WO2019042592A1

WO2019042592A1 - A vehicle control method, devices and system

Info

Publication number: WO2019042592A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/061637
Authority: WO
Inventors: Liang Gao; Xing Xing HE; Peng Sun; Chang Wei WENG
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2017-08-30
Filing date: 2018-05-07
Publication date: 2019-03-07
Also published as: CN109421697A; EP3659134A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of traffic, and in particular relates to a vehicle control method and equipment, which are used to improve the efficiency of the whole traffic system, effectively prevent traffic accidents, and reduce traffic jams. In a method provided in an embodiment of the present invention, a first piece of equipment acquires a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information, said first piece of traffic control information is collected by an autonomous vehicle, and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information; said first piece of equipment generates a first traffic control instruction according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle. Centralized control is combined with vehicle autonomous control to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle, that is to say, not only the local traffic conditions in a traffic system, but also the global traffic conditions in the traffic system are considered so that the traffic and efficiency of the whole traffic system can be improved and the probability of traffic accidents can be lowered.

Description

A VEHICLE CONTROL METHOD, DEVICES AND SYSTEM

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the technical field of traffic, and in particular relates to the invocation of a vehicle control method, devices and system.

Background Art

Autonomous vehicles or self-piloting automobiles, also known as driverless vehicles, or computer-driven vehicles, or wheeled mobile robots, are a type of vehicle realized by use of computer technology. Through cooperation between artificial intelligence, visual computing, radar, monitoring devices, and positioning systems, computers can autonomously and safely control the driving of autonomous vehicles, without any active operation by a human being. There will be a large number of autonomous vehicles in future traffic systems. How to control these autonomous vehicles to let them drive safely is an urgent problem to be solved.

Current traffic control methods (for example, traffic light signal control) and traffic guidance systems are designed for human-driven vehicles, without considering the characteristics of autonomous vehicles, and improvements are needed in traffic accident prevention and traffic jam reduction.

Summary of the Invention

In view of this, the present invention provides a vehicle control method and equipment to improve the efficiency of the whole traffic system, effectively prevent traffic accidents, and reduce traffic jams.

In the first aspect, a control method for an autonomous vehicle is provided. In this method, a first piece of equipment acquires a first piece of traffic control information, and said first piece of traffic control information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side; said first piece of equipment acquires a second piece of traffic control information, and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information; said first piece of equipment generates a first traffic control instruction according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information, and said first traffic control instruction is used to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle.

In this solution, centralized control is combined with vehicle autonomous control to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle, that is to say, not only the local traffic conditions in a traffic system, but also the global traffic conditions in the traffic system are considered so that the traffic and efficiency of the whole traffic system can be improved and the probability of traffic accidents can be lowered.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side, said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; said second piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction for said autonomous vehicle from a piece of roadside equipment.

In this solution, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side controls its own driving according to the traffic condition information collected by the sensor and/or the traffic condition information acquired from other autonomous vehicles, and the centralized control information from roadside equipment, improving the current situation where the driving of autonomous vehicles is controlled only by means of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, and the traffic system lacks centralized control. Compared with other optional solutions, the autonomous vehicle only needs to receive the traffic control instruction for centralized control from the roadside equipment, without any necessity of sending traffic condition information to the roadside equipment. The instruction usually contains less information. Thus, transmission resources between the autonomous vehicle and the roadside equipment can be saved, control is more timely, and the efficiency is higher.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side, said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; said second piece of traffic control information comes from a piece of roadside equipment and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

In this solution, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side generates the final traffic control instruction according to various pieces of information. The range of the traffic conditions indicated by the second piece of traffic control information can be, for example, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located and the adjacent sections, or the traffic system where the autonomous vehicle is located, depending on the actual conditions. Thus, different levels of centralized control can be realized.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is a piece of roadside equipment, said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; said second piece of traffic control information comes from said roadside equipment and/or at least one piece of other roadside equipment around said roadside equipment, and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

