CN113766417A

CN113766417A - Method for providing reference data, control method, device, computer program and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN113766417A
Application number: CN202110584738.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: C·阿萨夫; O·平克
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 2020-05-27
Filing date: 2021-05-27
Publication date: 2021-12-07
Also published as: DE102020206633A1

Abstract

A method for providing reference data of at least one reference vehicle to a first providing system is proposed, wherein position data of a plurality of reference vehicles are transmitted to a second providing system and position data of at least one test vehicle are transmitted to the first providing system, having the following steps: providing, by the second providing system, the position data of the reference vehicle to the first providing system; comparing, by the first providing system, current location data of the at least one test vehicle with co-temporal location data of the plurality of reference vehicles to determine at least one reference vehicle at a current location of the at least one test vehicle; transmitting the reference data from the second providing system to the first providing system if at least one reference vehicle has been determined at the current location of the at least one test vehicle.

Description

Method for providing reference data, control method, device, computer program and storage medium

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method for providing reference data of at least one reference vehicle, a method for operating a vehicle, a device, a computer program and a machine-readable storage medium.

Background

Different types of reference data are required for the development, assurance, evaluation and verification of algorithms and systems for partially and fully automated driving, and for training machine learning methods (e.g. deep learning) for partially and fully automated driving. These reference data are in particular a marked sample of sensor data measured in the (partially) autonomous vehicle and a record with "Ground Truth" data which represent a description of the actual vehicle environment as accurate as possible. These reference data are usually acquired in a targeted manner during the test run (eingefahren) and are often manually annotated, which nowadays already constitutes a large cost component in the development of driver assistance functions.

The creation of the "ground truth" is usually carried out by means of special experimental carriers equipped with sensing means that are qualitatively better than the system to be tested. For example, a combination of lidar, radar, and video may be used as a reference for developing pure video AEB functionality. A disadvantage of this method is that usually only small test fleets can be equipped with the sensing device.

Another known possibility is to use a "rabbit vehicle" (Hasenfahrzeugen) which is equipped with a communication device and an accurate measuring device and transmits these data to the test vehicle, for example, via a fixed communication channel.

The disadvantage of this method is that only a single, predefined scenario can be calibrated, but new, interesting scenarios in the field cannot be discovered.

Disclosure of Invention

One possibility to reduce costs is to use an existing fleet of reference vehicles to generate the reference data. That is, if one of the fleet's reference vehicles is accidentally in the vicinity of the test vehicle, that reference vehicle may be used as the test vehicle's reference vehicle without manual annotation. The larger the number of such reference vehicles, the more reference data can be generated.

Many businesses targeted to develop automated driving functions have their own small fleet of only a few hundred vehicles. For these companies, there is a cost advantage over manual annotation by accessing fleet reference data. The supplier of the reference data can be compensated by these companies for this advantage (verg ü ten). On the other hand, there are a large number of OEMs and major fleet operators, some of which have no own interest in developing automated driving functions. Some of these companies (or possibly also private) can provide their location data for a fee as reference data.

Apart from the cost aspect, the mere data collection by means of small test fleets is often not sufficient for the development of automated driving functions: it is simple to obtain 99.99% of all driving situations and develop a function that can grasp them. The last 0.01% of special cases are acquired requiring several times the road kilometer, and the less likely a situation is to occur, the more road kilometers are required to "go through" the situation at least once. For this reason, there is a need for a method for data collection that uses data from a larger fleet of vehicles, such as a full family fleet of OEMs.

With the help of a switching platform (vermitlungspintform), reference data of one or more fleets of reference vehicles can be used for the enterprise developing test vehicles. These reference data may be used to develop, safeguard, evaluate, and validate algorithms and systems from the location data and/or sensor data of other vehicles. The data are not transferred directly from vehicle to vehicle (V2X) but via a backend server (cloud).

According to various aspects of the invention, a method for providing reference data of at least one reference vehicle, a method for operating a vehicle, a device, a computer program and a machine-readable storage medium are specified. Advantageous configurations are also given below.

Throughout the description of the present invention, the order of the method steps is shown so that the method is easy to understand. However, one skilled in the art will recognize that many of the method steps can also be performed in a different order and result in the same or corresponding results. In this sense, the order of the method steps may be changed accordingly. Some features are provided with a counter word in order to improve readability or make assignment more definite, but this does not mean to determine the presence of a feature.

