CN114067607A

CN114067607A - Method and device for controlling an autonomous vehicle, vehicle and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN114067607A
Application number: CN202010776481.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 唐帅; 曲彤
Original assignee: Audi AG
Current assignee: Audi AG
Priority date: 2020-08-05
Filing date: 2020-08-05
Publication date: 2022-02-18

Abstract

A method and apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle, a vehicle, and a storage medium are provided. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring the area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in a group, wherein each vehicle in the group is a vehicle which is parked and waited in a first row on the same side of an intersection and has the requirement of accelerating to pass through the intersection; planning an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the acquired area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor of each vehicle, so that the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor leads the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and sharing the planned acceleration strategy among the vehicles within the group such that the vehicles within the group accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the planned acceleration strategy.

Description

Method and device for controlling an autonomous vehicle, vehicle and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of autonomous driving technologies, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle, a vehicle, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Background

In the related art, since the field of view of the sensor or the field of view of the driver of a vehicle waiting for parking in the first row on each side of the intersection has a blind spot (for example, the blind spot may be blocked by a vehicle in an adjacent lane), the vehicle may start accelerating without a pedestrian passing through the crosswalk, and a collision may be caused, which may cause an accident.

The approaches described in this section are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Similarly, unless otherwise indicated, the problems mentioned in this section should not be considered as having been acknowledged in any prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for controlling an autonomous vehicle is provided. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring the area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in a group, wherein each vehicle in the group is a vehicle which is parked and waited in a first row on the same side of an intersection and has the requirement of accelerating to pass through the intersection; planning an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the acquired area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor of each vehicle, so that the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group leads the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group in the corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and sharing the planned acceleration strategy among the vehicles within the group such that the vehicles within the group accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the planned acceleration strategy.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for controlling an autonomous vehicle is provided. The method comprises the following steps: determining whether a vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of an intersection and having a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection; in response to determining that the vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of the intersection and having a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection, acquiring an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of the vehicle and outputting corresponding area data; receiving an acceleration strategy associated with each vehicle in a group in which the vehicle is located, wherein the acceleration strategy is planned for each vehicle in the group by a server or other vehicles in the group based on an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in the group, and the acceleration strategy is capable of enabling a vehicle with a large unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group to precede a vehicle with a small unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group during a corresponding acceleration in the intersection; and controlling the vehicle to accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the received acceleration strategy.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle is provided. The device includes: an acquisition unit configured to acquire an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in a group, each vehicle in the group being a vehicle that is waiting for parking in a first row on the same side of an intersection and has a demand to accelerate to pass through the intersection; the planning unit is configured to plan an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the acquired area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor of each vehicle, so that the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group leads the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group in the corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and a sharing unit configured to share the planned acceleration strategy among the vehicles within the group so that the vehicles within the group accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the planned acceleration strategy.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle is provided. The device includes: a determination unit configured to determine whether a vehicle is in a state of waiting for parking in a first row of an intersection and having a demand for acceleration to pass through the intersection; an output unit configured to acquire an area of an unobstructed sensor covered area of the vehicle and output corresponding area data in response to determining that the vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of the intersection and having a demand to accelerate to pass through the intersection; a receiving unit configured to receive an acceleration strategy associated with each vehicle in a group in which the vehicle is located, wherein the acceleration strategy is planned for each vehicle in the group by a server or other vehicles in the group based on an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in the group, and the acceleration strategy is capable of leading a vehicle with a large area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group to a vehicle with a small area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group during a corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and a control unit configured to control the vehicle to accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the received acceleration policy.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle is provided. The device includes: a processor, and a memory storing a program. The program includes instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the methods described in the present disclosure.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle according to the present disclosure.

According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program is provided. The program includes instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the methods described in the present disclosure.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the exemplary implementations of the embodiments. The illustrated embodiments are for purposes of illustration only and do not limit the scope of the claims. Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a vehicle acceleration scenario at an intersection;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling an autonomous vehicle in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an unobstructed sensor coverage area of a vehicle at an intersection according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an acceleration curve planned for each vehicle within a fleet in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for controlling an autonomous vehicle in accordance with another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle in accordance with another exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an application scenario for a motor vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the use of the terms "first", "second", etc. to describe various elements is not intended to limit the positional relationship, the timing relationship, or the importance relationship of the elements, and such terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. In some examples, a first element and a second element may refer to the same instance of the element, and in some cases, based on the context, they may also refer to different instances.

