Patent Application
20230169871
The present disclosure relates to an obstacle avoidance system for platooning and a method thereof. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an allochronic obstacle avoidance system for platooning and a method thereof.
No matter what the field of logistics and freight transportation or transport, man-hours and manpower allocation are important considerations of operating costs. If a plurality of vehicles have autonomous capability with vehicle platoon following, they can effectively improve operation and carrying efficiency. Because the use of autonomous vehicle platoon can reduce the need for manpower, and commercial transport has relatively simple application scenes, many vehicle manufacturers have invested in the development of autonomous vehicles platoon and hope to achieve commercial autonomous vehicle platoon following as soon as possible.
In a conventional autonomous vehicle platoon following, each autonomous vehicle needs to be equipped with a large number of sensing devices to provide environment perception and positioning ability, thereby having the problems of high cost and excessive calculation amount. In addition, the conventional autonomous vehicle platoon following has no message sharing, and it is impossible to plan a trajectory in advance. Moreover, the free space required by the conventional autonomous vehicle platoon following for the obstacle avoidances of multiple vehicles at the same time needs to meet the space required by each following vehicle at the same time so as to perform the obstacle avoidance. However, the free space required by each following vehicle at the same time is too conservative, and the operating range is too small. Therefore, an allochronic obstacle avoidance system for platooning and a method thereof which are capable of dynamically adjusting the free space, implementing the decision of allochronic obstacle avoidance, taking into account safety and reasonableness and being more intelligent are commercially desirable.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an allochronic obstacle avoidance system for platooning is configured to decide an obstacle avoidance of a leading vehicle and at least one following vehicle. The allochronic obstacle avoidance system for platooning includes a sensing device, a leading vehicle processing unit, at least one following vehicle processing unit and a cloud processing unit. The sensing device is disposed on the leading vehicle and configured to sense an obstacle in a surrounding environment of the leading vehicle to generate an obstacle position and an obstacle speed. The leading vehicle processing unit is disposed on the leading vehicle and signally connected to the sensing device. The leading vehicle processing unit is configured to transmit a leading vehicle parameter group including the obstacle position, the obstacle speed, a leading vehicle position and a leading vehicle speed. The at least one following vehicle processing unit is disposed on the at least one following vehicle and configured to transmit at least one following vehicle parameter group including at least one following vehicle position and at least one following vehicle speed. The cloud processing unit is signally connected to the leading vehicle processing unit and the at least one following vehicle processing unit, and receives the leading vehicle parameter group and the at least one following vehicle parameter group. The cloud processing unit is configured to implement a cloud deciding step including performing a free-space predicting step and an allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step. The free-space predicting step is performed to predict a leading vehicle free space and at least one following vehicle free space according to the leading vehicle parameter group and the at least one following vehicle parameter group. The allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step is performed to decide the obstacle avoidance of the leading vehicle and the at least one following vehicle according to the leading vehicle free space and the at least one following vehicle free space.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an allochronic obstacle avoidance method for platooning is configured to decide an obstacle avoidance of a leading vehicle and at least one following vehicle. The allochronic obstacle avoidance method for platooning includes performing a cloud deciding step. The cloud deciding step includes performing a free-space predicting step and an allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step. The free-space predicting step is performed to configure a cloud processing unit of an allochronic obstacle avoidance system to predict a leading vehicle free space and at least one following vehicle free space according to a leading vehicle parameter group and at least one following vehicle parameter group. The allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step is performed to configure the cloud processing unit to decide the obstacle avoidance of the leading vehicle and the at least one following vehicle according to the leading vehicle free space and the at least one following vehicle free space. The cloud processing unit is signally connected to a leading vehicle processing unit and at least one following vehicle processing unit of the allochronic obstacle avoidance system and receives the leading vehicle parameter group and the at least one following vehicle parameter group. The leading vehicle processing unit is signally connected to a sensing device of the allochronic obstacle avoidance system. The leading vehicle processing unit and the sensing device are disposed on the leading vehicle. The sensing device is configured to sense an obstacle in a surrounding environment of the leading vehicle to generate an obstacle position and an obstacle speed. The leading vehicle processing unit is configured to transmit the leading vehicle parameter group including the obstacle position, the obstacle speed, a leading vehicle position and a leading vehicle speed. The at least one following vehicle processing unit is disposed on the at least one following vehicle and configured to transmit the at least one following vehicle parameter group including at least one following vehicle position and at least one following vehicle speed.
