This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0100676, filed on Aug. 27, 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a system and method of determining a risk situation of collision of an autonomous vehicle for preventing a collision between a traveling autonomous vehicle and a preceding vehicle, and particularly, to a method of determining a risk situation of collision of an autonomous vehicle, which considers situations where a collision is unable to be prevented by turning or braking.
An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that recognizes a road and automatically travels without driver control of a brake, a steering wheel, an accelerator pedal, and the like. An apparatus and an algorithm have been developed for recognizing a traveling environment for safe traveling, generating a traveling path, and recognizing an obstacle or a preceding vehicle and avoiding a collision with the obstacle or the preceding vehicle. However, the autonomous vehicle has a limit in detecting a risk situation and determining whether emergency braking is required without depending on a determination ability of a person in a situation where a driver is not within the vehicle.
A developed technology in the related art teaches a method and an apparatus for determining an emergency braking situation of a vehicle, and provides a method and an apparatus for determining an emergency braking situation of an autonomous vehicle by calculating, by a risk index calculating unit, a risk index based on an obstacle recognized by a sensor unit and correcting, by a risk index correcting unit, the risk index and determining whether emergency braking is required.
However, in the technology of the related art, the calculation of the risk index performs only the detection of a situation in which a collision with a preceding vehicle is avoidable by braking, and the process of correcting the risk index is implemented on the assumption that it is possible to avoid a collision by braking. Thus, an accident may not be prevented in a region, in which it is impossible to avoid a collision by braking.
The present invention provides a method of determining a risk situation of a collision with an autonomous vehicle, which considers a region where a collision with a preceding vehicle is unavoidable by turning a traveling direction of a traveling vehicle by steering or by reducing a speed of a traveling vehicle by braking as a risk situation.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a method of determining a risk situation of a collision of an autonomous vehicle that may include: recognizing, by a sensor unit, a preceding vehicle located in front of a traveling vehicle, and measuring a variable factor including a distance or a relative speed between the traveling vehicle and the preceding vehicle; and determining whether it is possible to avoid a collision by turning, in which a risk situation determining unit determines whether it is possible to avoid the collision with the preceding vehicle by turning a traveling direction by the traveling vehicle based on the variable factor, or determining whether it is possible to avoid the collision by braking, in which the risk situation determining unit determines whether it is possible to avoid the collision with the preceding vehicle by braking by the traveling vehicle based on the variable factor, in which when it is impossible to avoid the collision by the turning or the braking, the risk situation determining unit determines the situation as a risk situation.
The process of determining whether it is possible to avoid the collision by the turning may include determining, by the risk situation determining unit, that it is impossible to avoid the collision by the turning when γreq>γmax (γreq is a yaw rate requirement required for avoiding, by the traveling vehicle, the collision with the preceding vehicle, and γmax is a yaw rate limit obtainable by turning the traveling direction of the traveling vehicle on a road surface, on which the traveling vehicle is located).
The process of determining whether it is possible to avoid the collision by the braking may include determining, by the risk situation determining unit, that it is impossible to avoid the collision by the braking when Sreq<Sbrk (Sreq is a distance requirement required for avoiding, by the traveling vehicle, the collision with the preceding vehicle, and Sbrk is a movement distance after the traveling vehicle performs the braking).
The process of determining whether it is possible to avoid the collision by the turning may further include: calculating, by a calculating unit, the γmax based on a frictional coefficient of the road surface, on which the traveling vehicle is traveling, and a speed of the traveling vehicle; calculating, by the calculating unit, θreq (θreq is a transverse angle requirement required for avoiding, by the traveling vehicle, the collision with the preceding vehicle) and calculating the γreq; and comparing, by the risk situation determining unit, a value of the γmax with a value of the γreq).
Additionally, the process of determining whether it is possible to avoid the collision by the braking may include: calculating, by a calculating unit, the Sreq based on the distance; calculating, by the calculating unit, Sbrk based on the relative speed and a change in time to the collision calculated based on the relative speed; and comparing, by the risk situation determining unit, a value of the Sreq with a value of the Sbrk.
The calculating of the γreq may further include: calculating, by the calculating unit, a change in time to the collision based on the distance and the relative speed; and correcting, by a correcting unit, the change in time by reflecting state information regarding the traveling vehicle, and the state information regarding the traveling vehicle may be any one or more of the speed of the traveling vehicle, a speed of the preceding vehicle, and the frictional coefficient of the road surface on which the traveling vehicle is located. The calculating of the Sreq may further include correcting, by a correcting unit, the distance by reflecting state information regarding the traveling vehicle, and the state information regarding the traveling vehicle may be any one or more of the speed of the traveling vehicle, a speed of the preceding vehicle, and the frictional coefficient of the road surface.
