FR3135559A1 - Method and device for determining the presence of traffic jam from data obtained from a camera on board a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a device for determining the presence or absence of traffic jams in a road environment (1). For this purpose, first data representative of the presence of a set of second vehicles (12) circulating on a second traffic lane (102) adjacent to a first traffic lane (101) on which one or more first vehicles (11) are traveling ) are received using a V2X communication mode. The first data is processed to detect the presence or absence of a traffic jam on the second lane of traffic (102). Information representative of the presence or absence of traffic jam is transmitted to one or more third vehicles (13) according to the V2X communication mode. Figure for abstract: Figure 1

Description

Method and device for determining the presence of traffic jam from data obtained from a camera on board a vehicle

The present invention relates to methods and devices for determining information representative of the presence of traffic jams for vehicles. The present invention also relates to a method and a device for detecting traffic jams using on-board camera data in at least one vehicle. The present invention also relates to a method and a device for communicating data representative of road traffic in a wireless network, for example a vehicle-to-everything network, known as V2X.

Technology background

Road safety is one of the important issues facing our societies. With the increase in the number of traffic lanes, road traffic and the number of users, whether vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists, on road networks around the world, the risks of accidents and incidents caused by these same users have never been so important.

To improve safety on the roads, new technologies are emerging that allow the exchange of information between vehicles and/or between vehicles and the infrastructure surrounding them. Thus, new information and communication technologies applied to the field of transport have appeared, such as ITS G5 (from the English “Intelligent Transportation System G5” or in French “Système de transport intelligent G5”) in Europe or DSRC (from the English “Dedicated Short Range Communications” or in French “Communications dedicated to short range”) in the United States of America which are both based on the IEEE 802.11p standard or even technology based on cellular networks called C-V2X (from the English “Cellular – Vehicle to Everything” or in French “Cellulaire – Véhicule vers tout”) which is based on 4G and/or 5G based on LTE (from the English “ Long Term Evolution” or in French “Long term evolution”).

However, risk prevention, and in particular the detection and identification of objects or obstacles present on the tracks, remains largely subject to improvement.

Summary of the present invention

An object of the present invention is to solve at least one of the problems of the technological background described above.

Another object of the present invention is to improve knowledge of their environment for vehicles.

According to a first aspect, the present invention relates to a method for determining information representative of the presence of traffic jam for a vehicle, the method comprising the following steps:

- reception, from at least one first vehicle traveling on a first lane, according to a vehicle-to-everything communication mode, called V2X, of first data representative of the presence of a set of second vehicles traveling on a second adjacent lane to the first traffic lane, the first data being acquired by a camera embedded in the at least one first vehicle;

- determination of information representative of the presence of traffic jams from the first data;

- transmission, to at least a third vehicle, of information using the V2X communication mode.

The acquisition of image data of a second traffic lane by an on-board camera in a first vehicle traveling on a first traffic lane adjacent to the second traffic lane allows a device receiving this data to determine whether the second lane is crowded or not.

The transmission of information on the presence of a traffic jam or not to one or more vehicles, for example vehicles arriving in the area, makes it possible to alert these vehicles to the risk associated with a traffic jam if necessary.

Such a process makes it possible to improve the vehicles' knowledge of their environment, offering the possibility for these vehicles to adapt their movement if necessary.

According to a variant, the method further comprises a step of receiving second data, from the at least one first vehicle according to the V2X communication mode, second data representative of the position of the at least one first vehicle.

According to another variant, the second data is obtained from at least one geolocation system receiver on board the at least one first vehicle.

According to an additional variant, the method further comprises the following steps:

- determination of a first geographical area including the second traffic lane based on the second data;

- determination of a second geographical zone comprising the first geographical zone, the information being intended for each third vehicle circulating in the second geographical zone.

According to yet another variant, the method further comprises a step of determining a reliability indicator associated with the information based on the first data.

According to an additional variant, the method further comprises a step of determining third data representative of the route for the at least one third vehicle as a function of the information, the route being determined so as to avoid the second lane of traffic.

According to another variant, the method further comprises a step of transmitting the third data to the at least one third vehicle according to the V2X communication mode.