The present disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
The embodiment will be described with the drawings. For clarity, some practical details will be described below. However, it should be noted that the present disclosure should not be limited by the practical details, that is, in some embodiment, the practical details is unnecessary. In addition, for simplifying the drawings, some conventional structures and elements will be simply illustrated, and repeated elements may be represented by the same labels.
It will be understood that when an element (or device) is referred to as be “connected to” another element, it can be directly connected to the other element, or it can be indirectly connected to the other element, that is, intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as be “directly connected to” another element, there are no intervening elements present. In addition, the terms first, second, third, etc. are used herein to describe various elements or components, these elements or components should not be limited by these terms. Consequently, a first element or component discussed below could be termed a second element or component.
Please refer to
The sensing device 210, the leading vehicle processing unit 220, the leading vehicle positioning device 230 and the leading vehicle communicating device 240 are disposed on the leading vehicle 200. The sensing device 210 is configured to sense the obstacle 110 in a surrounding environment of the leading vehicle 200 to generate an obstacle position and an obstacle speed. In one embodiment, the sensing device 210 may be a lidar, a radar or a camera, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The leading vehicle processing unit 220 is signally connected to the sensing device 210, the leading vehicle positioning device 230 and the leading vehicle communicating device 240. The leading vehicle processing unit 220 is configured to transmit a leading vehicle parameter group 222. The leading vehicle parameter group 222 includes the obstacle position, the obstacle speed, a leading vehicle position and a leading vehicle speed. The leading vehicle positioning device 230 is configured to position the leading vehicle 200 to generate the leading vehicle position, such as a global positioning system (GPS). The leading vehicle communicating device 240 is configured to enable the leading vehicle processing unit 220 to communicate with the outside and generate a leading vehicle driving parameter, such as cellular vehicle-to-everything (CV2X). In addition, the leading vehicle parameter group 222 includes the leading vehicle position, the leading vehicle driving parameter, a vehicle load, a chassis parameter, a leading vehicle speed, a leading vehicle acceleration, the obstacle position, the obstacle speed, a current lane identification and a map message. The current lane identification is one of current lane road attributes. For example, the leading vehicle 200 driven in an inner lane of a two lane road can be defined as the current lane identification equal to 1, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
The at least one following vehicle processing unit 310, the at least one following vehicle positioning device 320 and the at least one following vehicle communicating device 330 are disposed on the at least one following vehicle 300. The at least one following vehicle processing unit 310 is signally connected to the at least one following vehicle positioning device 320 and the at least one following vehicle communicating device 330. The at least one following vehicle processing unit 310 is configured to transmit at least one following vehicle parameter group 312. The at least one following vehicle parameter group 312 includes at least one following vehicle position and at least one following vehicle speed. The at least one following vehicle positioning device 320 is configured to position the at least one following vehicle 300 to generate the at least one following vehicle position, such as GPS. The at least one following vehicle communicating device 330 is configured to enable the at least one following vehicle processing unit 310 to communicate with the outside and generate at least one following vehicle driving parameter, such as CV2X. In addition, the at least one following vehicle parameter group 312 includes at least one following vehicle position, the at least one following vehicle driving parameter, at least one vehicle load, at least one chassis parameter, the at least one following vehicle speed, at least one following vehicle acceleration, at least one current lane identification and at least one map message, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The at least one following vehicle 300 is not equipped with a sensing device, thus greatly reducing the cost of equipment and the calculation amount of each of the at least one following vehicle processing unit 310.
