Roadside Beacon Guidance for Wrong-Way Autonomous Driving
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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, particularly due to limitations in processing power and sensor capabilities, which hinders their ability to react properly to complex infrastructure challenges, unusual vehicles, and harsh ambient conditions.
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 recommended responses, allowing for bi-directional communication between vehicles and infrastructure to assist in safe and efficient operation by sharing contextual travel information and pre-determined action guidance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If autonomous vehicles rely solely on onboard sensors and processing systems to identify and respond to roadway conditions, then the vehicle maintains operational independence, but the system cannot adequately handle unknown, unexpected, or unpredicted situations due to processing power and sensor limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces beacons as intermediary devices positioned along the roadway that actively transmit contextual information about road conditions, hazards, and infrastructure to vehicles. These beacons serve as mediators between the complex roadway environment and the vehicle's processing system, filtering and pre-processing information before it reaches the vehicle, thereby reducing the onboard processing burden while improving reliability in handling unexpected situations.
Solution Approach 2:
The beacons perform preliminary action by continuously monitoring and transmitting information about roadway conditions, hazards, and infrastructure features before vehicles encounter them. This advance information delivery allows vehicles to prepare appropriate responses without requiring complex real-time analysis of all environmental factors, effectively performing the analytical work beforehand.
2Loss of information
If the system provides comprehensive real-time information about all roadway conditions, then the vehicle can make better decisions, but the amount of data to process increases the processing burden and response time
Solution Approach 1:
The beacons implement local quality by providing targeted, location-specific information relevant to each beacon's vicinity rather than transmitting all possible roadway data universally. Each beacon transmits contextual information specific to its local environment (e.g., upcoming hazards, road conditions, infrastructure features), allowing vehicles to receive only the information pertinent to their immediate situation, thereby reducing overall data volume and processing time.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the vehicle uses standard GPS and differential GPS systems with multiple sensors, then the vehicle can operate autonomously under normal conditions, but the system struggles with complex infrastructure challenges, unusual vehicles, and harsh ambient conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The beacons implement universality by serving multiple functions: they provide navigation assistance, hazard warning, infrastructure information, and contextual data about unusual conditions. This multi-functional approach allows a single beacon system to enhance the vehicle's adaptability to diverse roadway conditions including complex infrastructure, unusual vehicles, and harsh ambient conditions, rather than requiring separate specialized systems for each condition type.
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.