According to a second aspect, the present invention relates to a device for determining information representative of the presence of traffic jam for a vehicle, the device comprising a memory associated with a processor configured for implementing the steps of the method according to the first aspect of the present invention.

According to a third aspect, the present invention relates to a system comprising a device as described above according to the second aspect of the present invention, the system further comprising the at least one first vehicle and the at least one third vehicle each comprising a communication system configured to communicate with the device as described above according to the second aspect of the present invention according to the V2X communication mode.

According to a fourth aspect, the present invention relates to a computer program which comprises instructions adapted for the execution of the steps of the method according to the first aspect of the present invention, in particular when the computer program is executed by at least one processor.

Such a computer program can use any programming language, and be in the form of a source code, an object code, or an intermediate code between a source code and an object code, such as in partially compiled form, or in any other desirable form.

According to a fifth aspect, the present invention relates to a computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded a computer program comprising instructions for executing the steps of the method according to the first aspect of the present invention.

On the one hand, the recording medium can be any entity or device capable of storing the program. For example, the medium may comprise a storage means, such as a ROM memory, a CD-ROM or a ROM memory of the microelectronic circuit type, or even a magnetic recording means or a hard disk.

On the other hand, this recording medium can also be a transmissible medium such as an electrical or optical signal, such a signal being able to be conveyed via an electrical or optical cable, by conventional or terrestrial radio or by self-directed laser beam or by other ways. The computer program according to the present invention can in particular be downloaded onto an Internet type network.

Alternatively, the recording medium may be an integrated circuit in which the computer program is incorporated, the integrated circuit being adapted to execute or to be used in executing the method in question.

Brief description of the figures

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description of the particular and non-limiting examples of embodiment of the present invention below, with reference to the attached Figures 1 to 3, in which:

schematically illustrates an environment for vehicles, according to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention;

schematically illustrates a device configured to determine information representative of a traffic jam in the environment of the , according to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention;

illustrates a flowchart of the different stages of a process for determining information representative of a traffic jam in the environment of the , according to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the implementation examples

A method and a device for determining information representative of a traffic jam for vehicle(s) will now be described in what follows with reference jointly to Figures 1 to 3. The same elements are identified with the same signs of reference throughout the description which follows.

According to a particular and non-limiting example of embodiment of the present invention, the detection of the presence or absence of traffic jam in a road environment comprises reception, according to a V2X communication mode (from the English "Vehicle-to -Everything” or in French “Véhicule vers tout”), for example according to a V2I communication mode (from the English “Vehicle-to-Infrastructure” or in French “Véhicule vers infrastructure”), first data representative of the presence of a set of second vehicles traveling on a second traffic lane adjacent to a first traffic lane on which one or more first vehicles are traveling. These first data are advantageously obtained from a camera embedded in each first vehicle, each first vehicle transmitting the first data to a remote device, for example a “cloud” server (or “cloud” in French) in V2X. The remote device processes the first data received to detect the presence or absence of a traffic jam on the second lane of traffic. The remote device then transmits information representative of the presence or absence of traffic jam to one or more third vehicles according to the V2X communication mode, for example I2V (from the English “Infrastructure-to-Vehicle” or in French “Infrastructure towards vehicle”).

There schematically illustrates a road environment 1 associated with a V2X type communication network (from the English “Vehicle-to-everything” or in French “Véhicule vers tout”), according to a first particular and non-limiting example of embodiment of the present invention.

There illustrates a set of first vehicles 11, comprising one or more first vehicles 11, traveling on a first lane 101 in a determined direction.

A set of second vehicles 12, which comprises one or more second vehicles 12, travel on a second traffic lane 102, for example in the same direction as the first vehicle(s) 11 or in the direction opposite to that of the first vehicle(s). 11. The second traffic lane 102 is advantageously adjacent laterally to the first traffic lane 101.

According to the particular and non-limiting example of the , the traffic lane 102 corresponds to a deceleration or exit lane from a portion of a expressway or motorway. Of course, the invention is not limited to such a particular example, but extends to any type of environment in which the first lane 101 and the second lane 102 are adjacent (for example two-way lanes).

