Autonomous Route Characterization for Map-Light Vehicle Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current autonomous navigation systems for vehicles face challenges in efficiently updating route maps due to the high cost and time required for data collection and the obsolescence of maps caused by changes in road conditions, making it difficult to maintain safe autonomous navigation across a large network of routes.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle-equipped autonomous navigation system that uses sensor devices to monitor and update virtual route characterizations based on manual navigations, associating a confidence indicator with these updates, and enabling autonomous navigation when the confidence indicator meets a threshold, allowing for real-time adaptation to changes in the route without relying on preexisting detailed maps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If real-time processing and driving capabilities are simulated to replicate human driving, then autonomous navigation responsiveness is improved, but system complexity and capital costs become excessively high
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by collecting and processing route data before autonomous navigation is needed. A sensor suite traverses routes and collects data about road features, intersections, and conditions in advance, creating a detailed map that the autonomous navigation system can later use without requiring real-time processing of all these details.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary component - a pre-collected route map - that mediates between the complex physical environment and the autonomous navigation system. Instead of directly processing all sensor data in real-time, the system uses this intermediate map representation to guide navigation decisions, reducing computational complexity.
2Reliability
If detailed maps of various routes are developed with extensive route data, then autonomous navigation capability is improved, but time and effort required for map development become excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor suite is designed to be multi-functional, capable of collecting various types of route data (road features, intersections, environmental conditions) in a single traversal. This universal data collection approach improves efficiency by eliminating the need for separate data collection missions for different route characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by allowing the sensor suite to autonomously traverse routes and collect data without requiring extensive manual intervention for each route. The automated data collection and processing reduces the time and effort needed to develop detailed maps of multiple routes.
3Reliability
If roadways are monitored for changes over time, then route obsolescence is reduced, but resources required for continuous updating increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic action by scheduling regular re-traversals of routes at intervals rather than continuously monitoring them. This periodic updating approach maintains route accuracy by detecting changes over time while conserving resources by not requiring constant monitoring of all routes.
Data Source
AI summary
Autonomous navigation of a vehicle along one or more portions of a driving route based on monitoring, at the vehicle, various features of the route as the vehicle is manually navigated along the route to develop a characterization of the route is described. The characterization is progressively updated with repeated manual navigations along the route, and autonomous navigation of the route is enabled when a confidence indicator of the characterization meets a threshold indication. Characterizations can be updated in response to the vehicle encountering changes in the route and can include a set of driving rules associated with the route, where the driving rules are developed based on monitoring the navigation of one or more vehicles of the route. Characterizations can be uploaded to a remote system which processes data to develop and refine route characterizations and provide characterizations to one or more vehicles.