Vehicle Course Selection for Stable Fork and Merge Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle control systems face instability in generating a target course when a road forks or merges, due to changes in lane number, lane line breakage, and lane width, as well as interference from other vehicles during traffic congestion, which hinders reliable lane line detection.
Innovation Solution
A course generation apparatus that includes environmental information acquisition, route generation, and prohibition-section determination units to select between satellite-positioned and camera-detected courses, ensuring stability by prioritizing GNSS-based routes during forking or merging sections and switching to camera-based routes when satellite positioning reliability is low.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If camera-based lane line detection is used for course generation, then the vehicle can follow the detected lane lines accurately, but the detection becomes unstable when the road forks or merges, causing lane line breakage and unreliable course generation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines satellite positioning information with camera-based lane line detection to create a hybrid course generation system. The course generation unit integrates the vehicle position from satellite positioning with detected lane lines to generate a target course, allowing the system to maintain stability in forking and merging sections where pure camera detection fails.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces satellite positioning as an intermediary element that mediates between the camera detection system and the course generation process. When lane lines are difficult to detect or ambiguous in forking/merging sections, the satellite positioning data serves as a reliable reference to determine the vehicle's position and generate an appropriate target course.
2Reliability
If satellite positioning is used for course generation, then the vehicle position can be determined without relying on lane line detection, but positioning errors are relatively large and reliability deteriorates under poor radio wave conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges satellite positioning data with camera-based lane line detection results in the course generation unit. This combination allows the system to leverage the stability of satellite positioning while correcting its precision limitations using accurate visual lane line information when available, achieving both reliability and measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses camera-based lane line detection as a feedback mechanism to verify and refine satellite positioning data. When lane lines are clearly detectable, the system uses this visual feedback to confirm the vehicle's position and adjust the target course accordingly, reducing the impact of satellite positioning errors.
3Measurement precision
If the system relies on clear lane line detection for course generation, then accurate target course can be generated in normal sections, but other vehicles blocking the lane lines during traffic congestion prevent reliable detection and course generation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses satellite positioning as an intermediary reference system that operates independently of visual lane line conditions. During traffic congestion when other vehicles block lane lines, the system switches to relying on satellite positioning data to determine vehicle position and generate the target course, maintaining adaptability across different traffic conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts its reliance on different data sources based on detection conditions. In normal sections with clear lane lines, it prioritizes camera-based detection for precision. In congested sections where lane lines are blocked, it dynamically switches to satellite positioning, demonstrating adaptability to varying traffic environments.
Data Source
AI summary
There has been a problem that because in a section where a road forks from a main lane or merges the main lane, the number of lanes increases or decreases, breakage of a lane line and existence of other vehicles hinder the lane line from being read and hence generation of a target course becomes unstable. A course generation apparatus according to the present disclosure is provided with a prohibition-section determination unit that determines, in the case of forking from a main lane or merging with the main lane, that a present section is an environmental-information-course usage prohibition section, until a time when a vehicle position passes through a forking completion point or a merging completion point, and with a course selection unit that selects an environmental information course or a route-information course in a normal time and selects the route-information course in the environmental-information-course usage prohibition section.