According to the present invention including the foregoing configuration, a situation, in which it is impossible to avoid a collision by steering or braking, is determined, and thus, an accident risk of an autonomous vehicle may be decreased. Further, according to the present invention, when a risk situation is determined, a time and a distance taken to an actual collision may be corrected to secure driving stability. Further, according to the present invention, when a risk situation is determined, a condition of a road surface, on which a traveling vehicle is being driven, is considered, and thus, accuracy in the determination of the risk situation may be improved.
The above and other features of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings which are given hereinbelow by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar term as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such as passenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived from resources other than petroleum). As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that has two or more sources of power, for example both gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles.
Although exemplary embodiment is described as using a plurality of units to perform the exemplary process, it is understood that the exemplary processes may also be performed by one or plurality of modules. Additionally, it is understood that the term controller/control unit refers to a hardware device that includes a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store the modules and the processor is specifically configured to execute said modules to perform one or more processes which are described further below.
Furthermore, control logic of the present invention may be embodied as non-transitory computer readable media on a computer readable medium containing executable program instructions executed by a processor, controller/control unit or the like. Examples of the computer readable mediums include, but are not limited to, ROM, RAM, compact disc (CD)-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, flash drives, smart cards and optical data storage devices. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed in network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable media is stored and executed in a distributed fashion, e.g., by a telematics server or a Controller Area Network (CAN).
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Unless specifically stated or obvious from context, as used herein, the term “about” is understood as within a range of normal tolerance in the art, for example within 2 standard deviations of the mean. “About” can be understood as within 10%, 9%, 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%, 0.5%, 0.1%, 0.05%, or 0.01% of the stated value. Unless otherwise clear from the context, all numerical values provided herein are modified by the term “about.”
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the contents described in the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not restricted or limited by exemplary embodiments. Like reference numerals suggested in each drawing designate members which perform substantially the same functions.
The object and the effect of the present invention may be naturally understood or may become clearer through the description below, and the object and the effect of the present invention are not limited to the description below. In describing the present invention, a detailed explanation of a publicly known technology related to the present invention may be omitted so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the subject matter of the present invention.
The sensor unit 10 may be configured to sense traveling environment information of a traveling vehicle based on image information, laser sensing information, radar received information, and the like by utilizing an apparatus, such as a camera, a laser scanner, and a radar. However, the apparatus included in the sensor unit 10 is not limited thereto, and may include all of the sensors which are capable of detecting an environment around a vehicle. The calculating unit 20 may be configured to execute a series of calculation processes for determining a risk situation of a collision of an autonomous vehicle based on an equation pre-input based on the traveling environment information of the traveling vehicle recognized by the sensor unit 10, and derive a result value for determining the risk situation of the collision of the autonomous vehicle. In particular, the calculating unit 20 may be operated by a controller of the system.
The correcting unit 30 may be configured to correct a change in time to the collision and a distance to the collision by reflecting the traveling environment information, such as a speed of the traveling vehicle, a speed of the preceding vehicle, or a fractional coefficient of a road, on which the traveling vehicle is being driven, recognized by the sensor unit 10 during the process of deriving, by the calculating unit 20, the result value, thereby improving accuracy of the determination of the risk situation. The risk situation determining unit 40 may be configured to receive the information from the sensor unit 10, the calculating unit 20, or the correcting unit 30 and determine whether the traveling vehicle is capable of avoiding the collision with the preceding vehicle.
The method of transceiving the information by the sensor unit 10, the calculating unit 20, the correcting unit 30, or the risk situation determining unit 40 may be executed by a communication method such as controller area network (CAN) communication, but is not limited thereto.
Referring to
In the process of determining whether it is possible to avoid the collision by turning, when γreq>γmax, the risk situation determining unit 40 may be configured to determine that the collision is unavoidable by turning. Particularly, γreq means a yaw rate requirement required for avoiding, by the traveling vehicle, the collision with the preceding vehicle, and γmax means a yaw rate limit obtainable by turning a traveling direction of the traveling vehicle on a road surface, on which the traveling vehicle is being driven. Particularly, γmax may be calculated by Equation 1 below.
wherein, μ is a frictional coefficient of a road surface, on which the traveling vehicle is being driven, g is acceleration of gravity, and V is a speed of the traveling vehicle.