A set of third vehicles 13, which includes one or more third vehicles 12, also circulate in environment 1.

Each first vehicle 11 and each third vehicle 13 is advantageously equipped with a communication device for transmitting and receiving data intended for another vehicle and/or a server 111 of a network infrastructure. Each communication device can be thought of as a node in a network, for example an ad hoc wireless network.

The vehicles 11 and 13 communicate advantageously using a so-called V2X communication system, for example based on the 3GPP LTE-V or IEEE 802.11p standards of ITS G5. In such a V2X communication system, each vehicle has a node to enable V2V vehicle-to-vehicle (vehicle-to-vehicle) and vehicle-to-vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. -infrastructure") and/or vice versa from infrastructure to vehicle I2V (from the English "vehicle-to-infrastructure").

The network infrastructure comprises for example one or more communication devices 110, each device 110 corresponding for example to an antenna of a cellular network of the LTE 4G or 5G type or to a UBR (“Roadside Unit”), each corresponding to a node in the network, in addition to the nodes equipping vehicles 11 and 13.

According to a particular embodiment, all of the nodes (that is to say the communications devices associated with the vehicles 11 and 13 and the antennas or UBR 110) of the network form for example an ad hoc wireless network (also called WANET (from the English “Wireless Ad Hoc Network”) or MANET (from the English “Mobile Ad Hoc Network”)), corresponding to a decentralized wireless network. The ad hoc wireless network advantageously corresponds to an ad hoc vehicular network (or VANET, from the English “Vehicular Ad hoc NETwork”) or to an intelligent ad hoc vehicular network (or InVANET, from the English “Intelligent Vehicular Ad hoc NETwork), also called “GeoNetworking”. In such a network, 2 or more vehicles each carrying a node can communicate with each other within the framework of vehicle-to-vehicle V2V communication and/or each vehicle can communicate with the infrastructure set up as part of vehicle-to-infrastructure V2I or I2V communication.

The nodes corresponding to the antennas (or UBR) 110 are advantageously connected to one or more remote servers 111 or to the “cloud” 100 (or in French “cloud”) via a wired and/or wireless connection. The antennas or UBR 110 can thus act as a relay between the “cloud” 100 and each vehicle 11 and 13.

Vehicles 11, 12 and 13 correspond for example to so-called autonomous vehicles, that is to say vehicles whose driving is, at least in part, managed by one or more automatic systems. The level of autonomy of vehicles 11 to 13 is for example between 0 and 5 (0 for a vehicle having no autonomy and whose driving is under the total supervision of the driver and 5 for a fully autonomous vehicle), depending on the classification of the American federal agency responsible for road safety or according to the classification of the international organization of automobile manufacturers (which is similar to the federal classification, with the difference that it has 6 levels, level 3 of the classification American being divided into 2 levels in that of the international organization of automobile manufacturers).

Advantageously, each first vehicle 11 is equipped with or carries a camera having in its field of vision the portion of road located in front of the first vehicle 11. Such a camera is configured for the acquisition of image data representing a portion of road in front of the first vehicle 11 comprising the first traffic lane 101 and the second traffic lane 102.

The on-board camera corresponds, for example, to a front camera (also called a windshield camera) and/or to a camera from a ground marking detection system.

A process for determining information representative of the presence of a traffic jam for a vehicle is advantageously implemented by a data processing device (that is to say by one or more processors of such a device), for example a remote server type device such as server 111.

In a first operation, the device 111 receives from each first vehicle 11 of a set of first vehicles 11 circulating on the first traffic lane 101 a set of first image data of the traffic lanes 101 and 102 as it progresses. of the movement of each first vehicle 11. These first data are advantageously obtained from each first vehicle 11 by a camera on board the vehicle 11. The first data are advantageously transmitted to the device 111 via a wireless connection according to a V2X communication mode, by V2I example.

The first data are for example transmitted at regular intervals by each first vehicle 11, for example every 20, 50, 100, 200 or 500 ms.