According to one aspect, a method for providing reference data of at least one reference vehicle for a first provision system is proposed, wherein position data of a plurality of reference vehicles are transmitted to a second provision system and position data of at least one test vehicle are transmitted to the first provision system. The method comprises the following steps:

in one step, position data of the reference vehicle is provided to the first providing system by the second providing system.

In a further step, the current position data of the at least one test vehicle is compared with the simultaneous position data of the plurality of reference vehicles by the first provision system to determine the at least one reference vehicle at the current position of the at least one test vehicle.

In a further step, the reference data is transmitted from the second providing system to the first providing system if at least one reference vehicle has been determined at the current position of the at least one test vehicle.

The reference data here comprise reference position data (which have a higher accuracy than the position data) and/or further data of the reference vehicle.

The current position is determined by means of the current position data.

To generate the reference data, the reference vehicle is the following vehicle: these vehicles are provided for determining an exact position and for transmitting the position wirelessly to a second providing system.

The vehicle that should use the reference data of the reference vehicle is hereinafter referred to as a test vehicle. In this case, for example, test vehicles are involved which are on the road for functional verification in the context of a test activity. However, it is also possible for a series of vehicles to be subjected to an abnormal situation in normal operation, which should now be stored for functional checking and further development.

This approach has significant cost advantages over manually creating the reference data. Furthermore, the method is not limited to small fleets of vehicles using dedicated test vehicles. The method can be used in any series of vehicles, so that a very large number of situations can be obtained in the shortest time. This makes it possible to obtain rare situations that are interesting for the development of automated driving functions in a relatively short time.

Compared to known methods for the automated creation of reference data, for example by means of V2X, this method has the following advantages: this approach requires very little hardware in the third party vehicle. On the one hand, this is a further cost advantage, and on the other hand, the fleet available for reference data generation can thus be significantly larger again.

The following are sufficient for reference data generation: the vehicle is able to determine an accurate position, for example by means of a radar system, and/or by means of a global navigation satellite system and inertial sensing means; and the vehicle has a communication connection, for example by means of a mobile radio. Both radar sensors and mobile radio connections can be standard equipment in future new vehicles. This solution can be easily retrofitted into existing vehicles even through the interface connector and the driver's mobile phone.

Furthermore, the bandwidth required for the transfer of the reference data, in particular the vehicle position, is very low compared to other methods and can be further reduced by means of other aspects of the method.

The method for providing reference data can be used, for example, for verifying driver assistance functions. In other words, the method coordinates the provision of the reference data. For example, the method constantly detects in a database, for example, mobile providers of a fleet of delivery services

Location data of reference vehicles that determine an entire fleet of OEMs, etc. The position data can be read directly from the vehicle or first received wirelessly via, for example, the OEM's back-end server system (cloud) and then transmitted further. It is also possible to combine data from a plurality of such reference vehicle fleetsAnd (3) and (2).

The vehicle for which the reference data should be used is hereinafter referred to as a test vehicle. The present invention relates to a test vehicle which is driven around in the course of a test activity for functional verification. However, it is also possible for a series of vehicles to be subjected to an abnormal situation in normal operation, which should now be stored for functional checking and further development.

If reference data is now required for such a vehicle, the test vehicle likewise sends its position to the back-end server system (cloud). This searches the database for a reference vehicle in the environment of the test vehicle. If there are enough reference vehicles for performing the test, the server may query the reference vehicles for additional data, such as a more accurate location, vehicle identification VIN (and thus vehicle model, geometry, color, etc.).

These data require only low communication bandwidth. Additional environmental sensor data of the reference vehicle may also be transmitted if desired, and if the communication channel is sufficiently performance superior. Additionally, the reference data in the back-end server cloud may also be enriched by other data (e.g. other information in the form of lane information from a digital map).

According to one aspect, it is proposed that, for determining at least one reference vehicle at the current position of the at least one test vehicle, the position data of the at least one reference vehicle is checked to determine whether the at least one reference vehicle is located within a determined radius at the current position of the at least one test vehicle. That is to say, if the position data of the reference vehicle correspond with the position of the test vehicle with sufficient accuracy in order to detect the reference vehicle from the test vehicle, for example by means of a sensor system, the reference vehicle or the reference data of the reference vehicle are available at the current position of the test vehicle. Here, a typical distance between the test vehicle and the at least one reference vehicle may be 400m in all directions.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that vehicle data are transmitted from the at least one test vehicle to the first provision system if at least one reference vehicle has been determined at the current position of the at least one test vehicle. To this end, the first providing system may send a trigger signal to the test vehicle in order for the test vehicle to provide vehicle data.

