Vehicle Platoon Backup Trajectory for V2V Failure Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle platooning strategies face challenges in increasing safety and reducing complexity, particularly in handling abnormal situations and maintaining accurate inter-vehicle distances, which can lead to dangerous situations due to reliance on V2V communication alone.
Innovation Solution
A method that generates a backup trajectory using surroundings data, which is separate from the follower vehicle's sensors, allowing it to follow this trajectory upon predetermined conditions such as loss of communication or safety hazards, thereby ensuring a safe stop without relying solely on V2V communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If V2V communication is used for autonomous vehicle following, then inter-vehicle distance control is improved and fuel efficiency increases, but safety deteriorates in abnormal situations due to reliance on communication alone
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-generates a backup trajectory using sensor data before communication failure occurs. This preliminary action ensures that when V2V communication fails in abnormal situations, the follower vehicle immediately has a pre-computed safe path to follow, eliminating the safety gap that would otherwise exist during communication loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces sensor-based backup trajectory as an intermediary system that bridges the gap when V2V communication fails. The sensor data serves as a mediator that can independently determine safe trajectories without relying on the primary communication channel, thus improving reliability while maintaining the efficiency benefits of V2V platooning.
2Reliability
If sensor-based trajectory generation is implemented in follower vehicles, then safety in abnormal situations improves, but device complexity and hardware requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring follower vehicles to have their own sophisticated sensor systems for trajectory generation, the system creates a copy of the necessary trajectory information by having the lead vehicle generate and share the backup trajectory via V2V communication. This copying approach allows follower vehicles to obtain safe trajectory data without investing in complex sensor hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The backup trajectory generated by the lead vehicle serves multiple functions: it acts as a communication protocol element for normal operation and simultaneously serves as a safety backup for abnormal situations. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate safety systems in follower vehicles, thereby reducing overall device complexity.
3Device complexity
If the lead vehicle generates and shares backup trajectory via V2V communication, then follower vehicle complexity is reduced, but communication data requirements and transmission burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The backup trajectory data is structured with local quality characteristics, containing only the specific geometric and temporal parameters necessary for safe following (waypoints, speed profiles, timing information) rather than complete environmental maps or raw sensor data. This localized data structure reduces communication burden while still providing sufficient information for safety-critical operations.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for a string comprising a plurality of vehicles, including a lead vehicle (1) and at least one follower vehicle (2), comprising the follower vehicle (2) following, by means of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, the lead vehicle (1) in a follower trajectory. The method comprises - generating surroundings data, regarding the surroundings of at least a part of the string, - generating, using the surroundings data, a backup trajectory (BT1), which is different from the follower trajectory, - wherein the generated backup trajectory (BT1), or the surroundings data, is received by at least one of the at least one follower vehicle, - wherein the receiving follower vehicle (2) follows the generated backup trajectory (BT1), upon a determination of a predetermined condition for following the generated backup trajectory (BT1).