Sidewalk Area Segmentation for Safe Vehicle Crossing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional driving assistance systems do not provide effective assistance when a vehicle crosses a sidewalk to enter a roadway, failing to ensure safe navigation around pedestrians and other obstacles.
Innovation Solution
A determination device and method that divide the sidewalk area into partial areas and determine a safe range for the vehicle to enter based on recognized target objects, using a recognizer to identify the sidewalk and non-sidewalk areas and outputting information to a controller for vehicle control and display.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the vehicle crosses the sidewalk without dividing it into partial areas, then the crossing operation is simple and fast, but the safety cannot be ensured due to lack of pedestrian obstacle consideration
Solution Approach 1:
The sidewalk area is divided into multiple partial areas (first partial area, second partial area, etc.) based on the position of target objects such as pedestrians. This segmentation allows the system to determine safe crossing ranges by considering obstacles in specific segments, thereby ensuring safety while maintaining reasonable operational complexity through structured division rather than comprehensive analysis of the entire sidewalk.
2Reliability
If the sidewalk area is divided into multiple partial areas based on target objects, then the safety of crossing is improved, but the determination process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by recognizing target objects (pedestrians, bicycles, etc.) and their positions before dividing the sidewalk area. By pre-identifying obstacles and their locations, the system can subsequently divide the sidewalk into appropriate partial areas and determine safe crossing ranges more efficiently, reducing the overall complexity of the determination process while maintaining high safety standards.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional driving assistance systems are used without sidewalk area division, then the system structure remains simple, but the system cannot provide effective assistance when crossing sidewalks with pedestrians
Solution Approach 1:
The determination device is designed to handle multiple scenarios universally by dividing the sidewalk area into partial areas based on detected target objects. This multi-functional approach enables the system to provide effective assistance in various sidewalk crossing situations (with or without pedestrians, different sidewalk widths, etc.) using a unified method, thereby enhancing adaptability without requiring separate specialized systems for each scenario.
Data Source
AI summary
A determination device includes an input unit and a controller. The input unit receives information on a sidewalk area and information on a target object recognized in the sidewalk area. The sidewalk area exists between a position where a vehicle is present and a non-sidewalk area. The controller (i) divides the sidewalk area into a plurality of partial areas including at least a first partial area and a second partial area based on the information on the sidewalk area, the first partial area being closest to the vehicle among the plurality of partial areas, and the second partial area being adjacent to the non-sidewalk area, and (ii) determines, based on the information on the target object, at least one partial area among the plurality of partial areas to be a range where the vehicle is allowed to enter.