According to a variant, the first data are transmitted by each first vehicle 11 after reception of a request transmitted by the device 111 intended for the first vehicles 11, this or these requests being transmitted according to the V2X communication mode, for example I2V.

The first data advantageously corresponds to image data, for example to data associated with each pixel of the image(s) acquired by the camera, for example gray level values coded to for example 8, 10, 12 or more of bits for each color channel, for example RGB (from the English “Red, Green, Blue” or in French “Red, green, blue”) or any other color space.

In a second operation, information representative of the presence of a traffic jam is determined by the device 111 from the first data received during the first operation.

Such information is for example obtained by processing or analyzing the first image data of the traffic lane 102. Such analysis comprises for example the detection of an object corresponding to a vehicle, according to any known image processing method of the skilled person. Such a method corresponds for example to a so-called machine learning method, also called an automatic learning method, for example implemented by a neural network.

The processing of the images received determines for example the density and/or the number of second vehicles 12 present on the second traffic lane 102, the distance between each pair of second vehicles 12 detected, the speed of each second vehicle 12 and/or the length formed by the line of second vehicles 12 on the second traffic lane 102.

The result of the image analysis makes it possible to determine whether a traffic jam is present on the second traffic lane 102. For example, the presence of a traffic jam is detected if one or more of the following conditions are met:

- density of second vehicles 12 greater than a threshold, for example if the density is greater than 20 or 25 vehicles per 100 m of track; and or

- number of second vehicles present on the second lane 102 greater than a threshold, for example if the number of second vehicles 12 is greater than 10, 20, 30 or 50 vehicles; and or

- distance between two second consecutive vehicles 12 less than a threshold, for example if the distance between two second vehicles 12 which follow one another is less than 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 m; and or

- instantaneous or average speed of the second vehicles 12 is less than a threshold, for example if the instantaneous or average speed of the second vehicles 12 is less than 1, 2, 5 or 10 km/h; and or

- length of the line of second vehicles 12 greater than a threshold, for example if the line of second vehicles 12 is greater than 20, 40, 50 or 100 m.

The information representative of the presence or absence of a traffic jam corresponds for example to a bit taking two values, with a first value (for example '1') when the presence of a traffic jam is detected and a second value (for example '0') when no traffic jam is determined (no traffic jam detection).

According to a variant embodiment, the information corresponds to a traffic jam level, for example a level belonging to a set of levels comprising for example 3, 5 or 10 levels. A level is for example determined using the result of several criteria or indicators from the list described above (density, number, distance, length and/or speed), according to all possible combinations, the higher the level, the greater the traffic jam. being important. According to this variant, the information is for example coded on 2, 3 or 4 bits.

According to another alternative embodiment, a reliability indicator is determined as a function of the first data, this reliability indicator being associated with the information on the presence or absence of traffic jam and corresponding for example to a level of confidence associated with the determination of information on the presence or absence of a traffic jam.

According to this variant, the indicator is determined by analyzing for example the result of several criteria or indicators from the list described above (density, number, distance, length and/or speed), according to all possible combinations. For example, when several indicators agree and indicate the presence (respectively the absence) of traffic jams, then the confidence indicator increases. The more the number of indicators agree, the higher the confidence indicator. Such a confidence indicator corresponds for example to a value between 0 and 1. According to another example, a particular weighting is associated with each indicator when several indicators are evaluated, the most reliable indicators (for example the number of second vehicles 12 ) having for example a higher weighting.

According to another example, the confidence indicator takes into consideration the number of first vehicles 11 transmitting first data and the consistency of the first data received from these different first vehicles 11. Thus, when the result of the analysis of the images received from several first vehicles 11 agree, that is to say indicate all the presence (respectively the absence) of traffic jam, then the value of the confidence indicator increases.

In a third operation corresponding to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the process, the device 111 further receives from each of the first vehicles 11 transmitting the first data second data representative of the position of each of these first vehicles.

Each first vehicle 11 transmits for example these second data with the first data, for example in the same data frame, according to the V2X communication mode, for example V2I, to the device 111.

