SE1650096A1 - Method and control unit for reducing lateral acceleration ofa group of coordinated vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

17 SUMMARY Method (400) and control unit (310), for reducing lateral acceleration of a group (110) ofcoordinated vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in a formation by synchronising a lateral move-ment of the group (110). The method (400) comprises detecting (401) an imminent lateralmovement of the first vehicle (100-1) in the group (110); generating (403) control signals forturning the front wheels (140-1, 140-2, 140-3) of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in thegroup (110) synchronised, in parallel with the front wheels (140-1) of the first vehicle (100-1); and transmitting (404) the generated (403) control signals for synchronising the lateralmovement of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the group (110), to be received by saidvehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3). (Pubi. Fig. 2A)

Description

METHOD AND CONTROL UNIT IN A GROUP OF COORDINATED VEHICLES TECHNICAL FIELD This document discloses a control unit and a method in a control unit comprised in a groupof coordinated vehicles in a formation. l\/lore particularly, a method and a control unit is pro-vided, for reducing lateral acceleration of a group of coordinated vehicles in a formation bysynchronising a lateral movement of the group.

BACKGROUND An emerging technology is to drive vehicles such as e.g. busses, in groups of coordinatedvehicles, or vehicle trains. This technology is sometimes referred to as Bus Rapid Transit(BRT). BRT is a bus-based mass transit system, which may be regarded upon as a "surfacesubway", which aims at combining the capacity and speed of a subway with the flexibility,lower cost and simplicity of a bus system. ln some BRT concepts, a ring line in a city centre may have a group of coordinated vehiclesrunning on the same traffic line in order to increase the transportation capacity, e.g. under rush hours. ln some other concepts, the groups of coordinated vehicles may be starting individually fromdifferent suburbans, join in a common vehicle train when arriving at the city centre and thendrive jointly similar to tram wagons through the city centre, thereby providing high transpor-tation capacity within the city centre. The group of coordinated vehicles may then split upand continue to different end destinations.

When the vehicles are coordinated and are driving jointly in a vehicle train, communicationmay be made between the vehicles by vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. Thereby,information may be sent from the first vehicle to the other following vehicles e.g. when thefirst vehicle brakes. Also other driving commands such as acceleration or turning may betransmitted from the first vehicle to the other vehicles in the group. Thereby, the driver of thefirst vehicle in the coordinated group may effectually drive all of the vehicles in the coordi-nated group of vehicles, making the other drivers redundant, much like how a tram driver isable to drive a tram train comprising several wagons. This makes it possible to transport anincreased amount of passengers per required driver. Alternatively, the drivers of the followervehicles in the coordinated group may take a paus from the driving and for example control ticket validity of the passengers etc.

Thus all vehicles in the coordinated group of vehicles follows the trajectory of the first vehiclein the group. When driving at low velocity, or when driving straight fonNard in any velocity,this is no problem. However, a particular problem appears e.g. when driving the group ofcoordinated vehicles at a bus stop, or any similar situation, see Figure 1.

Figure 1 illustrates a group of coordinated vehicles that has stopped at a bus stop or similarand is starting to pass an obstacle (e.g. a parked vehicle) in front of the bus stop. The firstvehicle then starts driving and turning at low velocity, as a single bus would do. All the othervehicles then follow the trajectory of the first bus. The second vehicle in the group will how-ever have a higher velocity than the first vehicle when the lateral movement is made with thevehicle, leading to increased lateral forces on the vehicle, which influences the passengersand their comfort. ln case the group of vehicles continue acceleration, each subsequent ve-hicle in the group will have a further increased velocity when making the lateral movement,leading to further increased lateral forces on the respective vehicle and increased discomfortfor the passengers.

This may present an increased risk of accidents in particular in the lattermost vehicle and inparticular when there are standing passengers, or passengers in baby carriage or wheelchairon board. As mentioned above there may be no driver present in all the vehicles that mayreact and brake the vehicle in case the lateral acceleration becomes too high, or an accident appear among the passengers.

A possible solution may be to drive very slowly until all vehicles in the group have made thelateral movement into the nearby driving lane. This will however delay the transport, leadingto prolonged driving time between the bus stops. The additional time will also add up duringthe travel, prolonging a ride between the end stations most noticeable.