In this solution, the roadside equipment generates the final traffic control instruction according to various pieces of information. The roadside equipment can conveniently communicate with other roadside equipment and easily acquire the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle to facilitate the generation of an optimal traffic control instruction, thus improving the efficiency of the traffic system. In addition, advanced blockchain technology can be adopted between pieces of roadside equipment to generate a traffic control instruction. In this solution, the traffic system is insusceptible to attacks, information security is high, and no central control platform is required for centralized control. It is simple and flexible to realize this solution. The range of the traffic conditions indicated by the second piece of traffic control information can be, for example, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located and the adjacent sections, or the traffic system where the autonomous vehicle is located, depending on the actual conditions. Thus, different levels of centralized control can be realized.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is a piece of roadside equipment, and said first piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction generated by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side. Said second piece of traffic control information comes from said roadside equipment and/or at least one piece of other roadside equipment around said roadside equipment, and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

In this solution, prior autonomous driving schemes for the autonomous vehicle can be better utilized, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side can generate a second traffic control instruction according to the traffic control instruction generation algorithm realized by itself and send it to the roadside equipment, and then the roadside equipment generates the final traffic control instruction according to the second traffic control instruction and the second piece of traffic control information. This solution is very compatible with prior autonomous driving schemes. Advanced blockchain technology can be adopted between pieces of roadside equipment to generate a traffic control instruction. In this solution, the traffic system is insusceptible to attacks, information security is high, and no central control platform is required for centralized control. It is simple and flexible to realize this solution. The range of the traffic conditions indicated by the second piece of traffic control information can be, for example, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located and the adjacent sections, or the traffic system where the autonomous vehicle is located, depending on the actual conditions. Thus, different levels of centralized control can be realized.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is a central control platform, said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; said second piece of traffic control information comes from at least one piece of roadside equipment and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

In this solution, a central control platform collects various pieces of information and finally generates a traffic control instruction to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle. The central control platform usually has a powerful operational capability and can realize complex algorithms to generate an optimal traffic control instruction.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is a central control platform, and said first piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction generated by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side; said second piece of traffic control information comes from at least one piece of roadside equipment and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

In the above-mentioned solutions, before generating said first traffic control instruction, said first piece of equipment further acquires a weight factor, wherein said weight factor is used to indicate the degree of influence when said first traffic control instruction is generated according to said second piece of traffic control information and said first piece of traffic control information; said first piece of equipment generates said first traffic control instruction, comprising said first piece of equipment generating said first traffic control instruction according to said weight factor.

In this solution, the ratio between centralized control and autonomous vehicle self control can be controlled by setting the weight factor when a traffic control instruction is generated.

In the second aspect, a control method for an autonomous vehicle is provided. In this method, a piece of roadside equipment determines a second piece of traffic control information, said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information; said roadside equipment sends said second piece of traffic control information to the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side so that the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side generates a first traffic control instruction according to said second piece of traffic control information and a first piece of traffic control information and controls the driving of said autonomous vehicle according to said first traffic control instruction, wherein said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by said autonomous vehicle from other autonomous vehicles.

In this solution, the roadside equipment sends centralized control information to the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side controls the driving according to the traffic condition information collected by its own sensor, and/or traffic condition information acquired from other autonomous vehicles, and centralized control information coming from the roadside equipment, improving the current situation where the driving of autonomous vehicles is controlled only by means of V2V communication, and the traffic system lacks centralized control. The equipment on the autonomous vehicle side only needs to receive the traffic control instruction for centralized control from the roadside equipment, without any necessity of sending traffic condition information to the roadside equipment.

Optionally, said roadside equipment determines a second piece of traffic control information comprising: said roadside equipment collecting information about the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle as said second piece of traffic control information; or said roadside equipment collecting information about the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle and generating a second traffic control instruction for said autonomous vehicle according to the collected information as said second piece of traffic control information.

In the third aspect, a control method for an autonomous vehicle is provided. In this method, the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side determines a first piece of traffic control information, and said first piece of traffic control information comprises a first piece of traffic condition information and/or a second piece of traffic condition information, or said first piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction generated by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side, wherein said first piece of traffic condition information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor, and said second traffic condition information is acquired by the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side sends said first piece of traffic control information to a piece of roadside equipment; the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side receives a first traffic control instruction from said roadside equipment and said traffic control instruction is generated according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information; the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side controls the driving of said autonomous vehicle according to said first traffic control instruction.