The terminology used in the description of the various described examples in this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, if the number of elements is not specifically limited, the elements may be one or more. Furthermore, the term "and/or" as used in this disclosure is intended to encompass any and all possible combinations of the listed items.

For example, as shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a vehicle acceleration scene at an intersection, when the state of a traffic light at the intersection is changed from red to green, a vehicle 2 waiting for parking in the first row on the side of the intersection facing the traffic light may not know that there is a pedestrian on a crosswalk at the time because the field of view of a sensor is blocked by a vehicle 3 of an adjacent lane, and thus when it is accelerated according to the above-mentioned change of the traffic light, there may be a case where the pedestrian collides with the vehicle shown in fig. 1 at a corresponding position of the crosswalk, thereby causing an accident to occur, and bringing a high risk to the automatic driving of the vehicle.

In view of the above, the present disclosure provides a method for controlling an autonomous vehicle, which may plan an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in a group according to an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in the group, so that a vehicle in the group with a large area of a corresponding unobstructed sensor coverage area leads a vehicle with a small area of a corresponding unobstructed sensor coverage area during a corresponding acceleration process in an intersection, wherein each vehicle in the group is a vehicle that is parked and waiting in a first row on the same side of the intersection and has a demand for acceleration to pass through the intersection. In this way, when each vehicle in the group accelerates based on the planned acceleration strategy, since the vehicle having a relatively large unobstructed sensor coverage area (i.e., the vehicle having a relatively large effective sensor field of view) is ahead of the vehicle having a relatively small unobstructed sensor coverage area (i.e., the vehicle having a relatively small effective sensor field of view) during the entire acceleration process, i.e., the acceleration behavior of the vehicle having a relatively small effective field of view is limited by the acceleration behavior of the vehicle having a relatively large effective field of view, the occurrence of an accident caused by the vehicle having a blocked field of view can be avoided to a large extent, and the safety of vehicle driving can be improved.

The method for controlling an autonomous vehicle of the present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a method for controlling an autonomous vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the method may include:

step S201: the area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in the group is obtained, and each vehicle in the group is a vehicle waiting for parking in the first row on the same side of the intersection and having the requirement of accelerating to pass through the intersection.

In the present disclosure, the intersection may be any type of intersection such as an intersection, a t-junction, and the like. Taking an intersection of the intersection type as an example, the intersection may have four sides (e.g., four sides of east-west-south-north) in different directions, and each side may have two lanes with opposite traveling directions, one being a lane facing the intersection (a first lane) and the other being a lane away from the intersection (a second lane). Accordingly, the first row of parking-waiting vehicles on the respective side of the intersection described in this disclosure refers to vehicles that are first row parking-waiting in a first lane (each lane may specifically include two or more lanes of the same type) on the respective side of the intersection. For these first row parking waiting vehicles on the corresponding side of the intersection, when determining that the vehicles themselves have the need to accelerate to pass through the intersection, communication connections can be established between each other through a mobile network, Wi-Fi or bluetooth or the like to realize Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication so as to form the group disclosed by the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, in the present disclosure, the obtained area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle may be an area of the sensor coverage area, which is obtained by each vehicle based on road surface sensing of a set area of the intersection by the respective sensor and is not obstructed by other vehicles in the group, wherein the set area may be the entire area in front of the corresponding vehicle at the intersection or a pedestrian crossing area (e.g., zebra line area, yellow grid line area, etc.) near one side of the corresponding vehicle in the intersection.

