VR Driver Alerts for Autonomous Vehicles on Challenging Streets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to effectively provide virtual reality (VR) alerts to drivers of autonomous vehicles when approaching challenging areas, and users face difficulties in obtaining real-time road conditions and event information for trip planning, making it cumbersome to assess road safety and potential hazards.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a VR environment that generates alerts for challenging streets, provides real-time road condition feeds through augmented or virtual reality displays, and allows users to experience events such as accidents or natural disasters in a VR setting, using sensors and cameras to gather data and present it in a photorealistic manner, while ensuring privacy by blurring out identifying information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the driver is watching a VR movie while the vehicle is driving autonomously, then the driver can relax and enjoy entertainment, but the driver cannot respond to challenging road conditions that require manual control
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors road conditions through sensors and determines complexity scores for upcoming areas. When a challenging area is detected, the system provides feedback to the driver through the VR display, interrupting the movie with an alert that requires driver acknowledgment. This feedback loop ensures the driver remains informed and capable of responding when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The VR display dynamically adjusts its content based on road conditions. During normal driving, the driver can watch movies freely. When approaching a challenging area, the system dynamically interrupts the entertainment content with safety alerts, creating a flexible system that adapts between relaxation and safety modes based on real-time conditions.
2Loss of information
If the system provides detailed information about road conditions and events, then users can make informed trip decisions, but the system becomes complex and difficult to operate
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions road condition information from traditional 2D map displays into an immersive 3D VR environment. Users can virtually walk through or fly over the route to visually inspect road conditions, construction areas, and potential hazards. This dimensional transformation makes complex information more intuitive and easier to comprehend without increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual copy of the physical road environment in the VR display. This virtual replica includes accurate representations of road conditions, construction zones, and geographic features. Users can interact with this copy to assess trip feasibility without physically being present, simplifying the decision-making process while maintaining information accuracy.
3Measurement precision
If the system captures and displays real-time images from vehicles ahead, then users can see actual road conditions, but privacy concerns arise from capturing identifying information
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the relevant road condition information from images captured by vehicles ahead, while deliberately removing or blurring out identifying information such as license plates, faces, and personal details. This extraction process separates useful data (road conditions, construction zones, traffic patterns) from sensitive personal information, maintaining accuracy while protecting privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system acts as an intermediary between the image capture system and the final display. It processes raw images through automated algorithms that identify and redact personal information before presenting the processed images to users. This intermediary layer ensures privacy protection is automatically applied without requiring manual intervention or user awareness of the privacy measures being taken.
Data Source
AI summary
The following relates generally to providing virtual reality (VR) alerts to a driver of an autonomous vehicle. For example, a vehicle may be driving autonomously while the driver is watching a VR movie (e.g., on a pair of VR goggles); the driver may then receive a VR alert recommending that the driver take control of the vehicle (e.g., switch the vehicle from autonomous to manual mode). The following also relates to generating a VR feed for presenting real-time road conditions so that a user may preview a road segment. The following also relates to generating a VR feed corresponding to an event (e.g., a vehicle collision, a crime, a weather event, and/or a natural disaster).