In this solution, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side sends the traffic condition information collected by the sensor and/or traffic condition information acquired from other autonomous vehicles to the roadside equipment, or sends a second traffic control instruction generated by itself to the roadside equipment, and then receives the final first traffic control instruction from the roadside equipment. Centralized control is combined with vehicle autonomous control to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle, that is to say, not only the local traffic conditions in a traffic system, but also the global traffic conditions in the traffic system are considered so that the traffic and efficiency of the whole traffic system can be improved and the probability of traffic accidents can be lowered.

In the fourth aspect, a control method for an autonomous vehicle is provided. In this method, a piece of roadside equipment sends a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information to a central control platform, wherein said first piece of traffic control information is collected by said autonomous vehicle, and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information; said roadside equipment receives a first traffic control instruction from said central control platform, wherein said first traffic control instruction is generated by said central control platform according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information; said roadside equipment sends said first traffic control instruction to said autonomous vehicle to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle.

In the fifth aspect, a first piece of equipment for controlling an autonomous vehicle is provided and comprises an information acquisition module used to acquire a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information, wherein said first piece of traffic control information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side, and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information; an instruction generation module used to generate a first traffic control instruction according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information, wherein said first traffic control instruction is used to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle.

Centralized control is combined with vehicle autonomous control to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle, that is to say, not only the local traffic conditions in a traffic system, but also the global traffic conditions in the traffic system are considered so that the traffic and efficiency of the whole traffic system can be improved and the probability of traffic accidents can be lowered.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side, said first piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; said second piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module is a second traffic control instruction for said autonomous vehicle from a piece of roadside equipment.

In this solution, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side controls the driving according to the traffic condition information collected by the sensor and/or the traffic condition information acquired from other autonomous vehicles, and the centralized control information from roadside equipment, improving the current situation where the driving of autonomous vehicles is controlled only by means of V2V communication, and the traffic system lacks centralized control. Compared with other optional solutions, the equipment on the

autonomous vehicle side only needs to receive the traffic control instruction for centralized control from the roadside equipment, without any necessity of sending traffic condition information to the roadside equipment. The instruction usually contains less information. Thus, transmission resources between the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side and the roadside equipment can be saved, control is more timely, and the efficiency is higher. Optionally, said first piece of equipment is the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side, said first piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; said second piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comes from a piece of roadside equipment and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle. In this solution, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side generates the final traffic control instruction according to various pieces of information. The range of the traffic conditions indicated by the second piece of traffic control information can be, for example, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located, the road section where the

autonomous vehicle is located and the adjacent sections, or the traffic system where the autonomous vehicle is located, depending on the actual conditions. Thus, different levels of centralized control can be realized. Optionally, said first piece of equipment is a piece of roadside equipment, said first piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; said second piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comes from said roadside equipment and/or at least one piece of other roadside equipment around said roadside equipment, and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

In this solution, the roadside equipment generates the final traffic control instruction according to various pieces of information. The roadside equipment can conveniently communicate with other roadside equipment and easily acquire the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle to facilitate the generation of an optimal traffic control instruction, thus improving the efficiency of the traffic system. In addition, the advanced blockchain technology can be adopted between pieces of roadside equipment to generate a traffic control instruction. In this solution, the traffic system is insusceptible to attacks, information security is high, and no central control platform is required for centralized control. It is simple and flexible to realize this solution. The range of the traffic conditions indicated by the second piece of traffic control information can be, for example, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located and the adjacent sections, or the traffic system where the autonomous vehicle is located, depending on the actual conditions. Thus, different levels of centralized control can be realized.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is a piece of roadside equipment, and said first piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module is a second traffic control instruction generated by said autonomous vehicle; said second piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comes from said roadside equipment and/or at least one piece of other roadside equipment around said roadside equipment, and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

In this solution, prior autonomous driving schemes for the autonomous vehicle can be better utilized, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side can generate a second traffic control instruction according to the traffic control instruction generation algorithm realized by itself and send it to the roadside equipment, and then the roadside equipment generates the final traffic control instruction according to the second traffic control instruction and the second piece of traffic control information. This solution is very compatible with prior autonomous driving schemes. The advanced blockchain technology can be adopted between pieces of roadside equipment to generate a traffic control instruction. In this solution, the traffic system is insusceptible to attacks, information security is high, and no central control platform is required for centralized control. It is simple and flexible to realize this solution. The range of the traffic conditions indicated by the second piece of traffic control information can be, for example, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located, the road section where the autonomous vehicle is located and the adjacent sections, or the traffic system where the autonomous vehicle is located, depending on the actual condition. Thus, different levels of centralized control can be realized.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is a central control platform, said first piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; said second piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comes from at least one piece of roadside equipment and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

Optionally, said first piece of equipment is a central control platform, and said first piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module is a second traffic control instruction generated by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side; said second piece of traffic control information acquired by said information acquisition module comes from at least one piece of roadside equipment, and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle.

