Steering Counterforce Control for Automated Driving
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Solution Overview
Problem
In automated driving systems, vehicles often obstruct driver interventions that deviate from the automatically selected travel trajectory, even when such deviations are permissible, leading to an unbalanced experience between automated and manual driving modes.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle control apparatus that sets a target position within a lane and adjusts steering counterforce characteristics to allow easier manual intervention when deviating towards the lane center and harder intervention when deviating away, using a steering control unit that accepts manual inputs and generates counterforces based on the distance from the lane center.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the steering control unit generates a predetermined counterforce against manual operations during automated driving, then the automated driving control is maintained and the vehicle stays on the automatically-selected trajectory, but the driver's ability to intervene and deviate from the trajectory is obstructed even when such deviations are permissible
Solution Approach 1:
The steering counterforce characteristics are made dynamic by adjusting the counterforce magnitude based on the lateral distance between the target position and the lane center. When the target position is close to the lane center, the counterforce is reduced to allow easier driver intervention. When the target position is far from the lane center, the counterforce is increased to maintain automated driving control stability. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between maintaining automated driving control and allowing driver intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of steering counterforce characteristics based on the lateral distance from the lane center. By varying the counterforce parameter according to the target position's distance from the lane center, the system allows drivers to easily intervene when the vehicle is near the lane center while maintaining strong control when the vehicle is offset, thus resolving the contradiction between automated driving stability and driver intervention ease.
2Ease of operation
If the vehicle travels offset from the lane center to avoid obstructions or improve comfort, then the driving comfort is improved or obstructions are avoided, but the driver's preference to travel in the center of the lane is not respected and the vehicle may treat driver operations for returning to center as undesirable
Solution Approach 1:
The steering counterforce characteristics dynamically adjust based on the lateral distance from the lane center. When the target position is offset from the lane center, the system maintains appropriate counterforce to sustain the offset travel for comfort or obstruction avoidance. When the driver operates the steering wheel to return to the lane center, the counterforce is reduced to facilitate the return to center position, thus adapting to driver preferences while maintaining the benefits of offset travel when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle control apparatus comprises a setting unit that sets a target position within a lane currently being traveled, and a steering controller that carries out steering control based on the target position. The steering controller can accept a steering input resulting from a manual operation, even when steering control is being carried out, generates a counterforce against the manual operation, and controls steering counterforce characteristics so that when the target position is distanced, in a width direction, from a first reference position near the center of the lane, the steering counterforce against a manual operation in a first direction from the target position toward the first reference position is lower than the steering counterforce against a manual operation in a second direction different from the first direction with respect to a manual operation at a given steering angle.