speed for a first predetermined amount of time sufficiently immediately after determining that the vehicle was traveling on a ramp, and the vehicle is behind one or more preceding slow-moving vehicles.