In the sixth aspect, a type of roadside equipment is provided and comprises an information processing module used to determine a second piece of traffic control information, wherein said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information; an information sending module used to send said second piece of traffic control information to said autonomous vehicle so that the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side generates a first traffic control instruction according to said second piece of traffic control information and a first piece of traffic control information and controls the driving of said autonomous vehicle according to said first traffic control instruction, wherein said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles.

In this solution, the roadside equipment sends centralized control information to the autonomous vehicle, the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side controls its own driving according to the traffic condition information collected by the sensor, and/or traffic condition information acquired from other autonomous vehicles, and centralized control information coming from the roadside equipment, improving the current situation where the driving of autonomous vehicles is controlled only by means of V2V communication, and the traffic system lacks centralized control. The equipment on the autonomous vehicle side only needs to receive the traffic control instruction for centralized control from the roadside equipment, without any necessity of sending traffic condition information to the roadside equipment. Optionally, said information processing module is specifically used to collect information about the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle as said second piece of traffic control information, or collect information about the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle and generate a second traffic control instruction for said autonomous vehicle according to the collected information as said second piece of traffic control information.

In the seventh aspect, an autonomous vehicle is provided and comprises an information processing module used to determine a first piece of traffic control information, said first piece of traffic control information comprising a first piece of traffic condition information and/or a second piece of traffic condition information, or said first piece of traffic control information being a second traffic control instruction generated by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side, wherein said first piece of traffic condition information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side through a sensor, and said second traffic condition information is acquired by the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side from other autonomous vehicles; an information transceiver module used to send said first piece of traffic control information to a piece of roadside equipment and receive a first traffic control instruction from said roadside equipment, said traffic control instruction being generated according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information; a vehicle control module used to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle according to said first traffic control instruction.

In the eighth aspect, a type of roadside equipment is provided and comprises an information sending module used to send a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information to a central control platform, wherein said first piece of traffic control information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side, and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information; an information

transceiver module used to receive a first traffic control instruction from said central control platform, wherein said first traffic control instruction is generated by said central control platform according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information; said information sending module is used to send said first traffic control instruction to the equipment on said autonomous vehicle side to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle.

In the ninth aspect, a vehicle control device is provided and comprises at least a memory used to store machine readable instructions; at least a processor used to invoke said machine readable instruction to execute the method provided in the first aspect, second aspect, third aspect, or fourth aspect or provided by any possible realization manner in the first aspect, any possible realization manner in the second aspect, any possible realization manner in the third aspect, or any possible realization manner in the fourth aspect.

In the tenth aspect, a machine readable medium is provided, a machine readable instruction is stored on said machine readable medium, and when said machine readable instruction is executed by the processor, the method provided in the first aspect, second aspect, third aspect, and fourth aspect, or provided by any possible realization manner in the first aspect, any possible realization manner in the second aspect, any possible realization manner in the third aspect, or any possible realization manner in the fourth aspect will be executed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of V2V communication.

Figure 2A shows the efficiency of a traffic system with centralized control.

Figure 2B shows the efficiency of a traffic system only based on the decisions of an autonomous vehicle.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram for the traffic system provided in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 4 shows a first solution for controlling an autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 5 shows a second solution for controlling an autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 6 shows a third solution for controlling an autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 7 shows a fourth solution for controlling an autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 8 shows a fifth solution for controlling an autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 9 shows a sixth solution for controlling an autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 10 and Figure 11 are structural schematic diagrams of the first piece of equipment provided in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 12 is a structural schematic diagram of a type of roadside equipment provided in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 13 is a structural schematic diagram of the equipment on autonomous vehicle side in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 14 is a structural schematic diagram of another type of roadside equipment provided in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of an optional protocol stack for roadside equipment in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 16 to Figure 19 are schematic diagrams of four traffic scenarios in the embodiments of the present invention.