The determining of whether it is possible to avoid the collision by turning may further include process S311 of calculating, by the calculating unit 20, γmax with the Equation 1 based on a frictional coefficient of the road surface, on which the traveling vehicle is being driven, and a speed of the traveling vehicle, process S313 of calculating, by the calculating unit 20, θreq and calculating γreq, and process S315 of comparing, by the risk situation determining unit, a value of γmax with a value of γreq (γreq>γmax). In particular, θreq means a transverse angle requirement required for avoiding, by the traveling vehicle, the collision with the preceding vehicle, and may be calculated by Equation 2 below.
Referring to
Accordingly, the value of θreq may be calculated using the road width W greater than W′, or may be calculated by using a value between W′ and W. In addition, γreq may be calculated by Equation 3 below by using the value of θreq.
wherein, t is a time to the collision, and TSM is time for safety margin to avoid for correcting a change in time by reflecting state information regarding the traveling vehicle, which is to be described below. In other words, when γreq calculated by reflecting a current traveling situation measured by the sensor unit 10 is greater than γmax that is a maximum yaw rate obtainable through a linear behavior of the traveling vehicle under a current road surface condition, the traveling vehicle may be determined to be unable to avoid the collision with the preceding vehicle through the linear behavior by turning the traveling direction under the current road surface condition, and thus, the risk situation determining unit 40 may be configured to determine the situation as a risk situation (S317).
In the determination of whether it is possible to avoid the collision by braking, when Sreq<Sbrk, the risk situation determining unit 40 may be configured to determine that the collision by braking in unavoidable. Sreq is a distance requirement required for avoiding, by the traveling vehicle, the collision with the preceding vehicle, and Sbrk refers to a movement distance after the traveling vehicle performs the braking. Particularly, Sreq and Sbrk may be calculated by Equations 4 and 5 below.
Sreq=ΔS−DSM
Sbrk=|ΔV|×Δt−1/2μg×Δt2
wherein, DSM is a distance for safety margin to avoid for correcting a change in time by reflecting state information regarding the traveling vehicle, which is to be described below.
The determination of whether it is possible to avoid the collision by braking may further include: process S321 of calculating, by the calculating unit 20, Sreq based on the distance, process S323 of calculating, by the calculating unit 20, Sbrk based on the relative speed and a change in time to the collision calculated based on the relative speed; and process S325 of comparing, by the risk situation determining unit 40, the value of Sreq and the value of Sbrk (Sreq<Sbrk).
In other words, when the movement distance Sbrk after the braking of the traveling vehicle under the current road surface condition is greater than the distance Sreq required for avoiding the collision calculated by reflecting the current traveling situation measured by the sensor unit 10, the collision with the preceding vehicle may be determined to be unavoidable by the braking by the traveling vehicle under the current road surface condition, and thus, the risk situation determining unit 40 may be configured to determine the situation as a risk situation (S317).
As a result, both the process of determining whether it is possible to avoid the collision by turning and the process of determining whether it is possible to avoid the collision by braking may be performed, and thus, in response to determining that any one of the avoidance by turning and the avoidance by braking is impossible, the risk situation determining unit 40 may be configured to determine the situation as the risk situation (S317), and the routine of the present invention may be terminated.
Although not illustrated in the drawings, the present invention may further include a mechanism for handling a situation, in which it is impossible to avoid the collision by the turning or a general braking method, after the method of determining a risk situation of a collision of an autonomous vehicle of the present invention is terminated.
The state information regarding the traveling vehicle may be any one or more of the speed of the traveling vehicle, the speed of the preceding vehicle, and the frictional coefficient of the road surface, but is not limited thereto, and the state information regarding the traveling vehicle may further include the weight of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, tire pressure, brake pressure, and the like according to a device mounted to the sensor unit 10, and the state information regarding the traveling vehicle may be stored in the risk situation determining unit 40 as variable data. Particularly, γreq may be calculated by Equation below as previously described above.
In particular, TSM may be set by the variable data, and a value of Δt expected to be taken up to the actual collision is corrected and γreq is calculated to be greater than a yaw rate required for actually avoiding the collision to secure safety.
Sreq=ΔS−DSM
In particular, DSM may be set by the same method as that of TMS, and a value of ΔS to the actual collision is corrected and Sreq is calculated to be less than a distance required for actually avoiding the collision to secure safety.
In the foregoing, the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the representative exemplary embodiment, but those skilled in the art may understand that the exemplary embodiment may be variously modified without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention shall not be defined while being limited to the aforementioned exemplary embodiment, but shall be defined by all of the changes or modified forms derived from the equivalent concepts to the claims, as well as the claims to be described below.
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10-2018-0100676 | Aug 2018 | KR | national |
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20200062251 A1 | Feb 2020 | US |