The second data corresponds for example to a set of coordinates expressed in world space. These second data are for example obtained by each first vehicle 11 from a geolocation system receiver on board the first vehicle 11. For this purpose, each first vehicle 11 embarks according to this particular embodiment a satellite geolocation system configured to determine the current position of the first vehicle 11, the vehicle 11 carrying for this purpose a receiver of a GPS type system (from the English "Global Positioning System" or in French "World Positioning System") or Galileo for example in communication with a computer of the on-board system of the first vehicle 11. The current position is for example expressed in the form of coordinates, for example in the form of a latitude/longitude pair.

According to a variant embodiment, this third operation further comprises the determination, by the device 111, of a first geographical zone comprising the second traffic lane 102 as a function of the second data received. This first geographical zone corresponds for example to the zone of the road environment 1 comprising the portion of the second traffic lane 102 which is determined to be congested.

According to this variant, a second geographical zone comprising the first geographical zone is determined. The second geographical zone is thus wider than the first geographical zone and encompasses the latter.

The second geographical zone corresponds for example to a zone of the road environment whose roads lead to or access, directly or indirectly, the congested portion of the second traffic lane 102.

According to a variant embodiment, the second location data of each first vehicle 11 are determined by the device 111 from the first data and an identifier of the communication device 110 having served as a communication relay between the first vehicle 11 and the device 111. According to this variant, the location of each communication device 110 is known to the device 111 which is then capable of locating each first vehicle 11 as it moves, in particular by following the communication devices 110 with which the first vehicle 11 establishes a connection.

In a fourth operation, the device 111 transmits to one or more third vehicles 13 information representative of the presence or absence of traffic jam according to the V2X communication mode, for example I2V.

The information is for example transmitted in a so-called broadcast mode, such information being for example received by all third vehicles 13 circulating in an area covered by a telecommunication device 110 of the antenna type or UBR selected by the device 111 to broadcast the information.

The information is thus transmitted to the third vehicles 13 to inform them of the presence of a traffic jam or to inform them that no traffic jam has been detected.

According to a particular embodiment, the information is only transmitted when the latter is representative of the presence of a detected traffic jam.

According to another particular embodiment, the transmission of information is conditioned by the reliability indicator when the latter is determined. According to this particular example, the presence or absence information is only transmitted when the associated reliability indicator is greater than a threshold (for example greater than 0.6, 0.7 or 0.8).

The coverage area for the dissemination of information corresponds for example to a geographical area associated with the device 111 which is for example in charge of a specific geographical area associated with environment 1.

According to a variant, the broadcast coverage zone corresponds to the second geographical zone encompassing the first geographical zone, as determined in the third operation when the particular embodiment described with regard to the third operation is implemented. According to this variant, the information on the presence (or absence) of traffic jam is transmitted to the device(s) 110 geographically covering the second geographical area.

According to yet another exemplary embodiment, the information is transmitted according to a multicast transmission mode, that is to say to several communication devices (i.e. say several third vehicles) each identified by their address. According to yet another example, the information is transmitted according to a unicast transmission mode, that is to say to a single communication device (i.e. (say only one third vehicle) identified by its address. According to this example, the address or identifier of each third vehicle 13 entering into communication with the device 111 (for example when this third vehicle 13 enters the zone covered by the device 111 or in the second zone) is stored in memory of the device 111 until this third vehicle 13 leaves this zone.

In a fifth operation, information representative of the presence of a traffic jam is rendered, for example displayed on a screen via an ad-hoc man-machine interface (HMI), in each third vehicle 13 receiving the presence or traffic information. absence of traffic jam, when this information is representative of the detection of the presence of traffic jam.

The rendering includes for example the display of an alert on a road map displayed in a screen on board the third vehicle 13, the road map corresponding for example to that of a geolocation or navigation system. Such a system is for example implemented by a computer of the on-board system of the third vehicle or by a mobile communication device (for example a smart phone (from the English "Smartphone")) connected by wireless communication (Wifi® or Bluetooth® for example) with the third vehicle 13, which mobile communication device receives from the third vehicle 13 information representative of the presence of a traffic jam. The alert takes for example the form of a graphic object indicating the presence of a traffic jam at the location of the second traffic lane 102.