Document DE 10109046 A1 presents a method for performing a lane change of a vehicletrain, i.e. a convoy. The first vehicle requests a lane change from the current lane where afterthe last vehicle checks the destination lane for other vehicles, including checking for anyovertaking vehicles coming from behind. ln case the target lane is empty and no overtakingvehicle is approaching, the last vehicle firstly changes driving lane into the target driving lane,forming a plug to block any attempts to overtake the vehicle train. Thereafter, the other ve-hicles perform the lane change.

The solution provided in DE 10109046 A1 is not addressing busses driving at low velocity ina city environment, but rather concerns platooning at highway speed. The solution is directed towards platoons of trucks, driving close in high speed on high ways for saving fuel by re-ducing air drag. Further, the problem addressed in the document is not how to avoid or re-duce |atera| forces on passengers during a lane change, but rather to avoid that a vehicletrain is disunited by overtaking vehicles.

A vehicle with passengers, unlike trucks, has to be very careful with acceleration (and retar-dation), perhaps in particular |atera| acceleration (retardation) for avoiding accidents and dis-comfort of the passengers. There may for example be standing passengers in the vehicle,or children and/ or disabled passengers, etc., why rapid |atera| acceleration for changing driving lane is very inappropriate or even dangerous.

Furthermore, in a conventional vehicle platoon, all vehicles always have a driver present ineach vehicle. ln the herein described group of coordinated vehicles, there may not be anydriver at all in at least some of the vehicles in the group of coordinated vehicles. Thus in casethe |atera| (or other) acceleration becomes too high, or an accident occurs, there is no driverpresent to notice and brake.

Yet another problem with the solution provided in DE 10109046 A1 when driving in a platoonis that the desired advantage of saving fuel by reducing air drag is not achieved during lanechange according to the disclosed method, leading to increased energy costs. lt appears that further development is required for reaching practical implementation of ve-hicle groups of the herein discussed kind.

SUMMARY lt is therefore an object of this invention to solve at least some of the above problems andimprove driving in a group of coordinated vehicles.

According to a first aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a method in a controlunit in a vehicle. The vehicle is comprised in a group of coordinated vehicles in a formation.The method aims at reducing |atera| acceleration of a group of coordinated vehicles in aformation by synchronising a |atera| movement of the group. The method comprises detect-ing an imminent |atera| movement of the first vehicle in the group. Further the method com-prises generating control signals for turning the front wheels of the vehicles in the groupsynchronised, in parallel with the front wheels of the first vehicle. ln addition the method alsocomprises transmitting the generated control signals for synchronising the |atera| movementof the vehicles in the group, to be received by said vehicles.

According to a second aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a control unit ina vehicle. The vehicle is comprised in a group of coordinated vehicles in a formation. Thecontrol unit is configured for reducing |atera| acceleration of a group of coordinated vehiclesin a formation, by synchronising a |atera| movement of the group. Further the control unit isconfigured for detecting an imminent |atera| movement of the first vehicle in the group. Thecontrol unit is also configured for generating control signals for turning the front wheels of thevehicles in the group synchronised, in parallel with the front wheels of the first vehicle. Addi-tionally, the control unit is further configured for transmitting the generated control signals forsynchronising the |atera| movement of the vehicles in the group, to be received by said ve-hicles.

Thanks to the described aspects, a parallel simultaneous |atera| movement of a group ofvehicles is enabled. This may be an advantage in particular when starting from standstill,and departing from a bus stop or similar, desiring to accelerate up to normal driving speed,as the |atera| movement may be made when the velocity of the vehicles is low. Thereby the|atera| forces for the passengers inside the vehicles, in particular in the last vehicle of thegroup becomes substantially lower than when the vehicles start from standstill and sequen-tially changes driving lane.

Other advantages and additional novel features will become apparent from the subsequentdetailed description.

