Traffic Control Entity for Emergency Vehicle Passage
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Emergency vehicles often face delays and increased risk of collisions due to slow-reacting drivers in dense traffic, leading to potential fatal consequences and traffic congestion when trying to pass through groups of vehicles on public roads.
Innovation Solution
A traffic control entity capable of autonomous vehicle control detects approaching emergency vehicles and instructs other vehicles to adjust their positions, creating a passage for the emergency vehicle to pass safely and efficiently, reducing traffic disruptions and collision risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If emergency vehicles use audio and visual signals to alert drivers, then drivers can be notified to move aside, but reaction time is delayed and some drivers may not respond at all
Solution Approach 1:
The traffic control entity performs preliminary identification and selection of target vehicles before the emergency vehicle arrives. By pre-selecting which vehicles should move aside based on their current position and movement status, the system eliminates the delay caused by real-time driver reaction to sirens and lights. The command is issued proactively to vehicles that are most likely to comply and can move safely.
Solution Approach 2:
The traffic control entity acts as an intermediary between the emergency vehicle and the blocking vehicles. Instead of relying on emergency vehicle signals alone, the traffic control entity receives the emergency vehicle's location information, independently identifies suitable target vehicles, and issues authoritative movement commands. This intermediary role ensures more reliable and faster compliance compared to direct driver response to audio-visual signals.
2Speed
If emergency vehicles force their way through dense traffic, then they can maintain high speed, but the risk of collision increases substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the positions and movements of all vehicles in real-time. The traffic control entity receives updated location information from the emergency vehicle and adjusts its commands to target vehicles based on current traffic conditions. This feedback mechanism ensures that movement commands are issued only when safe, and the emergency vehicle's speed can be maintained without increasing collision risk.
Solution Approach 2:
The traffic control entity preliminarily assesses the safety of creating a passage by analyzing the movement status of surrounding vehicles before issuing commands. By pre-evaluating which vehicles can safely move aside and predicting their trajectories, the system ensures that the emergency vehicle can maintain high speed through a pre-clearance passage, minimizing collision risk.
3Reliability
If drivers manually move aside to create passage, then emergency vehicles can pass, but traffic flow is seriously disturbed and congestion may worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts lateral positions of vehicles in the group based on real-time conditions. Rather than requiring all vehicles to move uniformly, the traffic control entity selectively commands specific vehicles to move to specific lateral positions, creating an optimized passage that minimizes disruption to overall traffic flow while ensuring emergency vehicle passage.
Solution Approach 2:
The traffic control entity applies different movement commands to different vehicles based on their individual positions and characteristics. Instead of a uniform response from all drivers, the system identifies specific target vehicles and assigns them specific lateral movement tasks, creating a localized passage that minimizes broad traffic disruption while achieving the emergency passage goal.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a traffic control entity (100) for controlling a group of vehicles (104) capable of autonomous driving without requiring a driver, to allow an emergency vehicle (102) to pass the group of vehicles (104) which are travelling concurrently in multiple lanes on a road. When detecting that the emergency vehicle (102) is approaching the group of vehicles (104) e.g. from behind, the vehicles in the group (104) are identified based on information (108) about current position and movement of the vehicles (104). The traffic control entity (100) then issues a command (106) instructing the identified vehicles to adjust their lateral positions relative the lanes to create a passage along the group of vehicles (104). Thereby, the emergency vehicle (102) is able to move through the passage without having to slow down significantly.