Roadside Device Selective Approach Alerts for Following Vehicles

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing techniques for notifying pedestrians of autonomous vehicle approach information are inadequate, particularly when following vehicles are present, leading to potential erroneous determinations and safety risks.

Innovation Solution

A roadside device equipped with a control unit that acquires and selectively notifies pedestrians of approach information about autonomous vehicles, providing the full set when no following vehicles are present and a subset when following vehicles are detected, to reduce erroneous determinations and enhance safety.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If the roadside device notifies the pedestrian of all approach information items, then the pedestrian receives complete information about the autonomous vehicle approach, but the pedestrian may make erroneous determinations when following vehicles are present, reducing safety

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinformation completenessVSAvoidpedestrian safety

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The notification content dynamically changes based on the detection of following vehicles. When no following vehicle is detected, all approach information items are notified to provide complete information. When a following vehicle is detected, only a subset of information items is notified to prevent erroneous determinations, thus adapting the information delivery to current traffic conditions

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system changes the parameter of information quantity based on traffic conditions. The control unit adjusts which information items are notified (full set vs. subset) depending on whether a following vehicle is present, optimizing the balance between information completeness and pedestrian safety

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If the roadside device notifies only a subset of approach information items when following vehicles are present, then pedestrian safety is improved by reducing erroneous determinations, but the pedestrian receives less complete information

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepedestrian safetyVSAvoidinformation completeness

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The notification content dynamically changes based on the detection of following vehicles. When no following vehicle is detected, all approach information items are notified to provide complete information. When a following vehicle is detected, only a subset of information items is notified to prevent erroneous determinations, thus adapting the information delivery to current traffic conditions

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system extracts and removes specific information items from the notification when following vehicles are detected. By identifying which information items could cause erroneous determinations in the context of following vehicles, the system selectively excludes those items while still providing relevant safety information

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS20250265931A1Roadside device

Publication Date: 2025.08.21 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK

AI summary

A roadside device provided at a position where a pedestrian crosses a road, wherein the control unit acquires information including a plurality of items related to approach of an autonomous vehicle approaching the position and information indicating whether at least one following vehicle of the autonomous vehicle exists, notifies the pedestrian of the entirety of the plurality of items when the following vehicle does not exist, and notifies the pedestrian of a part of the plurality of items when at least one following vehicle exists.