FIGURES Embodiments of the invention will now be described in further detail with reference to theaccompanying figures, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a group of coordinated vehicles according to prior art; Figure 2A illustrates a group of coordinated vehicles according to an embodiment;Figure 2B illustrates a group of coordinated vehicles according to an embodiment;Figure 3A illustrates a vehicle interior according to an embodiment; Figure 3B illustrates a vehicle interior according to an embodiment; Figure 3C illustrates a group of coordinated vehicles according to an embodiment;Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the method; Figure 5 is an illustration depicting a system according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments of the invention described herein are defined as a control unit and a methodin a control unit, which may be put into practice in the embodiments described below. Theseembodiments may, however, be exemplified and realised in many different forms and arenot to be limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these illustrative examples of em-bodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

Still other objects and features may become apparent from the following detailed description,considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. lt is to be understood, however,that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition ofthe limits of the herein disclosed embodiments, for which reference is to be made to theappended claims. Further, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and, unless oth-en/vise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and pro-cedures described herein.

Figure 2A illustrates a scenario wherein a number of vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3, drivingin a driving direction 105, with an inter-vehicular distance. The vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3are coordinated and organised in a group 110. The wheels of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 are illustrated as if the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 where seen from underneath, for in-creased visibility and understanding of the disclosed solution.

The vehicle group 110 may be described as a chain of coordinated, inter-communicatingvehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 travelling at given inter-vehicular distance and velocity.

The inter-vehicular distance may be fixed or variable in different embodiments. Thus thedistance may be e.g. some centimetres, some decimetres, some meters or some tenths ofmeters in some embodiments. Alternatively, each vehicle 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group110 may have a different distance to the vehicle following, or leading, vehicle 100-1, 100-2,100-3, than all other vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the coordinated group 110.

The vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 may comprise e.g. a multi-passenger vehicle such as abus, a coach or any similar vehicle or other means of conveyance such as a truck or a caretc. The vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 may comprise vehicles of the same,or different types in different embodiments.

Furthermore, the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 may be busses in a BRTvehicle train in some embodiments, driving at rather low speed in a metropolitan environ-ment. However, in other embodiments, the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110may comprise busses, cars or trucks in a platoon, driving at highway speed.

The vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 may be driver controlled or driverless autonomously con-trolled vehicles in different embodiments. However, for enhanced clarity, the vehicles 100-1,100-2, 100-3 are subsequently described as having a driver, at least in the leading vehicle100-1.

The vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 are coordinated via a wireless signal.Such wireless signal may comprise, or at least be inspired by wireless communication tech-nology such as Wi-Fi, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB),Bluetooth (BT), Near Field Communication (NFC), Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID),optical communication such as Infrared Data Association (lrDA) or infrared transmission to name but a few possible examples of wireless communications in some embodiments. ln some embodiments, the communication between vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in thegroup 110 may be performed via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, e.g. based onDedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) devices. DSRC works in 5.9 GHz bandwith bandwidth of 75 MHz and approximate range of 1000 m in some embodiments.

The wireless communication may be made according to any IEEE standard for wireless ve-hicular communication like e.g. a special mode of operation of IEEE 802.11 for vehicularnetworks called Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE). IEEE 802.11p is anextension to 802.11 Wireless LAN medium access layer (MAC) and physical layer (PHY)specification.

The communication may alternatively be made over a wireless interface comprising, or atleast being inspired by radio access technologies such as e.g. 3GPP LTE, LTE-Advanced,E-UTRAN, UMTS, GSM, GSM/ EDGE, WCDMA, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) net-works, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA)networks, Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, Worldwide lnteroperability for Micro-wave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), High Speed Packet Access(HSPA) Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (UTRA), GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), 3GPP2 CDMA technologies, e.g., CDMA2000 1x RTT and High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), or similar, just to mention some few options, via a wireless communication network. ln some embodiments, when the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 are coordi-nated and are communicating, the driver of the first vehicle 100-1 drive the own vehicles100-1 and the other vehicles 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 are merely following the drivingcommands of the first vehicle 100-1. However, when making a lane change or navigating outfrom a bus stop, another navigation concept is used.