Taking the vehicle 1, the vehicle 2 and the vehicle 3 at the intersection shown in fig. 3 as an example, when each of these vehicles senses that it is in a state of waiting for parking in the first row on the corresponding side of the intersection and having a demand for acceleration to pass through the intersection, it can perform road surface sensing on a set area of the intersection (for example, the entire area in front of the corresponding vehicle at the intersection) based on its own sensor to obtain the area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area of the vehicle. For example, as shown in fig. 3, the AREAs of the unobstructed sensor coverage AREAs sensed by the

vehicles

1, 2 and 3 can be represented as AREA 1, AREA 2 and AREA 3, respectively, and as can be seen from fig. 3, the relationship between the three can be AREA 3> AREA 1> AREA 2.

According to some embodiments, the road sensing may adopt various road sensing modes such as drivable space detection (drivable space detection), and in addition, the sensors based on which the road sensing is based may include one or more of an ultrasonic sensor, a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar (LiDAR), a camera (including a visual camera and/or an infrared camera), and the like.

In addition, each vehicle can output corresponding AREA data after sensing the AREA of the non-shielding sensor coverage AREA of the vehicle (for example, the vehicle 2 can output AREA 2 of 10m²Where the values referred to herein are merely examples), the output area data may be obtained by the subject device executing the exemplary method of the present disclosure, so as to obtain the area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle within the group.

It will be appreciated that the subject of execution of the exemplary method of the present disclosure may be a server (e.g., an online server or a cloud server) or a vehicle within a fleet (specifically, a controller of the respective vehicle) as long as it is capable of acquiring the area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle within the fleet and having the ability to process such data as described below to plan a respective acceleration strategy for each vehicle within the fleet.

In addition, in the present disclosure, each vehicle may determine a state in which it is in a first-row parking waiting at a side corresponding to an intersection and has a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection by:

(1) determining that the vehicle is parked waiting on a first row of the intersection by: according to surrounding environment data (such as objects around the vehicle, lane marking lines and the like) sensed by a sensor (such as one or more of an ultrasonic sensor, a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar, a camera and the like) of the vehicle, determining that no front vehicle exists and a stop line mark exists in a set range in front of the vehicle in a period of time no less than a set time length, wherein the set time length and the set range can be flexibly set according to actual conditions; and/or determining that the vehicle is positioned in the area range corresponding to the first row of the intersection within a time period not less than a set time period according to a map (such as a high-precision map and/or a highly automatic driving map) and position information of the vehicle sensed by a sensor (such as a global navigation positioning system (GNSS) sensor) of the vehicle; and

(2) determining that the vehicle is in need of acceleration to pass through the intersection according to the type (e.g., left turn, straight run, etc.) and the current state (e.g., red light, green light, etc.) of a traffic signal light at the intersection sensed by a sensor (e.g., a camera, a vehicle-associated-everything (V2X) module, etc.) of the vehicle and the navigation route of the vehicle. For example, if it is determined that the current state of the traffic light of the type of straight traveling at the intersection is a red light and the navigation route of the vehicle indicates that the vehicle needs to go straight through the intersection, it may be determined that the vehicle has a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection.

It can be understood that the navigation route of the vehicle is a route planned for the vehicle in a map by an automatic driving assistance system of the vehicle according to a starting position and a destination position of the vehicle, and is a common technology in the field of automatic driving, and is not described herein again.

Step S202: and planning an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the acquired area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor of each vehicle, so that the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group leads the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group in the corresponding acceleration process in the intersection.

According to some embodiments, planning an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the obtained area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle may include:

determining an acceleration finish line for each vehicle within the group; planning acceleration starting time (morning and evening influencing vehicle acceleration) and acceleration (speed influencing vehicle acceleration) for each vehicle in the group at least according to the determined acceleration finish line and the obtained area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor of each vehicle, wherein the acceleration starting time planned for the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor is earlier than the acceleration starting time planned for the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor, and/or the acceleration planned for the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor is larger than the acceleration planned for the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor; and planning an acceleration curve for each vehicle in the group according to the acceleration starting time and the acceleration planned for each vehicle in the group and the acceleration finishing line.

In other words, an acceleration curve with sequentially delayed and/or sequentially descending gradient starting points can be planned for each vehicle in the group according to the arrangement sequence of the areas of the coverage areas of the non-shielding sensors of each vehicle in the group from large to small. In addition, it should be noted that, in either of the above manners, when an acceleration strategy is planned for each vehicle in the group, it is necessary to keep the vehicle with a large area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group ahead of the vehicle with a small area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group during the corresponding acceleration in the intersection.

