Vehicle Control Interface for Ambiguous Moving Direction Detection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing autonomous driving systems lack accurate determination of a vehicle's moving direction, which is crucial for precise control and safe operation, especially when wheel rotation directions are ambiguous or the vehicle is stationary.

Innovation Solution

A vehicle control interface determines the moving direction of the vehicle based on the majority rule of wheel rotation directions and provides signals indicating 'Forward', 'Reverse', 'Standstill', or 'Undefined' to the autonomous driving system, ensuring accurate communication of the vehicle's state.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If wheel rotation directions are used to determine vehicle moving direction, then the autonomous driving system can obtain motion information, but the accuracy is insufficient when wheel rotation directions are ambiguous or the vehicle is stationary

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemoving direction determination accuracyVSAvoidsignal accuracy under ambiguous conditions
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies majority rule voting among multiple wheel encoders to determine vehicle moving direction. Instead of relying on a single wheel's rotation signal, the system collects rotation direction data from multiple wheels and determines the vehicle's moving direction based on the majority vote. This partial action approach (using only the majority consensus rather than all individual signals) resolves ambiguous cases where some wheels may provide conflicting or unreliable signals, thereby improving measurement precision and reliability under ambiguous conditions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

2Adaptability or versatility

If the autonomous driving system is externally attached to the vehicle main body, then system integration is achieved, but accurate communication of vehicle state signals is required

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem integration capabilityVSAvoidvehicle state signal accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the vehicle control interface continuously monitors wheel rotation directions from multiple encoders and provides corrected moving direction signals to the autonomous driving system. The system compares individual wheel rotation signals, identifies discrepancies or ambiguous states, and generates accurate moving direction feedback based on majority consensus. This feedback loop ensures that the externally attached autonomous driving system receives reliable vehicle state information, preventing information loss despite the distributed system architecture.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP3858700B1vehicle
Publication Date: 2025.07.02 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK
  • EP3858700B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3858700B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3858700B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

When a vehicle control interface (110) receives information indicating "Standstill" from a VP (120), the vehicle control interface (110) sets a value 2 in a signal indicating an actual moving direction (a signal indicating a moving direction of a vehicle (10)). When the number of wheels rotating in a forward rotation direction is larger than two, the vehicle control interface (110) sets a value 0 in the signal indicating the actual moving direction. When the number of wheels rotating in a reverse rotation direction is larger than two, the vehicle control interface (110) sets a value 1 in the signal indicating the actual moving direction. When the number of wheels rotating in the forward rotation direction is equal to the number of wheels rotating in the reverse rotation direction, the vehicle control interface (110) sets a value 3 in the signal indicating the actual moving direction. The vehicle control interface (110) provides the signal indicating the actual moving direction to an ADK (200).