When changing driving lane, e.g. for passing an obstacle 120 in the driveway, all the vehicles100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 move their front wheels 140-1, 140-2, 140-3 in parallelwith the front wheels 140-1 of the first vehicle 100-1, for making a lateral movement of thegroup 110 along separate, substantially parallel trajectories 130-1, 130-2, 130-3, until thevehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 have changed driving lane and continue driving straight ahead,following the same trajectory 130 as outlined by the first vehicle 100-1. lt is thereby possible to avoid unnecessary lateral acceleration of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2,100-3 in the group 110, by letting the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 making the lateral move-ment in parallel, when the velocity of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 is low. ln some embodiments, input is collected from sensors on the side of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3, and/ or behind the last vehicle 100-3 in the group 110.

A further possible advantage according to embodiments wherein the vehicles 100-1, 100-2,100-3 are changing driving lane at highway velocity is that the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3in the group 110 are enabled to take advantage of reduced air drag as the vehicles 100-1,100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 are kept in linear formation also during the lane change.Thereby fuel consumption is reduced.

Figure 2B illustrates an example of a scenario similar to the one illustrated in Figure 2A.

At least one sensor 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 may be placed on at least one of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110, for detecting an obstacle 220 in the target driving lane, oran overtaking vehicle 230 approaching from behind. Such sensor 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 maybe based on electromagnetic radiation and may comprise e.g. a radar unit for emitting radiosignals and receiving reflections of the emitted signals, in some embodiments. However, such sensor may comprise a camera in combination with an image interpretation program in some embodiments, and/ or a laser; or a combination of different kinds of sensors for detect-ing other vehicles/ road users 220, 230.

Besides comprising a camera, the sensor 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 in other embodiments maycomprise e.g. a stereo camera, a film camera, or similar device based on radar, infra-red light or micro waves. ln some embodiments, the sensor 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 may comprise, or cooperate withanother sensor based on laser, radar or microwaves, for determining the presence and/ ordistance to the obstacle 220 and/ or overtaking vehicle 230.

As illustrated in the figure, all vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 may activate thedriving indicators simultaneously, in order to increase the understanding for vehicles 100-1,100-2, 100-3 intended |atera| movement for other traffic users within sight.

Figure 3A illustrates an example of a scenario as illustrated in any of Figure 2A and/ orFigure 2B, as it may be perceived by the driver of the vehicle 100-1, i.e. the first vehicle 100-1 in the group 110 of coordinated vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3.

Via any of the sensors 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 on any of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in thegroup 110, an obstacle 220 has been detected and an alert has been transmitted to the firstvehicle 100-1 via wireless transmission. The first vehicle 100-1 in the illustrated embodimentcomprises a control unit 310 and a transceiver 320, for receiving the wireless communicationfrom the sensors 210-1, 210-2, 210-3. Further, the first vehicle 100-1 may comprise a display330, for presenting information, warning the driver from making a driving lane shift when an obstacle 220 has been detected at the target driving lane.

Alternatively, or additionally, the first vehicle 100-1 may comprise a loudspeaker 340 for pre-senting auditory information, such as a spoken warning message and/ or an alerting signalor similar. The first vehicle 100-1 may in addition, or alternatively, comprise a haptic interface,for haptic communication with the driver, e.g. via a tactile device in the driving chair or othervehicle part in physical contact with the driver.

Figure 3B illustrates an example of a scenario similar to the one illustrated in Figure 3A, butwherein the control unit 310 is situated in a vehicle external structure 360. The vehicle ex-ternal structure 360 may for example be a traffic surveillance centre, a transportation moni-toring hub or similar. The vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the coordinated group 110 may communicate with the control unit 310 via a wireless interface, e.g. according to any of thepreviously described communication technologies. Wireless signals may thus be transmittedto/ from the transceiver 320 of the vehicle 100-1 and a transceiver 350 of the vehicle externalstructure 360.

Figure 3C presents a side view of coordinated vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in a group 110.ln this illustrated embodiment, each vehicle 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 comprises a respective sen-sor 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 and may communicate with the control unit 310, comprised in thefirst vehicle 100-1, via a respective wireless transceiver 320-1, 320-2, 320-3. The discussedunits of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 forms a system 300, for reducinglateral acceleration of a group 110 of coordinated vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in a formationby synchronising a lateral movement of the group 110.

Figure 4 illustrates an example of a method 400 according to an embodiment. The flow chartin Figure 4 shows the method 400 in a control unit 110. The control unit 110 may in someembodiments be comprised in a vehicle 100-1, comprised in a group 110 of coordinatedvehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in a formation, i.e. one vehicle after another in a queue se-quence. Alternatively, the control unit 110 may be comprised in a vehicle external structure360, in some embodiments.

