Vehicle-Fixed Occupancy Grids for Extended Road-User Tracking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing automated vehicles face challenges in tracking and predicting the behavior of road users, particularly in complex urban environments, due to limited sensor range and field of view, which complicates reliable path planning and collision avoidance.

Innovation Solution

A method involving vehicle-specific sensors to create a vehicle-fixed occupancy grid, transmitting data to a backend server for transformation into a global occupancy grid, and sharing this information among vehicles to enhance tracking and prediction capabilities, enabling extended environmental modeling beyond sensor limits.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If automated vehicles use only their own sensor range for environmental detection, then device complexity is reduced, but the area of detection is limited and reliability of path planning deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvereliability of path planningVSAvoiddetection area
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSArea of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent combines sensor data from multiple automated vehicles to create a unified environmental model. Each vehicle's occupancy grid is merged with others through coordinate transformation and data fusion, allowing the system to achieve both extended detection area and high reliability through collective sensing capabilities

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The backend server acts as an intermediary that collects, transforms, and distributes environmental data from multiple vehicles. It performs coordinate transformations to convert vehicle-specific occupancy grids into a common reference frame, enabling vehicles to access information beyond their own sensor range while maintaining data consistency and reliability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If automated vehicles share environmental data with a backend server, then information availability is improved, but data transmission time and processing complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation availabilityVSAvoiddata transmission time
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-transforming vehicle-specific occupancy grids into a common reference frame and pre-processing sensor data before transmission. This reduces the computational burden during real-time operation and minimizes data transmission time when vehicles need environmental information

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transforms data from vehicle-specific coordinate systems to a common reference frame, changing the parameter representation of spatial coordinates. This standardization enables efficient data sharing and reduces processing time by eliminating the need for real-time coordinate transformations during path planning

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentEP4238077B1Method for providing information about road users
Publication Date: 2025.10.15 MERCEDES BENZ GROUP AG
  • EP4238077B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4238077B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP4238077B1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

The invention relates to a method for providing information about road users (T1, T2) in a vehicle environment, which information is captured by means of in-vehicle sensors. According to the invention, the captured information is provided as data structures (D) representing vectors. Each vector is associated with a cell (B1 to Bn, BB1 to BBm) of a specified vehicle-fixed occupancy grid (B, BB), in which cell a road user (T1, T2) described by the information in question is located. Each vector comprises at least coordinates of an associated cell (B1 to Bn, BB1 to BBm), in which the road user (T1, T2) in question is located, a velocity vector, which represents a velocity (v) of the road user (T1, T2) in question, a timestamp, which represents a time (t1, t2) at which the road user (T1, T2) in question was sensed, and an object class, which represents a type of of the road user (T1, T2) in question. The invention also relates to a method for operating a vehicle (F1, F2) which can be automatedly operated.