Additionally, it will be appreciated that vehicle self-parameters obtained for each vehicle within the fleet, which may include powertrain system parameters (e.g., parameters of components in the powertrain system, including but not limited to displacement, power, torque, or age of the engine, etc.) and/or historical behavior parameters (e.g., historical acceleration of the vehicle or historical degree of accelerator pedal depression, etc.), may also be considered in connection with planning a corresponding acceleration for each vehicle within the fleet. In this way, the magnitude of the acceleration planned for each vehicle within the group may not exactly coincide with the order of magnitude of the areas of unobstructed sensor coverage, but there are exceptions. For example, for a large vehicle (e.g., a bus or a freight vehicle) with a relatively large area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area, the planned acceleration may be equal to or slightly lower than a small vehicle (e.g., a private automobile) with a relatively small area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area, which will not be described in detail.

Further, in the present disclosure, the acceleration end line may be an end line of the intersection opposite to the side where each vehicle in the group is located (i.e., the acceleration process may be applied to the entire area of the intersection), or an end line of a pedestrian crossing area within the intersection near the side where each vehicle in the group is located (i.e., the acceleration process may be applied to the pedestrian crossing area near the vehicle within the intersection).

For example, still taking the vehicle 1, the vehicle 2 and the vehicle 3 shown in fig. 3 as an example, since the relationship among the AREAs of the unobstructed sensor coverage AREAs of the three may be AREA 3> AREA 1> AREA 2, the acceleration curves planned for the three may be as shown in fig. 4, the acceleration start time planned for the vehicle 3 is earlier (e.g., much earlier) than the acceleration start time planned for the vehicle 1, the acceleration start time planned for the vehicle 1 is earlier (e.g., slightly earlier) than the acceleration start time planned for the vehicle 2, the acceleration planned for the vehicle 3 is slightly higher (or approximately equal) than the acceleration planned for the vehicle 1 and the acceleration planned for the vehicle 1 is higher than the acceleration planned for the vehicle 2. This means that the acceleration curve planned for vehicle 3 always leads the acceleration curve planned for vehicle 1 and the acceleration curve planned for vehicle 1 always leads the acceleration curve planned for vehicle 2 over the entire acceleration range. Therefore, the acceleration behavior of the vehicle with a relatively small effective view field is always limited to the acceleration behavior of the vehicle with a relatively large effective view field, so that accidents caused by the fact that the view field of the vehicle is blocked can be avoided to a large extent, and the driving safety of the vehicle is improved.

Step S203: sharing the planned acceleration strategy among the vehicles within the group such that the vehicles within the group accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the planned acceleration strategy.

According to some embodiments, taking the execution subject of the exemplary method of the present disclosure as an example of a server, after planning a corresponding acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group, the server may send the planned acceleration strategy to each vehicle in the group through a corresponding communication link, so that each vehicle in the group shares and accelerates to pass through the intersection based on the shared acceleration strategy. According to other embodiments, if the execution subject of the exemplary method of the present disclosure is a vehicle in the group, after the vehicle plans the corresponding acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group, the vehicle may send the planned acceleration strategy to each of the other vehicles in the group through the corresponding communication link, so that the vehicles in the group share and accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the shared acceleration strategy.

Accordingly, after each vehicle receives the planned acceleration strategy, the powertrain system can be controlled to accelerate according to the planned acceleration strategy, which is not described herein.

In addition, the conventional functions of the automatic driving assist system of each vehicle can still be kept in operation to prevent the occurrence of a collision. For example, when it is determined that a pedestrian passes through the road ahead, the vehicle may be controlled to suspend acceleration to prevent the occurrence of an accident.

Further, in the present disclosure, the method may further include:

and acquiring running state data of each vehicle in the group in real time when the vehicle accelerates based on the planned acceleration strategy, and updating the planned acceleration strategy in real time according to the acquired running state data of each vehicle. Therefore, the planned acceleration strategy can be more accurate and suitable, and the safety of automatic driving of the vehicle is further improved.

