FR3061886A1 - METHOD FOR DETERMINING A WORK AREA END, WORK AREA MANAGEMENT DEVICE AND ON-BOARD SYSTEM COMPRISING SUCH A DEVICE - Google Patents

Abstract

A device (10) for managing a vehicle work zone comprises: - a reception interface (14) of data (D) delivered by a sensor (2) of the vehicle; a detection module (20) for a work zone on a road taken by the vehicle and comprising a plurality of lanes; a monitoring module (22) designed to monitor, on the basis of the received data (D), a channel closed to traffic on the work zone and to generate an end indicator (F) of the detection work zone another vehicle with a relative speed greater than a determined threshold on the monitored track. An associated method and an embedded system comprising such a device are also described.

Description

Holder (s): VALEO SCHALTER UND SENSOREN GMBH Simplified joint-stock company.

O Extension request (s):

® Agent (s): VALEO COMFORT AND DRIVING ASSISTANCE.

® METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE END OF A WORK AREA, WORK AREA MANAGEMENT DEVICE AND ON-BOARD SYSTEM COMPRISING SUCH A DEVICE.

FR 3,061,886 - A1 (57) a device (10) for managing a work area for a vehicle comprises:

- an interface for receiving (14) data (D) delivered by a sensor (2) of the vehicle;

- a detection module (20) of a work area on a road taken by the vehicle and comprising a plurality of traffic lanes;

- a monitoring module (22) designed to monitor, on the basis of the data received (D), a lane closed to traffic on the work area and to generate an indicator (F) of the end of the detection work area of another vehicle having a relative speed greater than a determined threshold on the monitored lane.

An associated method and an on-board system comprising such a device are also described.

Method for determining the end of a work area, work area management device and on-board system comprising such a device Technical field to which the invention relates

The present invention relates to driver assistance systems.

It relates more particularly to a method for determining the end of a work area, a work area management device and an on-board system comprising such a device.

TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

Driver assistance features are becoming more common in vehicles such as motor vehicles.

These functions must be able to adapt to the external conditions encountered by the vehicle, in particular in the case of an autonomous vehicle.

It is therefore desirable to be able to identify the work areas that the vehicle may encounter in order to adapt the vehicle's driving mode to this particular situation.

Object of the invention

In this context, the present invention provides a method for determining the end of a work area on a road taken by a vehicle and comprising a plurality of traffic lanes, comprising the following steps:

- detection of a work area;

- monitoring, using at least one vehicle sensor, of a lane closed to traffic in the work area;

- determination of the end of the detection work area of another vehicle having a relative speed greater than a determined threshold on the monitored track.

The end of the work area is thus determined robustly, which allows the vehicle to quickly switch to a suitable driving mode.

According to optional features (and therefore non-limiting):

- said detection uses a density of vehicles on traffic lanes other than the lane closed to traffic;

- said density is determined by analysis of the data delivered by the sensor;

- the sensor is an image sensor;

- said relative speed is determined by analysis of a sequence of images.

The invention also provides a device for managing a work area for a vehicle comprising an interface for receiving data delivered by a vehicle sensor; a module for detecting a work area on a road taken by the vehicle and comprising a plurality of traffic lanes; and a monitoring module designed to monitor, on the basis of the data received, a lane closed to traffic in the work area and to generate an indicator of the end of the work area to detect another vehicle having a relative speed higher than a determined threshold on the monitored channel.

As already indicated, the sensor can be an image sensor; the monitoring module can then possibly be designed to determine said relative speed by analysis of a sequence of images delivered by the image sensor.

The invention further provides an on-board system comprising a management device as defined above and said sensor.

It is then also possible to provide a driving management module designed to modify the driving mode of the vehicle upon receipt of the end of work zone indicator.

Detailed description of an exemplary embodiment

The description which follows with reference to the appended drawings, given by way of nonlimiting examples, will make it clear what the invention consists of and how it can be carried out.

In the accompanying drawings:

- Figure 1 schematically shows a vehicle equipped with an on-board system according to the invention;

- Figure 2 shows some elements of the on-board system of the vehicle in Figure 1;

- Figure 3 shows the main steps of the method proposed by the invention;

- Figure 4 schematically shows a first situation encountered during the process of Figure 3; and

FIG. 5 schematically represents a second situation encountered during the process of FIG. 3.

FIG. 1 schematically represents a vehicle 1 equipped with an on-board system comprising a sensor 2, a navigation unit 4, a driving management module 6 and a work area management device 10.

