EP2208023A1

EP2208023A1 - Verification of digital maps

Info

Publication number: EP2208023A1
Application number: EP08846020A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ulrich STÄHLIN; Otmar Schreiner; Andreas Kircher; Enno Kelling; Matthias Schorn
Original assignee: Continental Teves AG and Co OHG; Continental Engineering Services GmbH
Current assignee: Continental Teves AG and Co OHG; Continental Engineering Services GmbH
Priority date: 2007-11-02
Filing date: 2008-10-28
Publication date: 2010-07-21
Also published as: US9310210B2; US20100241354A1; RU2010121523A; WO2009056533A1; JP2011503563A; KR20100100842A; DE102008053531A1; CN101842662A

Abstract

One exemplary embodiment of the invention specifies an assessment module for assessing data of a digital map for a vehicle. The assessment is carried out on the basis of the map's own quality information and measurement data from a surroundings sensor system of the vehicle. The connected driver assistance systems and safety systems of the vehicle use the digital map data on the basis of the assessment.

Description

Verification of digital maps

Field of the invention

The invention relates to the use of digital maps in vehicles. More particularly, the invention relates to an evaluation module for evaluating data of a digital map, a driver assistance system for a vehicle having such an evaluation module, a security system for a vehicle having such an evaluation module, a vehicle having an evaluation module, a method for evaluating data of a digital map for a vehicle, a program element and a computer readable medium.

Technological background

Today's navigation devices use digital maps. The navigation devices are permanently installed in the vehicle or can be mounted as mobile units in the vehicle.

If digital map data is used for driver assistance systems or safety systems, these systems assume for safety reasons that the quality of the digital map data is low. The full potential of digital map data is not fully exploited in many cases. Summary of the invention

It is an object of the invention, the use of digital map data in vehicles and in particular for

To improve driver assistance systems and safety systems.

It is an evaluation module for evaluating data of a digital map for a vehicle, a driver assistance system, a safety system, a vehicle, a method

Program element and a computer readable medium according to the features of the independent claims. Further developments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims.

The described embodiments equally relate to the evaluation module, the driver assistance system, the security system, the vehicle, the method, the program element and the computer-readable medium. In other words, the features mentioned below, for example with regard to the assessment module, the driver assistance system, the safety system or the vehicle, can also be implemented in the method, the program element or the computer-readable medium, and vice versa.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, an evaluation module for evaluating data of a digital map for a vehicle is provided, which has a computing unit and an interface. The arithmetic unit is used to receive data from the digital map and to carry out the evaluation of the data on the basis of a card's own quality information and / or on the basis of measurement data of an environment sensor system of the vehicle. The interface is to pass the rating to Driver assistance system and / or run on a security system of the vehicle, wherein the driver assistance system and / or the security system uses data of the digital map based on the evaluation.

In other words, the arithmetic unit can perform a verification or validation of the digital map data or the entire digital map in the vehicle. This evaluation can be done either on the basis of card-specific quality characteristics or on the basis of sensor data or on the basis of a combination of quality characteristics and sensor data.

The result of the evaluation is then transferred via the interface to the driver assistance system and / or a safety system of the vehicle. The system can then decide based on the rating to what extent it wants to use the digital map data. For example, if the evaluation result has been very positive, the driver assistance system and / or the security system can rely relatively heavily on the corresponding data of the digital map. If, on the other hand, the evaluation result has been relatively poor (for example, because the digital map is out of date or inaccurate at this particular location), the information from the digital map will flow only to a limited extent into driver assistance or safety control.

The term "digital maps" should also be understood to mean maps for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) without navigation.

The vehicle is, for example, a motor vehicle, such as a car, bus or truck, or else a rail vehicle, a ship, an aircraft, - A -

like a helicopter or airplane, or for example a bicycle.

It should also be noted that in the context of the present invention, GPS is representative of all

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as GPS, Galileo, GLONASS (Russia), Compass (China), IRNSS (India), ...

It should also be pointed out at this point that the position determination of the vehicle can also take place via a cell positioning. This is particularly useful when using GSM or UMTS networks.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the evaluation of the data of the digital map comprises the determination of a quality and / or a validity of the data.

The use of map data for driver assistance systems is currently specified and defined by the ADASIS forum or in the MAPS & ADAS project. An evaluation of the quality of the data makes it possible to use them to a greater extent than hitherto for driver assistance systems or safety systems. So far, such systems must always assume that the quality of the data is low.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, the evaluation module is designed to determine the validity of the data on the basis of the measurement data of the environmental sensor system.