The cloud computing platform 400 includes a cloud processing unit 410. The cloud processing unit 410 is signally connected to the leading vehicle processing unit 220 and the at least one following vehicle processing unit 310, and receives the leading vehicle parameter group 222 and the at least one following vehicle parameter group 312. The cloud processing unit 410 is configured to implement a signal receiving step S01, a cloud deciding step S02 and a trajectory speed planning step S03. The signal receiving step S01 is “Receiving vehicle request signal?”, and represents that confirming whether to receive a vehicle request signal. If yes, receiving a vehicle parameter group (e.g., the leading vehicle parameter group 222 or the at least one following vehicle parameter group 312) and performing the cloud deciding step S02. If no, performing the signal receiving step S01 again. Moreover, the cloud deciding step S02 includes performing a free-space predicting step S022 and an allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024. The free-space predicting step S022 is performed to predict a leading vehicle free space and at least one following vehicle free space according to the leading vehicle parameter group 222 and the at least one following vehicle parameter group 312. The allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024 is performed to decide the obstacle avoidance of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 according to the leading vehicle free space and the at least one following vehicle free space. The trajectory speed planning step S03 is performed to configure a trajectory generating module to generate obstacle avoidance trajectories and obstacle avoidance speeds of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 according to an obstacle avoidance decision of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 in the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024. “allochronic obstacle avoidance” of the present disclosure represents the obstacle avoidance of all vehicles of a vehicle platoon at different time points in the same direction. Therefore, the allochronic obstacle avoidance system 100 for platooning of the present disclosure utilizes the cloud to perform the free-space predicting step S022 and the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024, so that each of the at least one following vehicle 300 of the vehicle platoon dynamically adjusts the free space according to the relationship between each vehicle and the obstacle 110, and decides the obstacle avoidance of each vehicle according to the free space of each vehicle. The present disclosure can not only reduce the cost of equipment and the calculation amount of each of the at least one following vehicle processing unit 310, but also more safely and reasonably avoid the obstacle 110 to achieve a more intelligent autonomous mode.
Please refer to
The free-space predicting step S022 is performed to configure the cloud processing unit 410 of the allochronic obstacle avoidance system 100 for platooning to predict a leading vehicle free space and at least one following vehicle free space according to the leading vehicle parameter group 222 and the at least one following vehicle parameter group 312. In detail, the free-space predicting step S022 includes a plurality of steps S022a, S022b, S022c, S022d, S022e, S022f.
The step S022a is “Following distance/relative speed between following vehicle and adjacent vehicle”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to calculate a following distance and a first relative speed between the at least one following vehicle 300 and another following vehicle 300 adjacent to the at least one following vehicle 300 according to the leading vehicle position, the leading vehicle speed, the at least one following vehicle position, the at least one following vehicle speed and the current lane identification.
The step S022b is “Collision distance/relative speed between following vehicle and obstacle”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to calculate a collision distance and a second relative speed between the at least one following vehicle 300 and the obstacle 110 according to the obstacle position, the obstacle speed, the following distance and the first relative speed.
The step S022c is “Nearest obstacle position/speed in target lane”, and represents that configuring the sensing device 210 to sense a target lane obstacle (e.g., the target lane obstacle 110R in
The step S022d is “Relative speed between following vehicle and target lane obstacle”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to calculate a third relative speed between the at least one following vehicle 300 and the target lane obstacle according to the another obstacle position and the another obstacle speed. It is worth to mention that if the sensing device 210 does not sense the target lane obstacle (i.e., there is no obstacle in the target lane), the cloud deciding step S02 does not perform the steps S022c, S022d.
The step S022e is “Predicting free space of host vehicle in obstacle avoidance time condition”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to predict the leading vehicle free space and the at least one following vehicle free space according to the following distance, the first relative speed, the collision distance, the second relative speed and the third relative speed. An obstacle avoidance time condition can be expressed in [0, Σ0≤k≤i-1 Tk+Ti] seconds. T1 represents an obstacle avoidance time of an ith vehicle, and 1=1˜N. N is the total number of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300, and T0=0. “i=1” corresponds to the leading vehicle 200, and “1=2˜N” corresponds to the at least one following vehicle 300.
The step S022f is “Dynamically updating vehicle free space”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to repeatedly perform the steps S022a, S022b, S022c, S022d, S022e to update the following distance, the first relative speed, the collision distance, the second relative speed and the third relative speed, and then dynamically update the leading vehicle free space and the at least one following vehicle free space according to the updated following distance, the updated first relative speed, the updated collision distance, the updated second relative speed and the updated third relative speed.
The allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024 is “Does free space meet obstacle avoidance time/space conditions?”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to decide the obstacle avoidance of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 according to the leading vehicle free space and the at least one following vehicle free space. In other words, the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024 is performed to confirm whether the free spaces meet the obstacle avoidance time condition and an obstacle avoidance space condition. If yes, performing the trajectory speed planning step S03. If no, performing the vehicle platoon following instead of the obstacle avoidance. In addition, the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024 can further include “Obstacle moving direction/trajectory in t seconds in the future”, and represents that predicting an obstacle movement intention result according to the obstacle position and the obstacle speed. The obstacle movement intention result corresponds to a moving direction and a moving trajectory of the obstacle in t seconds in the future. Therefore, the allochronic obstacle avoidance method 500 for platooning of the present disclosure utilizes the cloud to perform the free-space predicting step S022 and the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024, so that each of the at least one following vehicle 300 of the vehicle platoon dynamically adjusts the free space according to the relationship between each vehicle and the obstacle 110, and decides the obstacle avoidance of each vehicle according to the free space of each vehicle. The present disclosure can not only reduce the cost of equipment and the calculation amount of each of the at least one following vehicle processing unit 310, but also more safely and reasonably avoid the obstacle 110 to achieve a more intelligent autonomous mode.