According to the method disclosed by the exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, when each vehicle in the group accelerates based on the planned acceleration strategy, since the vehicle (for example, the vehicle 3 shown in fig. 3) with the relatively large area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area is ahead of the vehicle (for example, the vehicle 2 and the vehicle 1 shown in fig. 3) with the relatively small area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the whole acceleration process, that is, the acceleration behavior of the vehicle with the relatively small effective field of view is limited to the acceleration behavior of the vehicle with the relatively large effective field of view, the occurrence of an accident caused by the vehicle with the view being obstructed can be avoided to a large extent, and the safety of vehicle driving is improved. For example, still taking the vehicle 1, the vehicle 2 and the vehicle 3 shown in fig. 3 as an example, when the vehicle 3 stops accelerating due to the presence of a pedestrian crossing the road, according to the method described in the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the acceleration behavior of the vehicle 2 and the vehicle 1 is also suppressed accordingly, so that the occurrence of an accident caused by the obscured view of the vehicle 2 and the vehicle 1 can be avoided to a greater extent, and the safety of vehicle driving can be improved.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of a method for controlling an autonomous vehicle according to another exemplary embodiment. Unlike the method shown in fig. 2, in the method shown in fig. 5, the corresponding method execution subject (for example, the vehicle in the group) may passively receive the acceleration strategy related to each vehicle in the group where the vehicle is located, and for other operations, reference may be made to the description related to the foregoing related embodiments. Specifically, as shown in fig. 5, the method for controlling an autonomous vehicle may include:

step S501: determining whether a vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of an intersection and having a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection;

step S502: in response to determining that the vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of the intersection and having a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection, acquiring an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of the vehicle and outputting corresponding area data;

step S503: receiving an acceleration strategy associated with each vehicle in a group in which the vehicle is located, wherein the acceleration strategy is planned for each vehicle in the group by a server or other vehicles in the group based on an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in the group, and the acceleration strategy is capable of enabling a vehicle with a large unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group to precede a vehicle with a small unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group during a corresponding acceleration in the intersection; and

step S504: controlling the vehicle to accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the received acceleration strategy.

Referring to the description related to the foregoing embodiment, it can be determined that the vehicle is in a state of waiting for parking in the first row of the intersection and having a demand for acceleration to pass through the intersection, by:

determining that the vehicle is parked waiting on a first row of the intersection by: according to the ambient environment data sensed by the sensor of the vehicle, determining that no front vehicle exists and a stop line mark exists in a set range in front of the vehicle in a time period not shorter than a set time length; and/or determining that the vehicle is positioned in an area range corresponding to a first row of the intersection within a time period not less than a set time period according to a map and the position information of the vehicle sensed by a sensor of the vehicle; and

determining that the vehicle has a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection according to the type and current state of a traffic signal lamp at the intersection sensed by the sensor of the vehicle and the navigation route of the vehicle.

Further, referring to the related description of the foregoing embodiments, acquiring the area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area of the vehicle may include:

acquiring the area of a sensor coverage area which is obtained by the road surface sensing of the set area of the intersection by the sensor of the vehicle and is not shielded by other vehicles in the group, wherein,

the set area is the whole area in front of the vehicle at the intersection, or a pedestrian crossing area near one side of the vehicle in the intersection.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment. The apparatus 600 for controlling an autonomous vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment may include:

an acquisition unit 601 configured to acquire an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in a group, the vehicles in the group being vehicles that wait for parking in a first row on the same side of an intersection and have a demand to accelerate to pass through the intersection;

a planning unit 602, configured to plan an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the acquired area of the coverage area of the non-blocking sensor of each vehicle, so that a vehicle with a large area of the coverage area of the non-blocking sensor in the group leads a vehicle with a small area of the coverage area of the non-blocking sensor in the group in a corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and

a sharing unit 603 configured to share the planned acceleration strategy among the vehicles within the group, so that the vehicles within the group accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the planned acceleration strategy.