The measurement data, which are measured by the environment sensors of the environmental sensor system, are therefore used to validate the data. This validation may be upstream or downstream of further evaluation steps. The validation can for example, take place in a fusion module, which is connected downstream of the arithmetic unit for evaluating the digital map. Also, this fusion module can be housed in the same processing unit (processor). It is also possible that a validation takes place first, followed by an evaluation of the data.

By validation is meant that it is determined whether the map data matches the current position and surroundings of the vehicle. In other words, it means that it is determined whether the vehicle is actually on the road indicating the digital map, for example. On the other hand, the rating determines how accurate the card information actually is.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, the card's own quality information comprises information selected from the group consisting of time stamp information, information regarding a measurement accuracy with which the corresponding data was recorded, information regarding a deviation between a measured position of the vehicle and a map. Matching position, information regarding a density of the data and information regarding a type of data on.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the evaluation of the data comprises an authentication of the data. Such an authentication can be done, for example, by reading out a corresponding certificate with which the digital card is provided.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, the evaluation of the data comprises a determination of an actuality of the data Data, wherein the evaluation module is designed to determine the timeliness of the data via a return channel to a central office. For example, the central office is a service provider.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, the environmental sensor measurement data used to evaluate the data are selected from the group consisting of information regarding a traffic lane, a road sign, a structure and a vegetation.

The environment sensor or environment sensors thus observe the surroundings of the vehicle. With the acquired measurement data can then be determined whether the digital map or the digital map used matches the environment, that is valid.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, the evaluation module is designed to evaluate data of a digital map of a mobile device. The evaluation and the evaluated digital map data are then transferred to the driver assistance system and / or the security system of the vehicle. This system can then use the data of the digital map of the mobile device based on the rating.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, the data transmitted to the driver assistance system and / or the safety system via the interface also have, in addition to the evaluation, the corresponding measured position data of the vehicle including corresponding attributes. According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, a driver assistance system for a vehicle is provided, which has an evaluation module described above.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, a safety system for a vehicle is provided with an evaluation module described above.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, a vehicle is specified with an evaluation module described above.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method for evaluating data of a digital map for a vehicle is specified, in which data of the digital map are received by a computing unit. This is followed by carrying out an evaluation of the data on the basis of a card-specific quality information and / or on the basis of measurement data of an environment sensor of the vehicle. Furthermore, the evaluation, if necessary together with the evaluated digital map data, is transmitted to a driver assistance system and / or a security system of the vehicle, which uses the data of the digital map on the basis of the evaluation.

At this point it should be noted that so that

Driver assistance system or the security system is designed such that it can determine on the basis of the evaluation, to which extent the digital map data for the execution of the corresponding assistance functions or safety functions of the vehicle to be used.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, a program element is specified which, when on a processor executes the processor to perform the steps described above.

In this case, the program element z. B. be part of a software that is stored on a processor of the vehicle management. The processor can also be the subject of the invention. Furthermore, this embodiment of the invention comprises a computer program element, which already uses the invention from the beginning, as well as a computer program element, which by updating

(Update) causes an existing program to use the invention.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a program element which, when executed on a processor, instructs the processor to perform the steps described above.

In the following, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the figures.

Brief description of the figures

1 shows an evaluation module and a driver assistance system or safety system according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 shows a vehicle with a center according to an embodiment of the invention.

3 shows a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the invention. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment for different information levels of a digital map.

Detailed description of embodiments

The illustrations in the figures are schematic and not to scale.

In the following description of the figures, the same reference numerals are used for the same or similar elements.

1 shows an evaluation module for evaluating data of a digital map for a vehicle and a driver assistance system or safety system 104, 105 connected thereto and corresponding environment sensor system 103.

The evaluation module has two sub-modules 100, 101. The first sub-module 100 is provided with digital map data from z. B. a head unit 102 of a so-called infotainment system or a PND 102, so a primary navigation system

Screen, supplied. These digital map data then go to each of the subunits 106 to 110. It may also be provided further subunits or omitted one or more of the subunits.

The first subunit 106 compares timestamp data of the digital map data with the current time. The second subunit 107 performs an evaluation of the measurement accuracy of the digital map data. The third subunit 108 detects a deviation between a measured GPS position of the vehicle and a map matching position of the vehicle. The fourth subunit 109 measures the frequency and density of the digital map data and the fifth subunit 110 determines the type of description of the data.

The results from the calculations of the subunits are fed to a first arithmetic unit 111, which then makes a comprehensive evaluation of the digital map data, in particular of the digital map data, which correspond to the current position of the vehicle on the basis of this data.

The corresponding evaluation result is then transferred via the data line 117 to the second sub-module 101, which is, for example, a fusion module which carries out a validation of the digital map data by measuring data of the surroundings sensor system 103.

