Vehicle Hazard Warning System for Obstructed Line of Sight
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Hazards in roadways pose significant safety risks due to difficulty in detecting them until it's too late, especially when line of sight is obstructed, leading to increased collision risks among vehicles attempting to avoid the hazard.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising sensors, a processor, and a transmitter that detects potential hazards and generates messages including location, velocity, and heading information, which are wirelessly transmitted to nearby vehicles to alert them of the hazard, allowing for earlier evasive action and coordination to avoid collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vehicles rely on direct line of sight to detect hazards, then detection simplicity is maintained, but detection reliability deteriorates when line of sight is obstructed by other vehicles, road contours, or infrastructure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary hazard detection system consisting of sensors, processors, and transmitters that detect hazards and communicate them to nearby vehicles. This mediator system allows vehicles to detect hazards beyond their direct line of sight by receiving information from other vehicles' sensing systems, thereby improving detection reliability without requiring each vehicle to have complex omnidirectional sensing capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple sensing systems, processors, and communication systems into an integrated hazard warning network where vehicles share detection data. By merging individual vehicle sensing capabilities into a collective system, the overall detection reliability improves while individual vehicle complexity remains manageable
2Reliability
If vehicles maintain larger safety distances to avoid hazards, then collision risk with hazards is reduced, but productivity deteriorates due to reduced roadway capacity and increased travel time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables preliminary hazard detection by transmitting warning messages from vehicles that detect hazards to approaching vehicles before they reach the hazard location. This early warning allows vehicles to take preventive evasive actions in advance, reducing the need for excessive safety distances while maintaining collision avoidance reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where hazard detection information is continuously transmitted to nearby vehicles, which then adjust their positions and speeds accordingly. This real-time feedback enables dynamic safety distance adjustment, allowing vehicles to maintain smaller distances when hazards are detected and communicate this information to others, thereby improving roadway throughput while maintaining safety
3Reliability
If multiple vehicles attempt to avoid the same hazard independently, then individual vehicle safety is improved, but collision risk between vehicles increases due to conflicting avoidance maneuvers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback communication between vehicles attempting to avoid hazards. When a vehicle detects a hazard and plans evasive maneuvers, it transmits this information to nearby vehicles through the warning system. Other vehicles receive this feedback and can adjust their own avoidance maneuvers to coordinate with the first vehicle, preventing conflicting actions that could lead to inter-vehicle collisions
Solution Approach 2:
The hazard warning system acts as an intermediary communication channel that coordinates avoidance maneuvers between multiple vehicles. By providing a common information platform, the system enables vehicles to understand each other's intended actions and adjust their maneuvers accordingly, reducing the risk of collisions between vehicles while maintaining individual safety
Data Source
AI summary
Systems for automatically warning at least one nearby vehicle of a potential safety hazard in or near a roadway, including one or more sensors configured to detect a potential safety hazard in or near a roadway; a memory containing computer-readable instructions for generating a message including at least one of a location of the one or more sensors and a location of the potential safety hazard; a processor configured to read the computer-readable instructions from the memory and generate the message; and a transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit the message to at least one nearby vehicle. Systems for coordinating actions of a first vehicle and a second vehicle upon detection of a potential safety hazard in or near a roadway, including in part evaluating whether the actions conflict and, if so, requesting that the first vehicle execute alternative actions for avoiding or mitigating risk of collision. Corresponding methods are disclosed.