It is understood that the foregoing description of the method steps in conjunction with fig. 2 to 4 is applicable to the unit in fig. 6 for executing the corresponding method steps, and is not repeated here.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle according to another exemplary embodiment. The apparatus 700 for controlling an autonomous vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment may include:

a determination unit 701 configured to determine whether a vehicle is in a state of waiting for parking in a first row of an intersection and having a demand for acceleration to pass through the intersection;

an output unit 702 configured to acquire an area of an unobstructed sensor covered area of the vehicle and output corresponding area data in response to determining that the vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of the intersection and having a demand to accelerate to pass through the intersection;

a receiving unit 703 configured to receive an acceleration strategy related to each vehicle in a group in which the vehicle is located, wherein the acceleration strategy is planned for each vehicle in the group by a server or other vehicles in the group based on an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in the group, and the acceleration strategy is capable of leading a vehicle with a large area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group to a vehicle with a small area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group during a corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and

a control unit 704 configured to control the vehicle to accelerate to pass the intersection based on the received acceleration strategy.

It is understood that the foregoing description of the method steps with reference to fig. 3 to 5 is applicable to the unit in fig. 7 for executing the corresponding method steps, and is not repeated here.

Additionally, while particular functionality is discussed above with reference to particular modules, it should be noted that the functionality of the various modules discussed herein may be separated into multiple modules and/or at least some of the functionality of multiple modules may be combined into a single module. Performing an action by a particular module discussed herein includes the particular module itself performing the action, or alternatively the particular module invoking or otherwise accessing another component or module that performs the action (or performs the action in conjunction with the particular module). Thus, a particular module that performs an action can include the particular module that performs the action itself and/or another module that the particular module invokes or otherwise accesses that performs the action. For example, the determination unit 701, the output unit 702, and the like described above may be combined into a single module in some embodiments.

More generally, various techniques may be described herein in the general context of software hardware elements or program modules. The various modules described above with respect to fig. 6 or 7 may be implemented in hardware or in hardware in combination with software and/or firmware. For example, the modules may be implemented as computer program code/instructions configured to be executed in one or more processors and stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Alternatively, the modules may be implemented as hardware logic/circuitry. For example, in some embodiments, one or more of the acquisition unit 601, the planning unit 602, and the sharing unit 603 may be implemented together in a system on a chip (SoC). The SoC may include an integrated circuit chip including one or more components of a processor (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), microcontroller, microprocessor, Digital Signal Processor (DSP), etc.), memory, one or more communication interfaces, and/or other circuitry, and may optionally execute received program code and/or include embedded firmware to perform functions.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle is provided. The device includes: a processor, and a memory storing a program. The program includes instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method for controlling an autonomous vehicle of the present disclosure.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes an apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle according to the present disclosure.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program is provided. The program includes instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of controlling an autonomous vehicle of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of an application scenario including a motor vehicle 2010 and a communication and control system for the motor vehicle 2010. It is noted that the structure and function of the vehicle 2010 shown in fig. 8 is only one example, and the vehicle of the present disclosure may include one or more of the structure and function of the vehicle 2010 shown in fig. 8 according to a specific implementation form. According to some embodiments, the vehicle 2010 may be the vehicle described above with respect to fig. 2 and the vehicle described with respect to fig. 5.

Motor vehicle 2010 may include sensor 2110 for sensing the surrounding environment. The sensors 2110 may include one or more of the following sensors: ultrasonic sensors, millimeter wave radar, LiDAR (LiDAR), vision cameras, and infrared cameras. Different sensors may provide different sensing accuracies and ranges. The ultrasonic sensors can be arranged around the vehicle and used for measuring the distance between an object outside the vehicle and the vehicle by utilizing the characteristics of strong ultrasonic directionality and the like. The millimeter wave radar may be installed in front of, behind, or other positions of the vehicle for measuring the distance of an object outside the vehicle from the vehicle using the characteristics of electromagnetic waves. Lidar may be mounted in front of, behind, or otherwise of a vehicle for sensing object edge, shape information, for object identification and tracking. The radar apparatus can also measure a speed variation of the vehicle and the moving object due to the doppler effect. The camera may be mounted in front of, behind, or otherwise on the vehicle. The visual camera may capture conditions inside and outside the vehicle in real time and present to the driver and/or passengers. In addition, by analyzing the picture captured by the visual camera, information such as traffic light indication, intersection situation, other vehicle running state, and the like can be acquired. The infrared camera can capture objects under night vision conditions.

