Autonomous Vehicle Trajectory Control for Road Irregularity Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current autonomous vehicle systems are not adequately equipped to avoid road irregularities such as potholes and bumps, which can compromise driving comfort and increase wear on vehicles and road surfaces, especially in situations where real-time data and precise navigation are lacking.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle system that employs sensors to detect road irregularities, determines the vehicle's position using GPS and lateral distance from road markings, and communicates with an external database to determine and adjust the vehicle's trajectory to avoid road irregularities, using processing means to steer the vehicle laterally around detected obstacles and evaluate the effectiveness of the avoidance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the vehicle uses basic steering control without road irregularity data, then the system complexity is low, but driving comfort deteriorates due to contact with bumps and potholes
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of road irregularities using sensors before the vehicle reaches them, and uses communication means to receive advance information from external databases about known irregularities. This allows the trajectory determination to proactively plan avoidance paths ahead of time, improving driving comfort without requiring complex real-time reactions
Solution Approach 2:
The processing means serves multiple functions: it determines trajectories for avoidance, evaluates whether avoidance was successful, and controls the steering system. The communication means both sends detection data to external databases and receives information from them. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity while maintaining high reliability
2Reliability
If the vehicle autonomously steers to avoid road irregularities, then driving comfort improves, but energy consumption increases due to continuous steering adjustments
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies steering adjustments only partially - only when and where road irregularities are detected ahead of the vehicle. The trajectory determination focuses steering actions specifically on avoiding identified bumps and potholes rather than continuous steering, and uses evaluation to confirm when avoidance is complete, thereby reducing unnecessary energy consumption while maintaining driving comfort
3Adaptability or versatility
If the vehicle collects and communicates road irregularity data to external databases, then collective avoidance capability improves, but data transmission time and communication overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The communication means sends road irregularity detection data to external databases in advance, allowing other vehicles to receive and utilize this information before encountering the same irregularities. This preliminary data sharing enables collective avoidance capability to improve over time without causing time delays during critical avoidance maneuvers, as the data is already available in external databases when needed
4Reliability
If the system continuously monitors and evaluates trajectory effectiveness, then avoidance reliability improves, but processing load and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The processing means continuously evaluates whether the determined trajectory successfully avoided road irregularities by monitoring vehicle position and comparing it with the planned path. This feedback mechanism provides reliable avoidance confirmation by detecting whether wheels contacted any irregularities, while keeping processing load manageable through focused evaluation of specific avoidance criteria rather than comprehensive analysis
Data Source
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AI summary
A vehicle (1), a vehicle system (2) and a method (100) for allowing a host vehicle to autonomously avoid road irregularities are provided. The system (2) communicates vehicle sensor data relating to detected road irregularities (5) and host vehicle position information with an external database (14). Processing means (15) are arranged to determine a trajectory (3) for the host vehicle (1) for which all wheels (7) of the host vehicle (1) are laterally displaced from one or more road irregularities (5) ahead of the host vehicle (1), and to autonomously steer the host vehicle (1) along the determined trajectory (3). The system is also arranged to evaluate whether all wheels (7) of the host vehicle (1) were laterally displaced from all detected road irregularities (5) and to send the result of the evaluation to the external database (14).