Description of reference numbers in the drawings:

10: Autonomous vehicle 20: Roadside equipment 30. Central control platform

100: Traffic system

S401 : Generate a second S402: Send the second S403: The vehicle collects traffic control instruction traffic control instruction information

S404: Generate a first traffic S405: Control vehicle driving 41 : Second traffic control control instruction instruction

42: Information received 43: Information collected by 44: First traffic control from other vehicles the vehicle itself instruction

S501 : Roadside equipment S502: Send traffic control S503: The vehicle collects collects information information and receives information

S504: Generate a first traffic S505: Control vehicle driving 51 : Second piece of traffic control instruction control information

52: Information received 53: Information collected by 54: First traffic control from other vehicles the vehicle itself instruction

S601 : Roadside equipment S602: The vehicle collects S603: Send traffic control collects information and receives information information

S604: Generate a first traffic S605: Send the first traffic S606: Control vehicle driving control instruction control instruction

61 : Second piece of traffic 62: Information received 63: Information collected by control information from other vehicles the vehicle itself

64: First traffic control

instruction

S701 : Roadside equipment S702: The vehicle collects S703: Generate a second collects and receives and receives information traffic control instruction information

S704: Send the second S705: Generate a first traffic S706: Send the first traffic traffic control instruction control instruction control instruction

S707: Control vehicle driving 71 : Second piece of traffic 72: Information received condition information from other vehicles

73: Information collected by 74: Second traffic control 75: First traffic control the vehicle itself instruction instruction

S801 : Roadside equipment S802: The vehicle collects S803: Send information collects and receives and receives information 82/83

information

S804: Roadside equipment sends S805: Generate a first traffic control information to the central control platform instruction

S806: Send the first traffic S807: Send the first traffic S808: Control vehicle driving control instruction control instruction

81 : Second piece of traffic 82: Information received 83: Information collected by control information from other vehicles the vehicle itself

84: First traffic control

instruction

S901 : Roadside equipment S902: The vehicle collects S903: Generate a second collects and receives and receives information traffic control instruction information

S904: Send the second S905: Send the instruction S906: Generate a first traffic traffic control instruction and information control instruction

S907: Send the first traffic S908: Send the first traffic S909: Control vehicle driving control instruction control instruction

91 : Second piece of traffic 92: Information received 93: Information collected by condition information from other vehicles the vehicle itself

94: Second traffic control 95: First traffic control

instruction instruction

1001 : Information 1002: Instruction generation

acquisition module module

1101 : At least one memory 1102: At least one processor 1103: User interface

1104: At least one

communication device

1201 : Information 1202: Information sending

processing module module

1301 : Information 1302: Information 1303: Vehicle control processing module transceiver module module

1401 : Information sending 1402: Information receiving

module module

151 : Operating system layer 152: Service layer 153: Algorithm layer

154: Application layer 1511 : RF module 1512: At least one sensor 1513: Camera 1514: Real-time clock 1521 : Communication

module service

1522: Sensor data fusion 1523: Image processing 1531 : System training service service module

1532: Game theory module 1533: Green wave module 1541 : Crossroad scenario processing module

1542: Parking lot processing 1543: Alarm module

module

Detailed Description of the Invention

As mentioned earlier, current traffic control methods and traffic guidance systems have many disadvantages when there are a large number of autonomous vehicles in future traffic systems. So far, some vehicle manufacturing companies and other organizations have proposed a control method for autonomous vehicles. As shown in Figure 1 , V2V

communication is utilized to collect enough information between vehicles within a certain area and each vehicle can utilize the information to make a decision to control the driving. A large number of observations and studies show an optimal decision of each vehicle cannot bring about an optimal decision of the whole traffic system. This is because each vehicle makes a decision on the basis of the information of vehicles in a local area near the vehicle and the information does not represent the global conditions of the whole traffic system. Figure 2A shows the efficiency of the traffic system with centralized control, and Figure 2B shows the efficiency of the traffic system only based on the decisions of an autonomous vehicle. In these two figures, the vertical axis represents the efficiency, which is used to indicate the throughput of the whole traffic system, and the horizontal axis represents time. It can be seen that even if each autonomous vehicle makes its own optimal decision, the efficiency of the whole traffic system will fluctuate and cannot reach the efficiency of the traffic system with centralized control.

