Vehicle Control Apparatus for Safe Relocation During Sensor Abnormality
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automatic travel control systems for vehicles lack sufficient safety measures to ensure safe movement in case of abnormalities, particularly for occupants who cannot drive, such as aged or disabled persons, as emergency stopping alone is insufficient to prevent accidents or safely relocate the vehicle.
Innovation Solution
A control apparatus for vehicles performing automatic travel control, which includes a search section to find external units providing assist information, an acquisition section to acquire this information, and a processing section to perform assist travel control by complementing missing information, allowing the vehicle to be safely moved to a safe location using alternative information from external sources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If emergency stop control is implemented when information becomes unavailable due to abnormality, then vehicle safety is improved, but the vehicle cannot be safely relocated to a safe place outside the road
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an external unit (such as a roadside assistance system or cloud-based service) as an intermediary to provide alternative information when the vehicle's own sensors fail. This external unit acts as a mediator that supplies missing travel control information, enabling the vehicle to be relocated safely without requiring the driver to take over control.
Solution Approach 2:
The control apparatus is designed to perform multiple functions: it can execute normal automatic travel control using the vehicle's own sensors, switch to emergency stop control when sensors fail, and additionally execute relocation control by utilizing information from external units. This multi-functionality allows the system to adapt to different abnormality scenarios and ensure both safety and relocatability.
2Extent of automation
If automatic travel control is implemented without licensed driver intervention, then automation level is improved, but safety measures must be enhanced for occupants who cannot drive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements beforehand cushioning by preparing multiple fallback control modes in advance: normal automatic travel control, emergency stop control, and relocation control. When abnormalities occur, the system can smoothly transition between these pre-prepared modes without requiring driver intervention, thus cushioning the safety risks for occupants who cannot drive.
Solution Approach 2:
The control apparatus continuously monitors the availability of travel control information and the vehicle's operational state. When information becomes unavailable due to abnormality, the system detects this through feedback mechanisms and automatically switches to appropriate fallback control modes, ensuring continuous safety monitoring and response without driver involvement.
Data Source
AI summary
A control apparatus is used in a vehicle that performs automatic travel control. The apparatus includes a search section which searches for an external unit, when information used for the automatic travel control is no longer available due to abnormality, the external unit providing assist information for complementing missing information that is the information no longer available due to the abnormality, an acquisition section which acquires the assist information from the external unit obtained as a result of the search of the search section, and a processing section which performs a process for performing assist travel control, which is the automatic travel control as a result of complementing the missing information with the assist information.