According to a variant embodiment, third data representative of the route for the third vehicle or vehicles 13 recipient of the information on the presence of a traffic jam are determined as a function of the information on the presence or absence of a traffic jam, the route being determined so as to avoid the second congested traffic lane 102.

These third data are for example determined by the device 111 and transmitted to each third vehicle 13 according to the V2X communication mode.

According to a variant, these third data are determined by each third vehicle 13 receiving the traffic jam presence information, for example by the computer in charge of the on-board navigation system of the third vehicle 13 or by the mobile communication device connected in communication wirelessly with the third vehicle 13.

A route recommendation avoiding the second congested traffic lane 102 is for example displayed on the screen of the navigation system.

Such a process thus makes it possible to inform a set of vehicles approaching an area comprising a traffic jam, which allows these vehicles to adapt their circulation (for example the route, the speed) to either avoid the congested area or to avoid any risk of accident with the second vehicles 12 stationary.

There schematically illustrates a device 2 configured to determine information on the presence or absence of traffic jams for vehicle(s), according to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention. Device 2 corresponds for example to a data processing device, for example a “cloud” server, device 2 corresponding for example to remote device 111.

According to one variant, the device 2 corresponds to a computer of the first vehicle 11 or the third vehicle 13 receiving, transmitting and/or processing data exchanged with the remote device 111. According to another example, the device 2 corresponds to an on-board communication device in the first vehicle 11 or the third vehicle 13, this device being configured to communicate data with the remote device 111 according to the V2X communication mode.

The device 2 is for example configured for the implementation of the operations described with regard to the figure and/or the steps of the method described with regard to the . Examples of such a device 2 include, without being limited to, a server, a computer, on-board electronic equipment such as an on-board computer of a vehicle, an electronic computer such as an ECU ("Control Unit"). Electronics"), a TCU (from the English “Telematic Control Unit” or in French “Unité de Control Télématique"), a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop. The elements of device 2, individually or in combination, can be integrated into a single integrated circuit, into several integrated circuits, and/or into discrete components. Device 2 can be produced in the form of electronic circuits or software (or computer) modules or even a combination of electronic circuits and software modules.

The device 2 comprises one (or more) processor(s) 20 configured to execute instructions for carrying out the steps of the method and/or for executing the instructions of the software(s) embedded in the device 2. The processor 20 may include integrated memory, an input/output interface, and various circuits known to those skilled in the art. The device 2 further comprises at least one memory 21 corresponding for example to a volatile and/or non-volatile memory and/or comprises a memory storage device which may comprise volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as EEPROM, ROM , PROM, RAM, DRAM, SRAM, flash, magnetic or optical disk.

The computer code of the embedded software(s) comprising the instructions to be loaded and executed by the processor is for example stored on memory 21.

According to different particular and non-limiting examples of embodiment, the device 2 is coupled in communication with other similar devices or systems and/or with communication devices, for example a TCU (from the English “Telematic Control Unit” or in French “Telematic Control Unit”), for example via a communications bus or through dedicated input/output ports.

According to a particular and non-limiting embodiment, the device 2 comprises a block 22 of interface elements for communicating with external devices. The interface elements of block 22 include one or more of the following interfaces:

- RF radio frequency interface, for example of the Wi-Fi® type (according to IEEE 802.11), for example in the 2.4 or 5 GHz frequency bands, or of the Bluetooth® type (according to IEEE 802.15.1), in the band frequency at 2.4 GHz, or Sigfox type using UBN radio technology (from English Ultra Narrow Band, in French ultra narrow band), or LoRa in the 868 MHz frequency band, LTE (from English “ Long-Term Evolution” or in French “Long-Term Evolution”), LTE-Advanced (or in French LTE-advanced);

- USB interface (from the English “Universal Serial Bus” or “Bus Universel en Série” in French);

- HDMI interface (from the English “High Definition Multimedia Interface”, or “Interface Multimedia Haute Definition” in French);

- LIN interface (from English “Local Interconnect Network”, or in French “Réseau interconnecté local”).