The embodiments of the present invention provide a vehicle control method, devices and system for future traffic systems, and centralized control is combined with vehicle

autonomous control to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle. By means of V2V communication and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication, not only the local traffic conditions in a traffic system, but also the global traffic conditions in the traffic system are considered so that the traffic and efficiency of the whole traffic system can be improved and the probability of traffic accidents can be lowered. To make the description of the embodiments of the present invention clearer and more understandable, the following will explain some descriptions involved in the embodiments of the present invention. It should be pointed out that these explanations should not be considered as limiting the scope of protection of the present invention.

1 . Autonomous control, centralized control, and centralized control information Autonomous control means that when an autonomous vehicle controls is driving, it makes a decision only based on the information collected by its own sensor and the information acquired from other nearby vehicles.

Centralized control is relative to autonomous control and a decision on vehicle control is made based on the consideration of the efficiency of the whole traffic system or traffic condition information related to the whole traffic system is provided for decision-making. Centralized control information is information used to realize centralized control. In the embodiments of the present invention, the first piece of traffic control information is centralized control information.

In the embodiments of the present invention, an autonomous vehicle itself can realize the method provided in the embodiments of the present invention to control the driving of the vehicle, or the method realized by the autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention is realized by a piece of equipment connected to said autonomous vehicle, called "equipment on the autonomous vehicle side." Therefore, an autonomous vehicle will not be distinguished from the equipment on the autonomous vehicle side below, and they can be considered either of the two.

2. V2V communication information, information collected by an autonomous vehicle through its own sensor, and information collected by an autonomous vehicle V2V communication information is information exchanged when autonomous vehicles communicate with each other, and the previously mentioned V2V communication mode can be utilized. The information exchanged includes but is not limited to the second piece of traffic condition information in the embodiments of the present invention.

The information collected by an autonomous vehicle through its own sensor includes but is not limited to the first piece of traffic condition information in the embodiments of the present invention.

The information collected by an autonomous vehicle includes the above-mentioned two types of information, namely, information collected by its own sensor and information acquired from other autonomous vehicles. The first piece of traffic control information in the embodiments of the present invention is information collected by an autonomous vehicle.

3. Traffic control instruction and control over the driving of a vehicle by a traffic control instruction

A traffic control instruction is used to control the driving of a vehicle, and is used to control the driving, for example, driving direction and velocity, of an autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention.

4. Roadside equipment

Roadside equipment, also known as infrastructure equipment or fixed equipment, is used to communicate with a vehicle, and optionally can be used to communicate with other roadside equipment or even with a central control platform. Various sensors can be installed on or connected to a piece of roadside equipment to collect traffic condition information, for example, traffic jam information, signal light control information, and weather condition information. An infrastructure to car unit (I2CU) is an example of roadside equipment.

In the embodiments of the present invention, roadside equipment can have a plurality of optional realization manners to realize decisions on information transfer, centralized control, and traffic control instructions. For example, roadside equipment makes decisions and generates a traffic control instruction according to the information collected by an autonomous vehicle, the traffic condition information collected by itself, and traffic condition information acquired from other nearby roadside equipment to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle. Different roadside equipment can form a blockchain and work in blockchain mode to generate traffic control instructions.

For example, roadside equipment sends the information collected by the autonomous vehicle and the traffic condition information collected by itself to a central control platform, and the central control platform makes a decision and generates a traffic control instruction according to the information, and sends the traffic control instruction to roadside equipment. Roadside equipment sends the received traffic control instruction to the autonomous vehicle to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle.

For detailed introductions of the optional realization manners, see embodiment 1 to embodiment 6 below.

5. Central control platform

A central control platform, which can be located at a cloud end, communicates with at least one piece of roadside equipment to realize the generation of a traffic control instruction. Optionally, the central control platform can also directly communicate with an autonomous vehicle to realize the transfer of information and/or a traffic control instruction.

6. Vehicle vicinity

Vehicle vicinity can refer to the range of the road section where a vehicle is located, or further comprises the sections adjacent to the road section where the vehicle is located, or even the traffic system where the vehicle is located.