The sensor 2 is here an image sensor such as a video camera. It may for example be a front camera capable of acquiring images of the environment located at the front of the vehicle 1 or a wide-angle camera capable of acquiring images of the environment close to the vehicle 1 ( typically over a large part of the periphery of the vehicle 1).

We could use, as a variant or in addition, another type of sensor such as a time-of-flight sensor (for example of the lidar or sonar type).

The sensor 2 delivers data D, here representative of the images captured by the sensor 2, and transmits this data D in particular to the work area management device 10.

The navigation unit 4 is designed to deliver information relating to the environment of the vehicle (set of information sometimes referred to as electronic horizon), such as characteristics relating to the route taken by the vehicle. This information is for example determined by geolocation of the vehicle 1 and extraction of said information from a cartographic database according to the position of the vehicle determined by geolocation.

The navigation unit 4 here in particular delivers the number N _E of traffic lanes on the road taken by the vehicle 1 (according to the aforementioned cartographic database).

The driving management module 6 is designed to transit the vehicle 1 between different driving modes as a function of the external conditions (in particular traffic conditions) detected by the sensors 2 fitted to the vehicle 1, here in particular as a function of the presence or not a work area on the road taken by the vehicle 1.

In the case of an autonomous vehicle, according to a first possibility of implementation, the driving management module 6 is for example designed to switch between a first autonomous driving mode (suitable for example for driving on roads or motorways ) in the absence of work and a second autonomous driving mode (suitable for example for driving in heavy traffic or in built-up areas) in the presence of work.

According to a second possibility of implementation, the driving management module 6 is for example designed to switch between an autonomous driving mode in the absence of work and a driving mode by the driver of the vehicle 1 in the presence of work.

The work area management device 10 comprises a plurality of modules and functional blocks which are described below with reference to the figure

2.

Each module or functional block corresponds to a particular functionality implemented by the work area management device 10. Several (or even all) modules and functional blocks can however in practice be implemented by the same physical entity, for example a processor on which program instructions stored in a memory associated with the processor are executed (each module or functional block then being implemented in this case by the execution of a particular set of instructions stored in said memory).

The work area management device 10 comprises an interface 12 for receiving information N _E relating to the number of traffic lanes, an interface 14 for receiving data D delivered by the sensor 2, a processing module 16, a fusion module 18, a work area detection module 20 and a monitoring module 22.

The processing module 16 receives the data D delivered by the sensor 2 (via the reception interface 14) and determines on this basis (here by analysis of the images represented by the data D):

- the number N _D of lanes on the road commonly taken by vehicle 1;

- the number N _u of traffic lanes on which third-party vehicles are present;

- the density of vehicles on these N _u traffic lanes;

- when at least one traffic lane does not contain any third-party vehicle (/.e. N _d > N _u ) over a given period of time, an identifier I (or several such identifiers) of the traffic lane (or lanes traffic) without third-party vehicle.

The fusion module 18 receives as input the information N _E relating to the number of channels produced by the navigation unit 4 (via the reception interface

12) and the number N _D of channels produced by the processing module 16, and delivers as output a number of channels merged N _F. The merger strategy depends on the implementation chosen. For example, the number of channels merged N _F is equal to the number of channels indicated by the information N _E if the number of channels N _D is not available, and equal to the number of channels N _D if the latter is available.

The work area detection module 20 receives as input the number of merged lanes N _F , the number N _u of lanes on which third-party vehicles are present and the density d of vehicles on these N _u lanes.

The work area detection module 20 could receive other information as input (for example from the processing module 16), such as for example a yellow markings detection indicator and / or a traffic indicator. detection of work signaling (panels, studs).

The work area detection module 20 produces, on the basis of the information N _F , N _u , d which it receives as input, a work area indicator W. To do this, the work area detection module 20 can keep a history (over a predetermined period) of the information received.

The work area detection module 20 produces for example an indicator W indicating a work area when the number N _l of lanes with third-party vehicles varies from the number N _F to a lower value and when at the same time the vehicle density d increases significantly.

The monitoring module 22 receives as input the identifier I already mentioned, the data D received from the sensor 2 via the reception interface 14 and the work area indicator W.

As soon as the indicator W is indicative of a work area, the monitoring module 22 monitors, by analysis of the data D (here by image analysis), the traffic lane identified by the identifier I.

During this monitoring, the monitoring module 22 detects third-party vehicles present on the traffic lane identified by the identifier I and determines their relative speed with respect to the vehicle 1 (here by analysis of a sequence of images captured by sensor 2).

