Autonomous Driving Lane Selection Using TTC for Safe Risk Stops
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous driving systems face safety challenges when encountering non-uniform road conditions, as they often rely solely on stopping on the lane, which can lead to collisions with following vehicles, especially when the road conditions are hazardous.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method for controlling autonomous driving that determines the safety of each lane based on traveling situations and positions, using a processor to calculate relative distances and times to collision, and applies weights to determine the highest safety lane for stopping, allowing for emergency maneuvers, minimum risk maneuvers, and control authority transitions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the autonomous driving system stops the vehicle on the current lane during minimum risk maneuver, then the vehicle can respond quickly to hazardous situations, but the vehicle may collide with following vehicles when road conditions are non-uniform
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary assessment of multiple candidate lanes before executing the stop maneuver. The processor calculates safety metrics for each potential lane in advance, identifying the safest stopping location before the vehicle actually stops, thereby preventing collisions with following vehicles while maintaining rapid response capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically selects the stopping lane based on real-time road conditions and surrounding vehicle positions. Instead of a fixed stopping rule, the processor continuously evaluates multiple lanes and adjusts the stopping location dynamically, choosing the lane with the highest safety metric that accommodates the vehicle without causing harm to following vehicles
2Reliability
If the autonomous driving system performs emergency maneuver without considering lane safety, then the vehicle can avoid immediate hazards, but the vehicle may create dangerous situations for other road users
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback from sensors that detect the presence and position of following vehicles. The processor uses this feedback information to adjust the emergency maneuver selection, choosing stopping lanes that do not place following vehicles at risk, thereby protecting both the autonomous vehicle and other road users
Solution Approach 2:
The system evaluates different lanes with different quality metrics based on local conditions. Each lane is assessed individually for its suitability as a stopping location, considering factors such as the presence of following vehicles, road geometry, and environmental conditions, allowing the system to select the locally optimal lane for safe stopping
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for controlling autonomous driving includes: a processor to determine a travelling situation and a lane position, and determine an autonomous driving control maneuver of a vehicle depending on the determination result, and a non-transitory storage medium to store a result calculated by the processor and a set of instructions executed by the processor. The processor determines a safety of each lane of a road on which the vehicle is travelling to control the vehicle to stop on a lane representing a highest safety, after starting a minimum risk maneuver of the autonomous driving control maneuver.