Automated Vehicle Crowd Control With Adaptive Creep-Forward
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automated vehicles face challenges when encountering large crowds of pedestrians that obstruct their movement, particularly in the absence of traffic signals or when pedestrians ignore designated crossings, leading to prolonged stops and traffic disruptions.
Innovation Solution
An automated vehicle control system that detects pedestrians and traffic signals, uses a wait-interval before creeping forward after a signal change to a 'go' state, and employs a warning device to facilitate movement through the crowd.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the automated vehicle stops and waits for pedestrians to cross, then pedestrian safety is improved, but traffic flow deteriorates causing jams and disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the wait time based on real-time detection of pedestrian crowd characteristics. Instead of a fixed wait time, the controller monitors the steady stream of pedestrians and adjusts the wait interval dynamically, allowing the vehicle to creep forward when appropriate while maintaining safety. This resolves the contradiction by making the stopping behavior adaptive rather than static.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the time parameter (wait interval) based on detected pedestrian patterns. When a steady stream of pedestrians is detected for longer than a predetermined wait interval, the system modifies the waiting behavior to allow creeping forward. This parameter change enables the vehicle to maintain safety while improving traffic flow by preventing indefinite stopping.
2Reliability
If the automated vehicle stops indefinitely for crowds of pedestrians, then all pedestrians can cross safely, but vehicle mobility deteriorates causing traffic disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static indefinite stopping to dynamic adaptive waiting. The controller continuously monitors pedestrian flow and adjusts the vehicle's stopping behavior accordingly, enabling creeping forward when safety permits. This dynamic approach maintains pedestrian safety while significantly improving vehicle mobility and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from pedestrian detection sensors to continuously adjust waiting behavior. The controller receives information about the steady stream of pedestrians and uses this feedback to determine when to maintain stopping and when to allow creeping forward. This feedback mechanism resolves the contradiction by enabling safe yet mobile operation.
3Productivity
If the automated vehicle creeps forward through pedestrians, then traffic flow is improved, but risk of pedestrian injury increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection and assessment of pedestrian crowd conditions before allowing creeping forward. The controller detects the steady stream of pedestrians and evaluates the wait interval duration beforehand, ensuring that creeping forward only occurs when safety conditions are met. This preliminary action reduces pedestrian injury risk while enabling improved traffic flow.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system acts as an intermediary between the vehicle's movement system and the pedestrian environment. It mediates by detecting pedestrian patterns and translating them into appropriate vehicle responses, allowing creeping forward only when the intermediary assessment confirms safety. This intermediary function reduces harmful effects while maintaining productivity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system (10) for operating an automated vehicle in a crowd of pedestrians (14) includes an object-detector (16), optionally, a signal detector, and a controller (34). The object-detector (16) detects pedestrians (14) proximate to a host-vehicle (12). The signal-detector (18) detects a signal-state (20) displayed by a traffic-signal (22) that displays a stop-state (24) that indicates when the host-vehicle (12) should stop (38) so the pedestrians (14) can cross in front of the host-vehicle (12), and displays a go-state (26) that indicates when the pedestrians (14) should stop (38) passing in front of the host-vehicle (12) so that the host-vehicle (12) can go forward. The controller (34) is in control of movement of the host-vehicle (12) and in communication with the object-detector (16) and the signal-detector (18). The controller (34) operates the host-vehicle (12) to stop (38) the host-vehicle (12) when the stop-state (24) is displayed, and operates the host-vehicle (12) to creep-forward (40) after a wait-interval (42) after the traffic-signal (22) changes to the go-state (26) when the pedestrians (14) fail to stop (38) passing in front of the host-vehicle (12).