Shared Vehicle Control Interface for Coordinated Platoon Decisions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current autonomous vehicle systems lack effective collaboration between human drivers and autonomy logic when vehicles travel in formation, limiting their ability to make complex decisions and adapt to dynamic environments.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a shared world model that enables vehicles to share information, allowing human drivers and autonomy logic to collaborate in understanding the environment, making decisions, and executing actions, thereby enabling vehicles to operate as a unit and adapt to various scenarios such as lane changes, platooning, and traffic situations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If autonomous vehicle systems operate independently without shared information, then each vehicle maintains operational independence, but the ability to collaborate and make complex decisions in formation is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges information from multiple autonomous vehicles into a shared world model, allowing vehicles to collaborate as a unified system. The shared world model consolidates data about the environment, other vehicles, and potential actions, enabling coordinated decision-making while maintaining individual vehicle autonomy.
Solution Approach 2:
The shared world model acts as an intermediary between individual autonomous vehicles and the collaborative decision-making process. It processes and integrates information from multiple vehicles, presenting a unified view that facilitates coordinated actions without requiring direct complex communication between all vehicle systems.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more information is shared between vehicles and human drivers, then collaborative decision-making improves, but the cognitive load on human drivers increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and presents only the most relevant information to human drivers through the shared world model, filtering out redundant data. This allows deep collaboration between vehicles and humans while managing cognitive load by showing only critical information needed for decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The shared world model provides structured feedback to human drivers about the platoon's shared understanding of the environment and proposed actions. This feedback mechanism allows drivers to collaborate effectively with the autonomous system while receiving information in a manageable, actionable format.
3Reliability
If autonomous vehicles use traditional independent control systems, then system simplicity is maintained, but safety and efficiency in formation travel are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the control system into independent vehicle controllers that each maintain their own autonomy, while adding a layered shared world model for collaboration. This segmentation allows vehicles to operate independently for safety-critical functions while enabling coordinated decision-making for formation efficiency, without requiring a completely new control architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus for controlling two or more vehicles travelling in formation. Selected vehicles may be fully or partially autonomously controlled; at least one vehicle is partially controlled by a human driver. Information is collected at each vehicle and from the drivers and it is shared with other vehicles and drivers to create a shared world model. Aspects of the shared world model may be presented to the human driver, who may then respond with a control input. Autonomy systems and the drivers on the vehicles then collaborate to make a collective decision to act or not to act and execute any such action in a coordinated manner.