The vehicle data can have, in this case, detailed data which are relevant for the particular test to be carried out with the respective test vehicle. The vehicle data can in particular have reference position data, at least one position of at least one reference vehicle detected by the test vehicle or other data which trigger a decision and/or test vehicle, which have a higher accuracy than the position data relating to the own position of the test vehicle.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that, if at least one reference vehicle has been determined at the current position of the at least one test vehicle, reference data are transmitted from the at least one reference vehicle to the second provision system.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that the first providing system sends a trigger signal for providing the reference data to the second providing system if the first providing system identifies an available reference vehicle at the current position of the test vehicle.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that, if at least one reference vehicle has been determined at the current position of at least one test vehicle, reference position data of the reference vehicle are provided to the first provision system by means of the second provision system.

Here, the reference position data can have a higher position accuracy than the position data.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that the reference data have reference position data and/or vehicle data of the reference vehicle and/or an identification number of the reference vehicle, for example a chassis number (VIN and thus vehicle model, geometry, color, etc.), and/or lane information from a digital map.

According to one aspect, the vehicle data have reference position data and/or other detailed measurement data and/or sensor data of the test vehicle.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that the reference vehicle determines its position by means of a radar system and/or a global navigation satellite system and/or an acceleration sensor and transmits the position wirelessly, for example by mobile radio, to the second provision system.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that the first providing system and the second providing system are part of an overall providing system.

According to one aspect, reference data is provided from at least one reference vehicle to the test vehicle.

According to one aspect, the reference data of the reference vehicle are provided to a third provision system by the first provision system, wherein the test vehicle is coupled to the third provision system corresponding to the first provision system described above. The position data of the test vehicle can be provided to the first provision system by means of the third provision system.

According to one aspect, provision of the reference data for the test vehicle of the third provision system is compensated or compensated by the operator of the third provision system for the operator of the first provision system and/or the first provision system calculates the compensated value.

According to one aspect, the first and second providing systems are provided by means of a back-end server system, and the back-end server system is provided for wirelessly exchanging data with a plurality of reference vehicles and/or wirelessly exchanging data with at least one test vehicle.

According to one aspect, the first providing system requests reference data in the reference vehicle by means of the second providing system. The request can take place in the form of a trigger signal.

According to one aspect, the transmission of vehicle data from the at least one test vehicle to the first supply system is carried out in a time-staggered manner. In particular, for example, a test vehicle may transmit vehicle data after reaching a fixed location such as a garage.

According to one aspect, the reference data is read directly from the test vehicle and/or received via the cloud of the OEM and then transferred further.

According to one aspect, in addition to a second provision system, for example an OEM, a plurality of further provision systems, for example further OEMs, are signally coupled to the first provision system for providing further reference data of further reference vehicles for the at least one test vehicle, which further provision systems each have further reference vehicles.

Thus, the method is not fixed to a single supplier or OEM, but rather is capable of accessing reference data for multiple OEMs in parallel. Thus, in the case of different OEM/fleet suppliers, a "second" offering system may be offered n times, and the first offering system queries all other offering systems for the appropriate reference vehicle or reference data.

Thus, the location data may be read directly from the vehicle or first received via a cloud, for example the cloud of the OEM, and then further transferred. Data from multiple fleets of vehicles may also be merged.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that the second providing system calculates an amount of economic compensation for providing the reference data to the first providing system.

According to one aspect, it is proposed that the second providing system negotiates with the first providing system an amount of economic compensation for providing the reference data.

Such compensation may be a cash payment. In other words, the fleet operator of the reference vehicle can first provide the less accurate and in particular anonymous position data of its reference vehicle for compensation by means of the method in order to be able to carry out a position comparison with the test vehicle. As long as there are enough reference vehicles available in the current environment of the test vehicle for the test vehicle, the complete reference data of the reference vehicle can be recalled and the operator of the fleet is thus compensated. The reference data may further be communicated to the user who pays the operator of the first providing system for these reference data (possibly together with an exchange fee).

The use of reference data of at least one reference vehicle of a plurality of reference vehicles for testing and/or verifying a system of a test vehicle for object identification and/or for verifying a system of a test vehicle for object localization is proposed, which reference data are provided by a second provision system to the first provision system in accordance with one of the above-described methods.

According to one aspect, the application and/or further processing of the reference data takes place directly in the test vehicle. For this purpose, the reference data must be transmitted to the test vehicle.

According to one aspect, the comparison of the data of the test vehicle and the reference data is carried out in a first provision system. For this purpose, the comparison data of the test vehicle must be transmitted to the first provision system. This is only for a short period of time, although a higher amount of data is required. In particular, this can also be done at a later point in time, for example in a garage via a WLAN.