Please refer to
The step S2a is “Providing obstacle message by sensing device”, and represents that configuring the sensing device 210 to rotate from 0 degrees to 360 degrees at a unit angle Δθ (angle resolution) to sense the obstacle 110 to obtain an obstacle message (e.g., the obstacle position and the obstacle speed). In one embodiment, the unit angle Δθ may be 1 degree, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
The step S2b is “Generating Cartesian coordinate in 360 degrees”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to generate a Cartesian coordinate of the obstacle 110 relative to the leading vehicle position in 360 degrees according to the obstacle message.
The step S2c is “Converting into polar coordinate to obtain nearest obstacle distance message in unit angle”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to convert the Cartesian coordinate into a polar coordinate. The polar coordinate includes a nearest obstacle distance message expressed in a unit distance Δr (distance resolution). In one embodiment, the unit distance Δr may be 0.01 m, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
The step S2d is “Superimposing lane width message at free distance according to map message”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to predict the leading vehicle free space SFR_L according to a map message and the nearest obstacle distance message. In other words, the cloud processing unit 410 is configured to obtain a lane width message and a free distance by the map message and the nearest obstacle distance message, and then superimpose the lane width message at the free distance according to the map message to predict the leading vehicle free space SFR_L.
The step S2e is “Outputting variable messages in 4×8 matrix”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to express the leading vehicle free space SFR_L in a 4×8 matrix, and outputs the leading vehicle free space SFR_L to the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S024 for use. In detail, the leading vehicle free space SFR_L includes a plurality of obstacle free positions and a plurality of variable messages corresponding to the obstacle free positions. The number of the obstacle free positions corresponds to “8” of “4×8”. The obstacle free positions includes a left front obstacle position P01, a front obstacle position P02, a right front obstacle position P03, a left obstacle position P04, a right obstacle position P05, a left rear obstacle position P06, a rear obstacle position P07 and a right rear obstacle position P08. In addition, the variable messages include one of an obstacle position message (corresponding to “Vehicle in lane” in
For example, in
Please refer to
The step S4a is “Providing obstacle message by leading vehicle”, and represents that configuring the sensing device 210 disposed on the leading vehicle 200 to rotate from 0 degrees to 360 degrees at a unit angle Δθ (angle resolution) to sense the obstacle 110 to obtain an obstacle message (e.g., the obstacle position and the obstacle speed). In one embodiment, the unit angle Δθ may be 1 degree, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
The step S4b is “Establishing region-of-interest obstacle message according to relative relationship among obstacle, following vehicle and leading vehicle”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to establish a region-of-interest obstacle message according to the leading vehicle position, the leading vehicle speed, the at least one following vehicle position, the at least one following vehicle speed and the obstacle message. The region-of-interest obstacle message corresponds to the at least one following vehicle position.
The step S4c is “Generating Cartesian coordinate in 360 degrees”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to generate a Cartesian coordinate of the obstacle 110 relative to the at least one following vehicle position in 360 degrees according to the region-of-interest obstacle message.
The step S4d is the same as the step S2c of
For example, in
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The sensed distance comparing step S1242 is “D>DP?”, and represents that comparing whether a sensed distance D of the sensing device 210 is greater than a vehicle platoon length DP to generate a sensed distance compared result. The vehicle platoon length DP considers a control delay, a positioning delay and communicating delay of the vehicle platoon. If yes, performing the speed comparing step S1244. If no, not performing the obstacle avoidance.
The speed comparing step S1244 is “Vt<VP?”, and represents that comparing whether the obstacle speed Vt is smaller than the leading vehicle speed VP to generate a speed compared result. If yes, performing the free space confirming step S1246. If no, not performing the obstacle avoidance.