The method 400 aims at reducing lateral acceleration of the group 110 of coordinated vehi-cles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the formation by synchronising a lateral movement of the group110.

The vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the coordinated group 110 may be any arbitrary kind ofmeans for conveyance. However, in some particular embodiments, the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 may be vehicles for public transportation of passengers such as busses, coachesor similar. The vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 may communicate with each other via wirelesssignals transmitted on any of the previously mentioned wireless interfaces, or e.g. by infraredlight. ln order to correctly be able to reduce the lateral acceleration, the method 400 may comprisea number of steps 401-404. However, some of these steps 401 -404 may be performed solelyin some alternative embodiments, like e.g. step 402. Further, the described steps 401-404may be performed in a somewhat different chronological order than the numbering suggests.The method 400 may comprise the subsequent steps: Step 401 comprises detecting an imminent lateral movement of the first vehicle 100-1 in thegroup 110.

The imminent lateral movement of the first vehicle 100-1 may be detected by detecting anactive turning signal of the first vehicle 100-1, i.e. by detecting the state of the blinkers of thefirst vehicle 100-1. ln some embodiments, the detection of the imminent lateral movementmay be made by detecting a steering wheel movement of the first vehicle 100-1, exceedinga threshold angle value. ln other embodiments, imminent lateral movement of the first vehicle 100-1 may be detectedby extraction of the vehicle route from a navigator in the vehicle 100-1, in combination witha determined position of the first vehicle 100-1, e.g. via Global Positioning System (GPS),and/ or a bus schedule and detection of bus stops along the bus route. ln some embodi-ments, bus stops may be detected e.g. by emitting wireless signals at the bus stop and re-ceiving them by a sensor or receiver at the first vehicle 100-1, in an alternative embodiment.

Step 402, which may be performed only in some embodiments, comprises receiving sensorsignals for detecting any obstacle 220 at the side of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in thedirection of the imminent lateral movement, and detecting any overtaking vehicles 230 frombehind the group 110.

The obstacle 220 may be another vehicle, a pedestrian, an animal, a dropped load or in factany object preventing the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 from entering thetarget driving lane.

The sensor signals may be emitted by at least one sensor 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 on at leastone of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110, based on electromagnetic radiationsuch as e.g. radar. However, such detection may alternatively be made by visual detectionmade by a camera, in combination with an image recognition program; by a sensor basedon infra-red light, laser or micro waves; and/ or by a tomographic motion detection systembased on detection of radio wave disturbances, in some embodiments.

Step 403 comprises generating control signals for turning the front wheels 140-1, 140-2,140-3 of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110 synchronised, in parallel with thefront wheels 140-1 of the first vehicle 100-1. 11 Step 404 comprises transmitting the generated 403 control signals for synchronising thelateral movement of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110, to be received bysaid vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3.

Figure 5 illustrates a system 300 for reducing lateral acceleration of a group 110 of coordi-nated vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in a formation, i.e. one vehicle after another in a queuesequence, by synchronising a lateral movement of the group 110.

The system 300 comprises a control unit 310, which may be situated in a vehicle 100-1 ofthe group 110, or alternatively in a vehicle external structure 360. The control unit 310 mayperform at least some of the previously described steps 401-404 according to the method400 described above and illustrated in Figure 4. Thus the control unit 310 aims at reducinglateral acceleration of the group 110 of coordinated vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in a for-mation, by synchronising a lateral movement of the group 110.

The control unit 310 is further configured for detecting an imminent lateral movement of thefirst vehicle 100-1 in the group 110. Further, the control unit 310 is configured for generatingcontrol signals for turning the front wheels 140-1, 140-2, 140-3 of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2,100-3 in the group 110 synchronised, in parallel with the front wheels 140-1 of the first vehicle100-1. The control unit 310 is furthermore configured for transmitting the generated controlsignals for synchronising the lateral movement of the vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in thegroup 110, via a transmitter 320, to be received by said vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3.

