Teleoperations Guidance for Driverless Vehicle Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Driverless vehicles face challenges in navigating unpredictable events, such as construction zones or dynamic objects, due to limited information and potential safety concerns, which can disrupt their travel and require manual intervention or significant speed adjustments.
Innovation Solution
A teleoperations system that enables communication between driverless vehicles and a remotely located system, allowing for real-time guidance and trajectory adjustments based on sensor data and road network information to avoid or pass through events, using altered virtual boundaries and confidence-level assessments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If driverless vehicles autonomously navigate unpredictable events using limited information, then navigation capability is improved, but safety and reliability deteriorate due to potential adverse impacts and lack of sufficient information
Solution Approach 1:
A teleoperations system acts as an intermediary between the driverless vehicle and human operators. When the vehicle encounters unpredictable events beyond its autonomous decision-making capability, the system transmits sensor data and event information to remote operators who provide guidance and control inputs, ensuring safe navigation while maintaining autonomous operation during normal conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary assessment of events using sensor data and confidence-level assessments before autonomous navigation. By evaluating whether events are within the vehicle's autonomous handling capability in advance, the system can proactively seek human operator assistance only when necessary, maintaining both safety and navigation capability
2Reliability
If driverless vehicles manually intervene or adjust speed significantly to avoid events, then safety is improved, but productivity and travel efficiency deteriorate due to travel time disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The driverless vehicle autonomously handles navigation and event avoidance using its sensor suite and processing systems. By making autonomous decisions without requiring manual intervention or significant speed adjustments, the vehicle maintains travel efficiency while ensuring safety through its own onboard capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors sensor data and event developments to provide real-time feedback for autonomous decision-making. This closed-loop feedback enables the vehicle to adapt its navigation dynamically, maintaining both safety and travel efficiency by avoiding unnecessary speed adjustments or manual interventions
3Reliability
If driverless vehicles request teleoperations guidance for all events, then safety is improved, but device complexity and loss of time increase due to constant communication and manual intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle applies different operational qualities to different situations: full autonomous operation for predictable, routine events, and teleoperations-assisted navigation for unpredictable or high-risk events. This localized approach to operational mode selection reduces unnecessary communication overhead while maintaining safety when needed
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the level of autonomy based on event characteristics and confidence-level assessments. By dynamically adjusting the autonomy parameter rather than maintaining constant teleoperations contact, the system reduces communication complexity and time loss while preserving safety through selective human-in-the-loop engagement
Data Source
AI summary
A method for operating a driverless vehicle may include receiving, at the driverless vehicle, sensor signals related to operation of the driverless vehicle, and road network data from a road network data store. The method may also include determining a driving corridor within which the driverless vehicle travels according to a trajectory, and causing the driverless vehicle to traverse a road network autonomously according to a path from a first geographic location to a second geographic location. The method may also include determining that an event associated with the path has occurred, and sending communication signals to a teleoperations system including a request for guidance and one or more of sensor data and the road network data. The method may include receiving, at the driverless vehicle, teleoperations signals from the teleoperations system, such that the vehicle controller determines a revised trajectory based at least in part on the teleoperations signals.