It should be noted that the data transmission between the individual components can be both wired and wireless.

The environment sensor system 103 has, for example, a camera 114, a radar sensor 115 and / or a lidar sensor 116. Also, ESP sensors can be consulted, which can help to determine the current position of the vehicle (for example, by detecting peculiarities of the roadway, such as crossing a railway sleeper or a sharp bend).

The measured environment data are likewise transferred to the arithmetic unit 112 of the fusion module 101. Also, the arithmetic unit 112 may be combined with the arithmetic unit 111, whereby the data exchange via the data line 117 can be avoided. Furthermore, an interface 113 is provided, via which the evaluation in the form of a final result, if appropriate together with the corresponding digital map data, can be transferred to a driver assistance system or a security system 104, 105.

If digital map data are used for driver assistance systems or safety systems, these systems can so far say nothing about the quality (quality) or the validity (validity) of the map information. However, this is necessary for the purposes of functional safety to support decisions or actions of the systems, such as an autonomous braking or steering intervention, with the map information.

This is where the invention starts. In the evaluation module (which may be composed of two sub-modules 100, 101 or even of a combined overall module), the digital map data are evaluated for quality before being passed on to the driver assistance systems or security systems. Such an evaluation module can also be referred to as a "safety map module".

The following quality characteristics can be used here:

The timeliness of the card information. For this, each piece of information in the card receives a timestamp indicating when this information was taken. The older the data, the lower the quality of the data.

Each position in the map still contains information about the measurement accuracy with which this data was recorded (eg the measurement accuracy of the used (D) GPS hardware). The better this measurement accuracy, the higher the quality of the data is rated.

The deviation between the GPS position of the vehicle and the map matching position determined by the navigation system. The larger this distance, the lower the quality of the data is evaluated.

About the frequency of the data. If many points and line segments or other elements are used at a short distance to describe a route, the quality is to be rated higher than for the case where fewer points and line segments or other elements are used to describe the route. This also applies to the attributes associated with these points, links, other elements.

About the type of description. If z. For example, if a route is described as straight, then the quality is considered lower than if polynomials, splines, etc. are used.

In order to ensure the authenticity of the information in the card, they must be provided with certificates or confirmed with other methods of authentication. The type of certificate or the authentication can also be used to evaluate the quality or reliability of the card data. For example, certificates or authentication methods from official bodies (and therefore from third parties) receive a higher quality rating than certificates from manufacturers or individuals.

The actuality of the data can also be evaluated in real time via a return channel to a service provider. there the actuality of the data can be checked. This way, even data with an old timestamp can still be up to date if no changes have yet been made.

Authentication can also be used to verify that a card is up-to-date with the manufacturer. This may be significant when a mobile navigation terminal passes the map data to a driver assistance system. The authentication certificates can be present in the vehicle as well as obtained from a vehicle external body, eg. B. via a service provider.

The method described can also be used to provide dynamic information, such as. Congestion information.

The quality assessment described so far is based purely on data from the map itself. Subsequent to this or before this evaluation, a validation can be carried out by means of

Environment sensors take place. Some examples are given below:

Via a camera, the lanes can be detected and their course and number are compared with the map data.

Traffic signs, traffic lights or other traffic signs can be recognized via a camera and compared with the entries in the map.

Information about bridges, buildings on the roadside, other structures, vegetation (trees, forest, ...) can be detected via a camera. This information can be compared with the additional information in the map to evaluate their timeliness.

Guard rails and other objects can be detected by a radar or lidar sensor. This information can also be compared with the map data.

Using the methods described here, it is also possible to evaluate card data from mobile devices and thus possibly to use this data for driver assistance systems or security systems.

Depending on the quality assessment, the driver assistance system and / or the security system can then make more or less use of the map data. Thus, an ACC system (Adaptive Cruise Control System) with good quality assessment of the map data can strongly base the control strategy on this data. In the case of a poor quality assessment, the ACC relies almost exclusively on the environment sensor (eg radar).

The two methods described (quality assessment via card-specific data and by means of environmental sensors) can also be used individually and do not necessarily presuppose the respective other method. The process shown in Fig. 1 serves as a basis for the following embodiment.

In head unit 102 with navigation system, the map data are stored in a database. The time stamp and the measuring accuracy are linked to the respective data via links and thus represent a kind of "attribute" or "meta-attribute" for this data. Based on GPS data, the current position belongs to the current position Record loaded from the database and the module 100 with the computing unit 111 via z. B. provided a CAN bus. This module is referred to below as the "Safety Map Module" (SMM).