Further, according to some embodiments, the control unit 310 may also be configured forreceiving sensor signals for detecting any obstacles 220 at the side of the vehicles 100-1,100-2, 100-3 in the direction of the imminent lateral movement. Further the control unit 310may be configured for detecting any overtaking vehicles 230 from behind the group 110, andwherein control signals are transmitted only when no obstacles 220 or overtaking vehicles230 are detected. ln addition, the control unit 310 may also be configured for detecting the imminent lateralmovement of the first vehicle 100-1 by detecting an active turning signal of the first vehicle100-1, or a steering wheel movement of the first vehicle 100-1, exceeding a threshold angle value.

The control unit 310 comprises a receiver 510 configured for receiving time information fromsensors 210-2, 210-3 of other vehicles 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110. 12 The control unit 310 further comprises a processor 520 configured for reducing lateral accel-eration of a group 110 of coordinated vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in a formation, by syn-chronising a lateral movement of the group 110.

Such processor 520 may comprise one or more instances of a processing circuit, i.e. a Cen-tral Processing Unit (CPU), a processing unit, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC), a microprocessor, or other processing logic that may interpret and execute instruc-tions. The herein utilised expression “processor” may thus represent a processing circuitrycomprising a plurality of processing circuits, such as, e.g., any, some or all of the ones enu-merated above.

Furthermore, the control unit 310 may comprise a memory 525 in some embodiments. Theoptional memory 525 may comprise a physical device utilised to store data or programs, i.e.,sequences of instructions, on a temporary or permanent basis. According to some embodi-ments, the memory 525 may comprise integrated circuits comprising silicon-based transis-tors. The memory 525 may comprise e.g. a memory card, a flash memory, a USB memory,a hard disc, or another similar volatile or non-volatile storage unit for storing data such ase.g. ROIVI (Read-Only Memory), PROIVI (Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROIVI(Erasable PROIVI), EEPROIVI (Electrically Erasable PROIVI), etc. in different embodiments.

Further, the control unit 310 may comprise a signal transmitter 530. The signal transmitter530 may be configured for transmitting a signal to be received by the respective receivers320-2, 320-3 of the other vehicles 100-2, 100-3 in the group 110.

The previously described steps 401 -404 to be performed in the control unit 310 may be im-plemented through the one or more processors 520 within the control unit 310, together withcomputer program product for performing at least some of the functions of the steps 401-404. Thus a computer program product, comprising instructions for performing the steps 401-404 in the control unit 210 may perform the method 400 comprising at least some of thesteps 401-404 for reducing lateral acceleration of a group 110 of coordinated vehicles 100-1, 100-2, 100-3 in a formation, by synchronising a lateral movement of the group 110, whenthe computer program is loaded into the one or more processors 520 of the control unit 310. 13 The described steps 401-404 thus may be performed by a computer algorithm, a machineexecutable code, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, or a software instructions pro-grammed into a suitable programmable logic such as the processor 520 in the control unit310.

The computer program product mentioned above may be provided for instance in the formof a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing at least some of the step401 -404 according to some embodiments when being loaded into the one or more proces-sors 520 of the control unit 310. The data carrier may be, e.g., a hard disk, a CD ROIVI disc,a memory stick, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device or any other appropri-ate medium such as a disk or tape that may hold machine readable data in a non-transitorymanner. The computer program product may furthermore be provided as computer programcode on a server and downloaded to the control unit 310 remotely, e.g., over an Internet or an intranet connection.

Further, some embodiments may comprise a vehicle 100-1, comprising the control unit 310,as described above, for performing the method according to at least some of the describedsteps 401-404.

Some alternative embodiments may comprise a vehicle external structure 360, comprisingthe control unit 310, as described above, for performing the method according to at leastsome of the described steps 401-404.

The terminology used in the description of the embodiments as illustrated in the accompa-nying drawings is not intended to be limiting of the described method 400, control unit 310;computer program, vehicle 100-1 and/ or vehicle external structure 360. Various changes,substitutions and/ or alterations may be made, without departing from invention embodi-ments as defined by the appended claims.