According to one aspect, the comparison of the data of the test vehicle with the reference data is carried out in a third provision system.

According to one aspect, reference data of a plurality of providing systems are combined in order to be able to take into account a larger number of reference vehicles.

According to one aspect, a plurality of reference vehicles at the current position of at least one test vehicle are provided to the test vehicle by means of a first provision system. In this case, the test vehicle can be provided with a sufficient amount of information available for the reference vehicle, so that the required comparison data can be determined by the test vehicle.

A method is proposed, in which control signals for controlling an at least partially automated vehicle are provided on the basis of reference data provided according to one of the above-mentioned methods; and/or provide a warning signal for warning a vehicle occupant based on the provided reference data.

The term "based on" should be interpreted broadly with respect to the following features: in accordance with one of the above-described methods, a control signal is provided based on the provided reference data. The term should be understood in this way that, depending on the provided reference data, any determination or calculation for the control signal can be considered, corresponding to one of the methods described above, wherein this does not exclude the use of other input variables for the determination of the control signal also being considered. This applies accordingly to the provision of the warning signal.

An apparatus is proposed, which is arranged to carry out one of the above-mentioned methods.

A computer program is proposed, which comprises instructions which, when the computer program is implemented by a computer, cause the computer to carry out one of the above-mentioned methods. Such a computer program enables the described method to be used in different systems.

A machine-readable storage medium is proposed, on which the above-mentioned computer program is stored. The computer program is made transportable by means of such a machine-readable storage medium.

Drawings

Embodiments of the present invention are illustrated with reference to fig. 1-3 and are further set forth below. The figures show:

fig. 1 illustrates an information flow of a method for providing reference data;

FIG. 2 illustrates the information flow for the exchange of reference data;

fig. 3 shows the information flow for verifying the identification of an object by means of reference data of a reference vehicle.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 schematically outlines the information flow of a method for providing a first providing system 220 with reference data of at least one reference vehicle 120, wherein location data of a plurality of reference vehicles 120 is transmitted to a second providing system 240S30 and location data of at least one test vehicle 100 is transmitted to the first providing system 220S 20.

In step S10, the position data of the reference vehicle 120 is provided to the first providing system 220 by the second providing system 240. In a further step S20, the current position data of the at least one test vehicle 100 is compared with the position data of a plurality of reference vehicles 120 at the same time by the first providing system 220 to determine the at least one reference vehicle 120 at the current position of the at least one test vehicle 100.

In a further step S34, if at least one reference vehicle 120 has been determined at the current location of the at least one test vehicle 100, the reference data is transmitted from the second providing system 240 to the first providing system 220. To provide the location data, the first providing system 220 may send a trigger signal to the second providing system 240S32 if at least one reference vehicle 120 has been determined at the current location of at least one test vehicle 100. In order to provide the location data of the reference vehicle 120, the second providing system 240 may send a trigger signal to at least one reference vehicle 120 so that the reference vehicle 120 transmits the location data of the reference data to the second providing system 240S 10.

If at least one reference vehicle 120 has been determined at the current location of at least one test vehicle 100, the first providing system 220 may trigger the test vehicle 100S24 to provide reference location data and other detailed measurement data and/or sensor data.

First offering system 220 and second offering system 240 may be part of overall offering system 200.

In other words, all reference vehicles 120, e.g., a fleet of OEMs, continuously transmit their location and/or identification data (e.g., chassis numbers) to the second provisioning system 240(OEM cloud) S10. The second providing system further transfers the position data to the first providing system 220S30, especially anonymously and possibly with low accuracy. The test vehicle (own vehicle) 100 also continuously transmits its position data to the first providing system 220S 20. The first providing system 220 now searches for the reference vehicle 120 in the environment of the test vehicle 100. If a reference vehicle is found, detailed measurements are requested (triggered) in the test vehicle 100 for verification S22S 24, and an accurate reference location and identification of the reference vehicle 120 is requested in the second providing system 240S32, which the second providing system 240 then provides to the first providing system 220S 34.