The free space confirming step S1246 is “Does vehicle meet target lane space/time?”, and represents that confirming whether one of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 meets a front distance condition and a rear distance condition of an obstacle avoidance space condition to generate a free space confirmed result. The front distance condition is that the front distance DTC>αVi. The rear distance condition is that the rear distance DTH>βDsafe-i. i is one of values from 1 to N, and α and β may be set to 3 and 1.5, respectively, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The front distance DTC represents a collision distance between a position (0,0) of one of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 and a position (xfo,yfo) of the obstacle 110. The obstacle 110 is located in front of the one of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300. The rear distance DTH represents a distance between a position (xro,yro) of the target lane obstacle 110R and the position (0,0) of the one of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300. The target lane obstacle 110R is located in rear of the one of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300. The target lane obstacle 110R has a speed Vro, and the target lane has a lane width d. Dsafe-i represents a safety distance of an ith vehicle and can be determined by an ith vehicle load, an ith vehicle speed, an environmental factor and a previous testing experience. Vhost represents a speed of the one of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 at the position (0,0). SFR_L, SFR_F represent the leading vehicle free space and the following vehicle free space, respectively. The cloud processing unit 410 is configured to decide the obstacle avoidance of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 according to the sensed distance compared result, the speed compared result and the free space confirmed result.
In addition, the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S124 further includes performing an obstacle movement intention predicting step S1248. The obstacle movement intention predicting step S1248 is “Obstacle moving direction/trajectory in t seconds in the future”, and represents that predicting an obstacle movement intention result according to the obstacle position and the obstacle speed. The obstacle movement intention result corresponds to a moving direction and a moving trajectory of the obstacle (each of the obstacle 110 and the target lane obstacle 110R) in t seconds in the future. The obstacle movement intention predicting step S1248 is performed between the speed comparing step S1244 and the free space confirming step S1246, and the free space confirming step S1246 is performed according to the obstacle movement intention result of the obstacle movement intention predicting step S1248. In other words, the cloud processing unit 410 is configured to decide the obstacle avoidance of the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 according to the sensed distance compared result, the speed compared result, the free space confirmed result and the obstacle movement intention result. Therefore, the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S124 of the present disclosure decides the allochronic obstacle avoidance command via the cloud and considers the obstacle movement intention at the same time, so that the vehicle platoon may more safely and reasonably avoid the obstacle to achieve a more intelligent autonomous mode.
Please refer to
The obstacle avoidance safety confirming step S224a is “Detecting obstacle avoidance safety (free space, possible collision of incoming vehicle)”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to confirm whether the at least one following vehicle free space and a collision distance between the at least one following vehicle 300 and the obstacle 110 meet an obstacle avoidance safety condition to generate a safety confirmed result. In detail, the obstacle avoidance safety condition includes a predetermined safe space and a predetermined collision distance. In response to determining that the at least one following vehicle free space and the collision distance both meet the obstacle avoidance safety condition, the safety confirmed result is a first state State-1. In other words, in response to determining that the at least one following vehicle free space is greater than or equal to the predetermined safe space and the collision distance is greater than or equal to the predetermined collision distance, the safety confirmed result is “safe”. In addition, in response to determining that a part of the at least one following vehicle free space and the collision distance meets the obstacle avoidance safety condition, the safety confirmed result is a second state State-2. The at least one following vehicle processing unit 310 is configured to perform the obstacle avoidance cancellation vehicle returning step S224b. In other words, in response to determining that the at least one following vehicle free space is smaller than the predetermined safe space and the collision distance is greater than or equal to the predetermined collision distance, the safety confirmed result is “Dangerous but not emergency”. Moreover, in response to determining that the at least one following vehicle free space and the collision distance do not meet the obstacle avoidance safety condition, the safety confirmed result is a third state State-3, and the at least one following vehicle processing unit 310 is configured to perform the obstacle avoidance cancellation emergency braking step S224f to stop the vehicle platoon. In other words, in response to determining that the at least one following vehicle free space is smaller than the predetermined safe space and the collision distance is smaller than the predetermined collision distance, the safety confirmed result is “Dangerous and emergency”.
The obstacle avoidance cancellation vehicle returning step S224b is “Cancelling obstacle avoidance command of vehicle behind following vehicle j and planning vehicle to return to original lane”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to cancel the obstacle avoidance of vehicles from the following vehicle j to the following vehicle N-1 and plan the vehicles from the following vehicle j to the following vehicle N-1 to return to an original lane. j is one of values from 1 to N-1, and the at least one following vehicle 300 is composed of the vehicles from the following vehicle 1 to the following vehicle N-1.