According to another particular and non-limiting example of embodiment, the device 2 comprises a communication interface 23 which makes it possible to establish communication with other devices (such as other computers of the on-board system) via a communication channel 230. The communication interface 23 corresponds for example to a transmitter configured to transmit and receive information and/or data via the communication channel 230. The communication interface 23 corresponds for example to a CAN type wired network (from the English “Controller Area Network” or in French “Réseau de controlleres”), CAN FD (from the English “Controller Area Network Flexible Data-Rate” or in French “Réseau de controllers à flow flexible data”), FlexRay ( standardized by the ISO 17458 standard) or Ethernet (standardized by the ISO/IEC 802-3 standard).

According to a particular and non-limiting embodiment, the device 2 can provide output signals to one or more external devices, such as a display screen, touch or not, one or more speakers and/or other devices (projection system) via respective output interfaces. According to one variant, one or the other of the external devices is integrated into device 2.

There illustrates a flowchart of the different stages of a method for determining information representative of the presence of a traffic jam for a vehicle, according to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention. The method is for example implemented by a remote device such as the device 111 or by a system comprising the device 111 connected in wireless communication with on the one hand one or more first vehicles 11 and on the other hand one or more third vehicles 13.

In a first step 31, first data representative of the presence of a set of second vehicles circulating on a second traffic lane adjacent to a first traffic lane are received from at least one first vehicle traveling on the first traffic lane, according to a vehicle-to-everything mode of communication, called V2X. The first data are advantageously acquired by or obtained from a camera embedded in the at least one first vehicle.

In a second step 32, the information representative of the presence of a traffic jam is determined from the first data.

In a third step 33, the information determined in the second step 32 is transmitted to at least a third vehicle according to the V2X communication mode.

According to a variant, the variants and examples of the operations described in relation to the apply to the stages of the process of .

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described above but extends to a method of controlling a third vehicle based on information on the presence or absence of a traffic jam which would include secondary steps without departing from the scope of the present invention. The same would apply to a device configured to implement such a process.

The present invention also relates to a system comprising the device 2 corresponding for example to a server, the system further comprising one or more first vehicles 11 connected in wireless communication to the device 2 via an on-board communication device or system (for example a TCU associated with one or more antennas) and one or more third vehicles 13 connected in wireless communication to the device 2 via an on-board communication device or system (for example a TCU associated with one or more antennas).

Claims (10)

Method for determining information representative of the presence of traffic jam for a vehicle, said method comprising the following steps:
- reception (31), from at least one first vehicle (11) traveling on a first traffic lane (101), according to a vehicle-to-everything communication mode, called V2X, of first data representative of the presence of a set of second vehicles (12) traveling on a second traffic lane (102) adjacent to said first traffic lane (101), said first data being acquired by a camera on-board in said at least one first vehicle (11);
- determination (32) of said information representative of the presence of a traffic jam from said first data;
- transmission (33), to at least a third vehicle (13), of said information according to said V2X communication mode. Method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of receiving second data, from said at least one first vehicle (11) according to said V2X communication mode, second data representative of position of said at least one first vehicle (11). Method according to claim 2, for which said second data is obtained from at least one geolocation system receiver on board said at least one first vehicle (11). Method according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising the following steps:
- determination of a first geographical area comprising said second traffic lane (102) based on said second data;
- determination of a second geographical zone comprising said first geographical zone, said information being intended for each third vehicle (13) circulating in said second geographical zone. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a step of determining a reliability indicator associated with said information based on said first data. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a step of determining third data representative of a route for said at least one third vehicle (13) as a function of said information, said route being determined so as to avoid said second traffic lane (102). Method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of transmitting said third data to the at least one third vehicle (13) according to said V2X communication mode. Computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to any one of the preceding claims, when these instructions are executed by a processor. Device (2) for determining information representative of the presence of traffic jam for a vehicle, said device (2) comprising a memory (21) associated with at least one processor (20) configured for implementing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7. System comprising the device (2) according to claim 9, the at least one first vehicle (11) and the at least one third vehicle (13) each comprising a communication system configured to communicate with said device (2) according to said mode of V2X communication.