As used herein, the term "and/ or" comprises any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. The term “or” as used herein, is to be interpreted as a mathematicalOR, i.e., as an inclusive disjunction; not as a mathematical exclusive OR (XOR), unless ex-pressly stated otherwise. ln addition, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are to be inter-preted as “at least one", thus also possibly comprising a plurality of entities of the same kind,unless expressly stated othen/vise. lt will be further understood that the terms "includes","comprises", "including" and/ or "comprising", specifies the presence of stated features, ac-tions, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/ or components, but do not preclude the 14 presence or addition of one or more other features, actions, integers, steps, operations, ele-ments, components, and/ or groups thereof. A single unit such as e.g. a processor may fulfilthe functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures arerecited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of thesemeasures cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/ distributed ona suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium suppliedtogether with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms such as via Internet or other Wired or wireless communication system.

Claims (11)

1. A method (400) in a control unit (310), for reducing lateral acceleration of a group(110) of coordinated vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in a formation by synchronising a lateralmovement of the group (110), wherein the method (400) comprises: detecting (401) an imminent lateral movement of the first vehicle (100-1) in thegroup (110); generating (403) control signals for turning the front wheels (140-1, 140-2, 140-3)of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the group (110) synchronised, in parallel with thefront wheels (140-1) of the first vehicle (100-1); and transmitting (404) the generated (403) control signals for synchronising the lateralmovement of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the group (110), to be received by saidvehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3).

2. The method (400) according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving (402) sensor signals for detecting any obstacle (220) at the side of thevehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the direction of the imminent lateral movement, and detect-ing any overtaking vehicles (230) from behind the group (110), and wherein control signalsare transmitted (404) only when no obstacles (220) or overtaking vehicles (230) are detected.

3. The method (400) according to claim 2, wherein the sensor signals are emitted byat least one sensor (210-1, 210-2, 210-3) on at least one of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the group (110), based on electromagnetic radiation.

4. The method (400) according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the imminent lateralmovement of the first vehicle (100-1) is detected (401) by detecting an active turning signalof the first vehicle (100-1), or a steering wheel movement of the first vehicle (100-1), exceed-ing a threshold angle value.

5. A control unit (310) for reducing lateral acceleration of a group (110) of coordinatedvehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in a formation, by synchronising a lateral movement of thegroup (110), wherein the control unit (310) is configured for: detecting an imminent lateralmovement of the first vehicle (100-1) in the group (1 10); generating control signals for turningthe front wheels (140-1, 140-2, 140-3) of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the group(110) synchronised, in parallel with the front wheels (140-1) of the first vehicle (100-1); andtransmitting the generated control signals for synchronising the lateral movement of the ve-hicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the group (110), via a transmitter (320), to be received by saidvehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3). 16

6. The control unit (310) according to claim 5, further configured for receiving sensorsignals for detecting any obstacles (220) at the side of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) inthe direction of the imminent |atera| movement, and detecting any overtaking vehicles (230)from behind the group (110), and wherein control signals are transmitted only when no ob-stacles (220) or overtaking vehicles (230) are detected.

7. The control unit (310) according to claim 6, further configured for detecting the im-minent |atera| movement of the first vehicle (100-1) by detecting an active turning signal ofthe first vehicle (100-1), or a steering wheel movement of the first vehicle (100-1), exceedinga threshold angle value.

8. A system (300) for reducing |atera| acceleration of a group (110) of coordinatedvehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in a formation by synchronising a |atera| movement of thegroup (110), wherein the system (300) comprises: a control unit (310) according to any of claims 5-7; a transmitter (320), configured for transmitting the generated control signals for syn-chronising the |atera| movement of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the group (110), tobe received by said vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3).

9. The system (300) according to claim 8, further comprising a sensor (210-1, 210-2,210-3), based on electromagnetic radiation, on at least one of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2,100-3) in the group (110), configured for providing sensor signals for enable detection of anyobstacles (220) at the side of the vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3) in the direction of the immi-nent |atera| movement, and detecting any overtaking vehicles (230) from behind the group(110), to the control unit (310).

10.cording to any of claims 1-4, when the computer program is executed in the control unit (310) A computer program comprising program code for performing a method (400) ac- according to any of claims 5-7.

11. A vehicle (100-1) in a group (110) of coordinated vehicles (100-1, 100-2, 100-3),comprising a control unit (310) according to claims 5-7.