Motor vehicle 2010 may also include output device 2120. The output devices 2120 include, for example, a display, a speaker, and the like to present various outputs or instructions. Furthermore, the display may be implemented as a touch screen, so that inputs may also be sensed in different ways. A user graphical interface may be presented on the touch screen to enable a user to access and control the corresponding controls.

Motor vehicle 2010 may also include one or more controllers 2130. The controller 2130 may include a processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or other special purpose processor, etc., that communicates with various types of computer-readable storage devices or media. A computer-readable storage apparatus or medium may include any non-transitory storage device, which may be non-transitory and may implement any storage device that stores data, and may include, but is not limited to, a magnetic disk drive, an optical storage device, solid state memory, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, an optical disk or any other optical medium, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a cache memory, and/or any other memory chip or cartridge, and/or any other medium from which a computer may read data, instructions, and/or code. Some of the data in the computer readable storage device or medium represents executable instructions used by the controller 2130 to control the vehicle. Controller 2130 may include an autopilot system for automatically controlling various actuators in a vehicle. The autopilot system is configured to control the powertrain, steering system, and braking system, etc. of the motor vehicle 2010 to control acceleration, steering, and braking, respectively, via a plurality of actuators in response to inputs from a plurality of sensors 2110 or other input devices, without human intervention or limited human intervention. Part of the processing functions of the controller 2130 may be implemented by cloud computing. For example, some processing may be performed using an onboard processor while other processing may be performed using the computing resources in the cloud. According to some embodiments, controller 2130 may be configured to perform the methods described in connection with fig. 2 and/or fig. 5. Controller 2130 and its associated computer-readable storage are one example of device 600 of fig. 6 and/or device 700 of fig. 7 above. The computer-readable storage device associated with the controller 2130 may be one example of the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium described above.

Motor vehicle 2010 also includes communication device 2140. The communication device 2140 includes a satellite positioning module capable of receiving satellite positioning signals from the satellites 2012 and generating coordinates based on these signals. The communication device 2140 also includes modules to communicate with the mobile communication network 2013, which may implement any suitable communication technology, such as current or evolving wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G technologies) like GSM/GPRS, CDMA, LTE, etc. The communications device 2140 may also have a Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2X) module configured to enable Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications with other vehicles 2011 and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications with the outside world, for example. In addition, the communication device 2140 may also have a module configured to communicate with the user terminal 2014 (including but not limited to a smartphone, a tablet computer, or a wearable device such as a watch), for example, via wireless local area network using IEEE802.11 standards or bluetooth. With the communications device 2140, the motor vehicle 2010 can access via a wireless communications system an online server 2015 or a cloud server 2016 configured to provide respective data processing, data storage, and data transmission services for the motor vehicle.

In addition, the motor vehicle 2010 includes a powertrain, a steering system, a brake system, and the like, which are not shown in fig. 8, for implementing a motor vehicle driving function.

Although embodiments or examples of the present disclosure have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the above-described methods, systems and apparatus are merely exemplary embodiments or examples and that the scope of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments or examples, but only by the claims as issued and their equivalents. Various elements in the embodiments or examples may be omitted or may be replaced with equivalents thereof. Further, the steps may be performed in an order different from that described in the present disclosure. Further, various elements in the embodiments or examples may be combined in various ways. It is important that as technology evolves, many of the elements described herein may be replaced with equivalent elements that appear after the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

acquiring the area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in a group, wherein each vehicle in the group is a vehicle which is parked and waited in a first row on the same side of an intersection and has the requirement of accelerating to pass through the intersection;

planning an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the acquired area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor of each vehicle, so that the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group leads the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group in the corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and

sharing the planned acceleration strategy among the vehicles within the group such that the vehicles within the group accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the planned acceleration strategy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the area of unobstructed sensor coverage by each vehicle is an area of sensor coverage by each vehicle that is unobstructed by other vehicles in the group based on road surface sensing of the set area of the intersection by the respective sensor,

the set area is the whole area in front of the corresponding vehicle at the intersection, or a pedestrian crossing area near one side of the corresponding vehicle in the intersection.

3. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein planning an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the obtained area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle comprises:

determining an acceleration finish line for each vehicle within the group;

planning acceleration starting time and acceleration for each vehicle in the group at least according to the determined acceleration finish line and the obtained area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor of each vehicle, wherein the acceleration starting time planned for the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor is earlier than the acceleration starting time planned for the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor, and/or the acceleration planned for the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor is larger than the acceleration planned for the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor; and

and planning an acceleration curve for each vehicle in the group according to the acceleration starting time and the acceleration planned for each vehicle in the group and the acceleration finishing line.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the acceleration finish line is a finish line of the intersection opposite a side of the intersection on which each vehicle in the group is located, or a finish line of a pedestrian crossing area within the intersection proximate a side of the intersection on which each vehicle in the group is located.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

acquiring vehicle parameters of each vehicle in the group, wherein the vehicle parameters comprise power assembly system parameters and/or historical behavior parameters; and

and planning the acceleration for each vehicle in the group by combining the acquired vehicle parameters of each vehicle.

6. The method of any of claims 1-2, further comprising:

acquiring running state data of each vehicle in the group in real time when the vehicle is accelerated based on a planned acceleration strategy; and

and updating the planned acceleration strategy in real time according to the acquired driving state data of each vehicle.

7. A method for controlling an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

determining whether a vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of an intersection and having a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection;

in response to determining that the vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of the intersection and having a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection, acquiring an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of the vehicle and outputting corresponding area data;

receiving an acceleration strategy associated with each vehicle in a group in which the vehicle is located, wherein the acceleration strategy is planned for each vehicle in the group by a server or other vehicles in the group based on an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in the group, and the acceleration strategy is capable of enabling a vehicle with a large unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group to precede a vehicle with a small unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group during a corresponding acceleration in the intersection; and

controlling the vehicle to accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the received acceleration strategy.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle is determined to be in a state of parking waiting at a first row of an intersection and having a need to accelerate to pass through the intersection by:

9. The method of any of claims 7 to 8, wherein acquiring an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of the vehicle comprises:

10. An apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in a group, each vehicle in the group being a vehicle that is waiting for parking in a first row on the same side of an intersection and has a demand to accelerate to pass through the intersection;

the planning unit is configured to plan an acceleration strategy for each vehicle in the group according to the acquired area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor of each vehicle, so that the vehicle with the large area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group leads the vehicle with the small area of the coverage area of the non-shielding sensor in the group in the corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and

a sharing unit configured to share the planned acceleration strategy among the vehicles within the group so that the vehicles within the group accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the planned acceleration strategy.

11. An apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a determination unit configured to determine whether a vehicle is in a state of waiting for parking in a first row of an intersection and having a demand for acceleration to pass through the intersection;

an output unit configured to acquire an area of an unobstructed sensor covered area of the vehicle and output corresponding area data in response to determining that the vehicle is in a state of parking waiting at a first row of the intersection and having a demand to accelerate to pass through the intersection;

a receiving unit configured to receive an acceleration strategy associated with each vehicle in a group in which the vehicle is located, wherein the acceleration strategy is planned for each vehicle in the group by a server or other vehicles in the group based on an area of an unobstructed sensor coverage area of each vehicle in the group, and the acceleration strategy is capable of leading a vehicle with a large area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group to a vehicle with a small area of the unobstructed sensor coverage area in the group during a corresponding acceleration process in the intersection; and

a control unit configured to control the vehicle to accelerate to pass through the intersection based on the received acceleration strategy.

12. An apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a processor, and

a memory storing a program comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 6.

13. An apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a processor, and

a memory storing a program comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any of claims 7 to 9.

14. A vehicle, comprising:

the apparatus of claim 12 or 13.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the method of any one of claims 1-9.