Fig. 2 schematically outlines the information flow for the exchange of reference data. Here, the reference data is collected by the first providing system 220 from the second providing system 240 and the fourth providing system 260. The reference data thus collected is provided by the first providing system 220 to the third providing system 280. In this case, the at least one test vehicle is signal-wise coupled to the third supply system, as already described above with respect to the first supply system 220 and the test vehicle. So that possible tests can be performed by means of the third providing system 280. For this example, neither the reference vehicle 120 or the fleet of reference vehicles coupled to the third providing system 280 nor the first providing system 220 are needed. Here, the second providing system 240 and the fourth providing system 260 can be compensated for the provision of the reference data, and the first providing system can be compensated for the exchange and further transfer of the reference data by the operator of the third providing system 82.

Fig. 3 schematically outlines the information flow of an example of the application of the method in the verification of object identification. The environmental perception of the test vehicle (own vehicle) 100 identifies the reference vehicle 120 traveling ahead, the accuracy of which should be checked by means of the reference data of the method. To this end, the test vehicle 100 continuously transmits its position (x, y) to the first providing system 220S 20. The reference vehicle 120 transmits its position data to the second providing system 240S 10. The particularly anonymous and possibly less accurate position of the reference vehicle 120 is further transferred from the second providing system 240 to the first providing system 220S 30. The first providing system 220 recognizes, by means of these position data of the reference vehicle 120, that the reference vehicle 120 is present in the environment of the test vehicle 100, and provides reference data S34 by the second providing system 240 for the environmental trigger S32 of the test vehicle 100. The second providing system 240 provides an accurate reference position of the reference vehicle 21 traveling ahead and (possibly) the vehicle data S34. Now, the first providing system 220 triggers S22 to provide complete, detailed data of the environmental model in the test vehicle 100S 24. By means of the first provision system 220, the viewing position 300 of the test vehicle 100 can be compared with the reference position of the reference vehicle 120 traveling ahead.

By means of the method, for example, field verification or verification of new algorithms and/or systems can be carried out. For example, if a new method or system has been developed for object recognition from environmental sensors, the position of the reference vehicle in the environment of the system can be transferred from the second providing system to the first providing system, and the reference position can be compared there with the position of the new environmental recognition.

Claims

1. A method for providing reference data of at least one reference vehicle (120) to a first providing system (220), wherein position data of a plurality of reference vehicles (120) is transmitted to a second providing system (240) and position data of at least one test vehicle (100) is transmitted to the first providing system, the method having the steps of:

providing (S10), by the second providing system (240), the position data of the reference vehicle (120) to the first providing system (220);

comparing, by the first providing system (220), current location data of the at least one test vehicle (100) with location data of a plurality of reference vehicles (120) at the same time to determine at least one reference vehicle (120) at the current location of the at least one test vehicle (100);

transmitting (S30) the reference data from the second providing system (240) to the first providing system (220) if at least one reference vehicle (120) has been determined at the current location of the at least one test vehicle (100).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein vehicle data is transmitted (S20) from the at least one test vehicle (100) to the first providing system (220) if at least one reference vehicle (120) has been determined at the current location of the at least one test vehicle (100).

3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, if at least one reference vehicle (120) has been determined at the current location of the at least one test vehicle (100), the reference data is transmitted from the at least one reference vehicle (120) to the second providing system (240) (S10).

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, if at least one reference vehicle (120) has been determined at the current position of the at least one test vehicle (100), reference position data of the reference vehicle (120) is provided to the first providing system (220) by the second providing system (240) (S34).

5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first providing system (220) and the second providing system (240) are part of an overall providing system (200).

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the reference data is provided from the at least one reference vehicle (120) to the test vehicle (100).

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the reference data of the reference vehicle (120) is provided to a third providing system (280) by the first providing system (240) (S36), wherein the test vehicle (100) is coupled with the third providing system (280) corresponding to the first providing system (220), the position data of the test vehicle (100) being provided to the first providing system (220) by means of the third providing system (280) (S30 ").

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first providing system (220) requests reference data (S22) in the reference vehicle (120) by means of the second providing system (240).

9. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the second providing system (240) calculates an amount of economic compensation for providing the reference data to the first providing system (220).

10. Use of reference data of at least one reference vehicle (120) of a plurality of reference vehicles (120) for testing and/or validating a system of a test vehicle (100) for object identification and/or for validating a system of the test vehicle (100) for object localization, the reference data being provided by a second providing system (240) to a first providing system (220) corresponding to any of claims 1 to 9.

11. The method according to one of claims 1 to 9, wherein control signals for maneuvering the at least partially automated vehicle are provided based on the provided reference data; and/or provide a warning signal for warning a vehicle occupant based on the provided reference data.

12. A device arranged to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. A computer program comprising instructions which, when the computer program is implemented by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

14. A machine-readable storage medium on which a computer program according to claim 13 is stored.