The sense confirming step S224c is “Is vehicle behind following vehicle j within sensing range?”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to determine whether to stop the vehicle platoon according to a longitudinal distance between the leading vehicle 200 and the at least one following vehicle 300 and a sensed distance of the sensing device 210. In other words, the cloud processing unit 410 is configured to confirm whether the vehicles from the following vehicle j to the following vehicle N-1 are all within the sensed distance of the sensing device 210. If yes, performing the vehicle platoon restarting step S224d. If no, performing the vehicle platoon stopping step S224e.
The vehicle platoon restarting step S224d is “Configuring vehicle behind following vehicle j to follow vehicle platoon again and avoid obstacle” and “Configuring vehicle ahead following vehicle j-1 to brake to stop and wait until vehicle behind following vehicle j completes obstacle avoidance and restarts vehicle platoon following”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to drive the vehicles from the following vehicle j to the following vehicle N-1 to follow the vehicle platoon again and avoid obstacle, and control the leading vehicle 200 and the vehicles from the following vehicle 1 to the following vehicle j-1 to brake to stop and wait the vehicles from the following vehicle j to the following vehicle N-1. When the vehicles from the following vehicle j to the following vehicle N-1 complete the obstacle avoidance, restarting the vehicle platoon following.
The vehicle platoon stopping step S224e is “Releasing all autonomous vehicles to stop and waiting for rescue”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to control the leading vehicle 200 and all the following vehicle 300 to stop and waiting for rescue, i.e., stopping the vehicle platoon.
The obstacle avoidance cancellation emergency braking step S224f is “Cancelling obstacle avoidance command of vehicle behind following vehicle j and emergency braking”, and represents that configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to cancel the obstacle avoidance of the vehicles from the following vehicle j to the following vehicle N-1 and control the leading vehicle 200 and all the following vehicle 300 to brake to stop. Therefore, the present disclosure can utilize the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S224 to implement the decision of the following vehicle j of the vehicle platoon when the following vehicle j is disturbed during obstacle avoidance process and fails to follow the vehicle platoon. In addition, the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step S224 can use adaptive control according to different levels of the safety confirmed results to achieve a more intelligent autonomous mode.
In other embodiment, the obstacle avoidance safety confirming step S224a includes configuring the cloud processing unit 410 to confirm whether a collision time between the at least one following vehicle 300 and the obstacle 110 meets another obstacle avoidance safety condition to generate another safety confirmed result. The another obstacle avoidance safety condition includes a first predetermined collision time and a second predetermined collision time. The first predetermined collision time is smaller than the second predetermined collision time. In response to determining that the collision time is greater than or equal to the second predetermined collision time, the another safety confirmed result is “safe”. In response to determining that the collision time is greater than or equal to the first predetermined collision time and smaller than the second predetermined collision time, the another safety confirmed result is “Dangerous but not emergency”. In response to determining that the collision time is smaller than the first predetermined collision time, the another safety confirmed result is “Dangerous and emergency”, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
According to the aforementioned embodiments and examples, the advantages of the present disclosure are described as follows.
1. The allochronic obstacle avoidance system for platooning and a method thereof of the present disclosure utilize the cloud to perform the free-space predicting step and the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step, so that each of the at least one following vehicle of the vehicle platoon dynamically adjusts the free space according to the relationship between each vehicle and the obstacle, and decides the obstacle avoidance of each vehicle according to the free space of each vehicle. Accordingly, the present disclosure can not only reduce the cost of equipment and the calculation amount of each of the at least one following vehicle processing unit, but also more safely and reasonably avoid the obstacle to achieve a more intelligent autonomous mode. Moreover, the present disclosure can avoid the problems of high cost, excessive calculation amount, no message sharing and the need of the obstacle avoidances of multiple vehicles at the same time of a conventional technology.
2. The leading vehicle free-space predicting step and the following vehicle free-space predicting step of the present disclosure collect vehicle end messages via the cloud to predict and update the free space of each vehicle within a sensing range of the sensing device of the leading vehicle in real time.
3. The allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step of the present disclosure can decide the allochronic obstacle avoidance command via the cloud and consider the obstacle movement intention at the same time, so that the vehicle platoon can more safely and reasonably avoid the obstacle.
4. The present disclosure can utilize the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step to implement the decision of the following vehicle of the vehicle platoon when the following vehicle is disturbed during obstacle avoidance process and fails to follow the vehicle platoon. In addition, the allochronic obstacle avoidance deciding step can use adaptive control according to different levels of the safety confirmed results to achieve a more intelligent autonomous mode.
Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