If the relative speed (compared to vehicle 1) of the third vehicle thus detected is less than a predetermined threshold (which corresponds to a stationary vehicle or driving at low speed on the traffic lane identified by the identifier

I), this third vehicle is generally a construction vehicle and monitoring continues.

If the relative speed (with respect to vehicle 1) of the third vehicle thus detected is greater than the predetermined threshold (such a threshold being worth for example - 40 km / h), it is considered that this lane is again open to traffic and the module 22 then generates an end of work area indicator F.

As visible in FIG. 2, the work zone indicator W and the end of the work zone indicator F are transmitted to the driving management module 6 which can thus make the vehicle 1 transit between different driving modes as a function of these indicators W, F.

FIG. 3 represents the main steps of the method proposed by the invention.

This process includes a step E2 of detecting a work area.

This step occurs for example in a situation such as that shown in FIG. 4. In this example, a road R taken by the vehicle 1 comprises three traffic lanes, the left lane being closed for work, however, hence the presence of P studs in this way. Four third-party vehicles T1, T2, T3, T4 also travel on route R (the arrow shown on the front of some of these vehicles represents a positive relative speed compared to vehicle 1; vehicle T3 travels at the same speed as the vehicle 1).

The work area management device 10 then generates an indicator W indicative of a work area (for example due to the detection of the pads P by the sensor 2 and / or the higher density of third-party vehicles T1, T2, T3, T4 on this stretch of road).

The driving management module 6 then for example switches the autonomous driving of the vehicle 1 into a mode suitable for this work area (typically a driving mode in heavy traffic).

The work area management device 10 then proceeds to step E4 to monitoring the road closed to traffic.

This monitoring is carried out in practice within the monitoring module 22 on the basis of data supplied by the sensor 2 and representative of images of this channel closed to traffic (identified by the identifier I generated by the processing module 16) .

By analyzing the sequence of images provided by the sensor 2, the monitoring module 22 detects vehicles present on the lane closed to traffic and determines their relative speed with respect to the vehicle 1.

Thus, in the situation shown by way of example in FIG. 4, a vehicle V (such as a construction vehicle) is present on the lane closed to traffic and travels there at low speed (or is stopped) . The relative speed of vehicle V is therefore negative and very low (for example - 70 km / h).

The monitoring module 22 detects this vehicle V and its relative speed below the predetermined threshold; the monitoring module does not trigger the end of work zone indicator under these conditions.

On the other hand, in the situation represented in FIG. 5, the monitoring module 22 detects the third vehicle T1 on the lane previously identified as closed to traffic (by the identifier I received from the processing module 16) and determines its relative speed ( here positive) greater than the predetermined threshold (here - 40 km / h): this leads to step E6 in determining the end of the work zone and the monitoring module 22 therefore emits the end of work area F.

The driving management module 6 then for example switches the autonomous driving of the vehicle 1 into a driving mode on the road.

Claims (11)

1. Method for determining the end of a work area on a road (R) taken by a vehicle (1) and comprising a plurality of traffic lanes, comprising the following steps: - detection (E2) of a work area; - monitoring (E4), by means of at least one sensor (2) of the vehicle (1), of a lane closed to traffic in the work area; - determination (E6) of the end of the detection work area of another vehicle (T1) having a relative speed greater than a determined threshold on the monitored track. 2. Determination method according to claim 1, wherein said detection uses a density (d) of vehicles on traffic lanes other than the lane closed to traffic. 3. Determination method according to claim 2, wherein said density (d) is determined by analysis of the data delivered by the sensor (2). 4. Determination method according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sensor (2) is an image sensor. 5. Determination method according to claim 4, wherein said relative speed is determined by analysis of a sequence of images. 6. Device (10) for managing a work area for a vehicle comprising: - a reception interface (14) of data (D) delivered by a sensor (2) of the vehicle (1); - a detection module (20) of a work area on a road (R) taken by the vehicle (1) and comprising a plurality of traffic lanes; - a monitoring module (22) designed to monitor, on the basis of the data received (D), a lane closed to traffic on the work area and to generate an indicator (F) of the end of the detection work area of another vehicle (T1) having a relative speed greater than a determined threshold on the monitored lane. 7. Management device according to claim 6, in which the sensor 5 (2) is an image sensor. 8. Management device according to claim 7, in which the monitoring module (22) is designed to determine said relative speed by analysis of a sequence of images delivered by the image sensor (2). 9. On-board system comprising a management device (10) according to one of claims 6 to 8 and said sensor (2). 10. On-board system according to claim 9, comprising a module 15 driving management (6) designed to modify the driving mode of the vehicle (1) upon receipt of the indicator (F) at the end of the work zone. 1/1