The SMM now evaluates this data and uses the quantities listed above (such as timestamps,

Measurement accuracy, ...) and verifies the authenticity of the card data by means of certificates. Subsequently, an overall assessment is determined from the individual quality assessments. The data set now consists of the actual position data including the attributes, the quality ratings and the overall rating.

These data are then transferred to a fusion module 101 via CAN bus 117. In this fusion module, the map data is compared with information from environment sensors 114, 115, 116, as stated above. With these validated data, the so-called e-horizon is now created, which is then made available to the individual driver assistance and system modules 104, 105 via the CAN bus 113 via the interface 113.

SMM and fusion module can also be integrated on a computing unit, whereby the CAN bus connection 117 is saved.

Thus, the quality of map data can be evaluated using in-card quality information. Further, authentication of the map data, the

Quality information and up-to-dateness by means of certificates or other authentication mechanisms. Furthermore, the reliability of the data can be assessed by the type of authentication method and a Validation of the map data by environment sensors done. Furthermore, map data from mobile devices can also be used by means of this quality assessment.

FIG. 2 shows a vehicle 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention and a control center 202 communicating therewith, for example in the form of a service provider.

The vehicle 200 has the evaluation modules 100, 101, which are combined to form an overall module. Furthermore, a communication device 201 is provided, which is provided for data exchange with the center 202. Furthermore, the vehicle 200 has a camera 114 or one or more other environment sensors, with which the environment can be observed. The module 100, 101 makes an evaluation of the digital map data from the memory 102 and forwards the evaluation to the driver assistance system 104 and the security system 105.

3 shows a flowchart of a method in which, in step 301, data of a digital map is accepted by a computing unit. In step 302, this arithmetic unit performs an evaluation of the data based on the card's own quality information. In step 303, a further evaluation of the data is based on

Measurement data from environment sensors and in step 304, the final result of the evaluation is passed to a safety system and / or a driver assistance system.

The following aspects are illustrated in particular in FIG. 4.

Digital maps are often stored in different "layers" in a database, which correspond to these layers different resolutions or different details (roads, signs, ...). In order to be able to use this data in a control unit and thus eg in a driver assistance system or the engine control, the so-called GeoHorizon or eHorizon is used. This gives the systems information about how the road or track looks in front of the vehicle.

For safety applications (driver assistance systems or other safety systems) up-to-date and reliable map data is necessary. However, not all data elements must meet the same requirements. Therefore, the requirements for the different levels of the map data are different.

So far, all data is stored in a database. However, since the requirements are different, it makes sense to deposit the different levels partly in different databases and thus also in different control units. These different databases or different control units then also fulfill different security levels. For example, Data for security applications, e.g. Curve radii, in a controller with a high level of security, such as SIL3 or SIL 4, and navigation-related data, such as. Street names, in a less secure control device, which, for example, a safety level SILO or SILl sufficient to be stored.

It is also possible for all the data to be stored in the same memory, but the memory is separated into a security-relevant area and a non-security-relevant area via a memory management unit (MMU). The different levels or memory or memory areas can then be updated in different ways. For example, dynamic data can be updated via TMC, with data that almost never changes (the geological topology) being read in via DVDs and other data being transmitted via radio links.

The different levels can be divided according to the quality levels of the respective data to be fulfilled. Thus, in one level the data are summarized, to which the same quality requirements are put by the applications. This quality level then determines how often the data has to be updated.

The accuracy of the linking of the various levels can be made dependent on the security requirements. Thus, at safety-critical levels, a strong link between the levels is realized, e.g. per element, and at less safety-critical levels only per area.

Accordingly, for the creation of the GeoHorizon or eHorizon only data can be used that corresponds to a certain quality level and / or for which a certain degree of up-to-dateness is ensured or / and which come from a control unit which has a certain security level. It can also be a separation between consumer data (only interesting for navigation and additional services) and security data (important for ADAS and / or

Security systems) are ensured, so a kind of "firewall" between these data can be realized. Thus, the ADAS or / and security systems have all the necessary data via the GeoHorizon or eHorizon, without insecure user data (consumer data) resulting in quality losses.

A high-quality, secured data level can be used to validate the data of a data level with lower quality. Only the validated data will be used for ADAS and / or security applications. Here is an example:

- A high-quality data plane (for example, certified by a government agency) contains data on road signs.

- A lower quality data level contains data on schools, playgrounds, etc.

Sign information (speed restrictions, children's play alerts, etc.) will now validate school and playground data. If major deviations or inconsistencies occur here, the data of the lower quality data level will not be used for ADAS and / or security applications.

By storing the data in different controllers, the processing can also be split up and thus used e.g. to create a redundancy.

By dividing the map data by

Security requirements, it is possible even then to provide the function of the card, if not all data is available. Thus, a very high overall security level is achieved without all the data having to be stored and processed at a high security level. This can save costs. FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment for various information levels of a digital map and, based on this, various quality levels, memory locations and update paths.

On a safety-related memory 402 of a central control unit 401, all the geometry data of a digital map are stored, such as e.g. Road courses, etc. On a less secure memory 403 of the HeadUnit 102 are then additionally the street names, points of interest, etc. stored.

The eHorizon (represented by box 405) is provided by the central control unit and only the

Data from the central control unit used. For the navigation 404, however, the data from the central control unit 401 and the HeadUnit 102 are used.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, an evaluation module is provided, which has a first memory area for storing first data of the digital map, wherein the first memory area satisfies first security requirements. Furthermore, the evaluation module has a second storage area for storing second data of the digital map, wherein the second storage area satisfies second security requirements that differ from the first security requirements.

The two memory areas may be arranged on different storage media, or on the same storage medium, in which case they are separated from one another, for example by an MMU. It should be noted at this point that the principle of separate memory areas for digital cards can generally be used. An evaluation of the map data is not required.

In addition, it should be noted that "comprising" and "having" does not exclude other elements or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. It should also be appreciated that features or steps described with reference to any of the above embodiments may also be used in combination with other features or steps of other embodiments described above. Reference signs in the claims are not to be considered as limitations.

Claims

Claims:

An evaluation module for evaluating data of a digital map for a vehicle, the evaluation module (100, 101) comprising: a computing unit (111, 112) for receiving data of the digital map and performing the evaluation of the data based on a map's own quality information and / or based on measurement data of an environmental sensor system (103) of the vehicle (200); and an interface (113) for passing the score to a driver assistance system and / or a security system of the vehicle using the data of the digital map based on the score.

The evaluation module of claim 1, wherein the evaluation comprises determining a quality and validity of the data.

3. evaluation module according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the evaluation module for determining the validity of the data based on the measurement data of the environment sensor (103) is executed.

The evaluation module according to claim 1, wherein the inherent quality information includes at least one information selected from the group consisting of time stamp information, information regarding a measurement accuracy with which the corresponding data was acquired, information regarding a deviation between a measured position of the vehicle and a map matching position, information regarding a density of the data, and information regarding a kind of the data.

5. Evaluation module according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the evaluation comprises an authentication of the data.

6. The evaluation module according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation of the data comprises a determination of an actuality of the data; wherein the evaluation module is designed to determine the actuality of the data via a return channel to a central office (202).

7. Assessment module according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the measurement data of the environment sensors (103) used to evaluate the data are selected from the group consisting of information regarding a traffic lane, a traffic sign, a building and a vegetation.

8. Evaluation module according to one of the preceding claims, designed to evaluate data of a digital map of a mobile device, which is then passed to the driver assistance system and / or the security system of the vehicle, which then the data of the digital map of the mobile device based on the rating used.

9. Assessment module according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the data transferred via the interface (113) to the driver assistance system and / or the safety system, in addition to the evaluation, also have the corresponding measured position data of the vehicle including corresponding attributes.

10. The evaluation module of claim 1, further comprising: a first storage area for storing first data of the digital map, wherein the first storage area satisfies first security requirements; a second memory area for storing second data of the digital map, the second memory area satisfying second security requirements different from the first security requirements.

11. driver assistance system (104) for a vehicle having an evaluation module (100, 101) according to one of claims 1 to 10.

12. Security system (105) for a vehicle with an evaluation module (100, 101) according to one of claims 1 to 10.

13. Vehicle with an evaluation module (100, 101) according to one of claims 1 to 10.

14. A method of evaluating data of a digital map for a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

Receiving data of the digital map by a computing unit;

Carrying out the evaluation of the data on the basis of a card's own quality information and / or on the basis of

Measured data of an environmental sensor system (103) of the vehicle (200); and

Passing the rating to a driver assistance system and / or a security system of the vehicle using the data of the digital map based on the rating.

15. A program element that, when executed on a processor, instructs the processor to perform the following steps: Receiving data of the digital card by the processor;

Performing the evaluation of the data on the basis of a card-specific quality information and / or on the basis of measurement data of an environmental sensor system (103) of the vehicle (200); and

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a program element that, when executed on a processor, directs the processor to perform the following steps:

Receiving data of the digital card by the processor;

Passing the assessment to a driver assistance system and / or a safety system of the vehicle, which the

Data of the digital map based on the rating used.