7. At least one piece of other roadside equipment around one piece of roadside equipment

At least one piece of other roadside equipment around one piece of roadside equipment can refer to other roadside equipment in the communication range of said roadside equipment, or other roadside equipment on the same road section, or can further comprise other roadside equipment on adjacent sections or other roadside equipment in the same traffic system. The following combines the drawings to describe in detail the methods and equipment provided in the embodiments of the present invention. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram for the traffic system provided in the embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 3, the traffic system (100) comprises at least one piece of roadside equipment (20), at least one autonomous vehicle (10), and optionally a central control platform (30). If the traffic system (100) comprises a central control platform (30), the central control platform (30) can communicate with at least one or more pieces of roadside equipment (20). Roadside equipment (20) wirelessly communicates with the autonomous vehicle (10) to transfer traffic control information and/or traffic control instructions. Wireless communication or wired communication, for example, optical fiber communication and Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication, can be adopted between different pieces of roadside equipment (20). If a central control platform (30) is present, wireless communication or wired communication can also be adopted between the central control platform (30) and roadside equipment (20). If the central control platform (30) can directly communicate with the autonomous vehicle (10) and does not require the forwarding of roadside equipment (20), the central control platform (30) can wirelessly communicate with the autonomous vehicle (10). The embodiments of the present invention realize control over an autonomous vehicle (10) in the traffic system (100). In particular, the first piece of equipment in the traffic system (100) acquires a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information respectively, and generates a first traffic control instruction according to the above-mentioned two pieces of traffic control information, and the first traffic control instruction is used to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle (10). The first piece of traffic control information is collected by the autonomous vehicle (10) and the second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information.

In the embodiments of the present invention, centralized control is combined with vehicle autonomous control to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle (10), and by means of V2V communication and V2I communication, not only the local traffic conditions in a traffic system, but also the global traffic conditions in the traffic system are considered so that the traffic and efficiency of the whole traffic system can be improved and the probability of traffic accidents can be lowered.

The first piece of equipment can be roadside equipment (20), the central control platform (30), or the autonomous vehicle (10) (or a device realizing vehicle control in the autonomous vehicle (10), hereinafter uniformly called "autonomous vehicle (10) for simplicity.)

Embodiment 1 to embodiment 6 below give six examples of vehicle control in the

embodiments of the present invention. The six embodiments are first described briefly by use of the table below, and then are described in detail in combination with Figure 4 to Figure 9.

Embodiment Generator of a First piece of traffic control Second piece of traffic

first traffic information control information control

instruction

(first piece of

equipment)

Embodiment 1 Autonomous V2V communication Second traffic control

vehicle (10) information and instruction for the

information collected by autonomous vehicle (10) the autonomous vehicle from a piece of roadside (10) through its own equipment (20)

sensor

Embodiment 2 Autonomous V2V communication Coming from a piece of vehicle (10) information and roadside equipment (20) information collected by and used to indicate the the autonomous vehicle traffic conditions around (10) through its own the autonomous vehicle sensor (10)

Embodiment 3 Roadside V2V communication Coming from at least one equipment (20) information and piece of roadside

information collected by equipment (20) and used the autonomous vehicle to indicate the traffic

(10) through its own conditions around the sensor autonomous vehicle (10)

Embodiment 4 Roadside A second traffic control Coming from at least one equipment (20) instruction generated by piece of roadside

the autonomous vehicle equipment (20) and used (10) to indicate the traffic

conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10)

Embodiment 5 Central control V2V communication Coming from a piece of platform (30) information and roadside equipment (20) information collected by and used to indicate the the autonomous vehicle traffic conditions around (10) through its own the autonomous vehicle sensor (10)

Embodiment 6 Central control A second traffic control Coming from at least one platform (30) instruction generated by piece of roadside

the autonomous vehicle equipment (20) and used (10) to indicate the traffic

conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10)

[Embodiment 1 ]

In embodiment 1 , the autonomous vehicle (10) (blackened in the figure) generates the final first traffic control instruction.

As shown in Figure 4, in step S401 , a piece of roadside equipment (20) (on the left) generates a second traffic control instruction (41 ) for the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left in the figure). The roadside equipment (20) can generate the second traffic control instruction (41 ) according to the traffic condition information collected by its own sensor, or can generate the second traffic control instruction (41 ) based on the traffic condition information collected by its own sensor and the traffic control information collected by other roadside equipment (20) in the traffic system (100).

In step S402, the roadside equipment (20) sends the generated second traffic control instruction (41 ) to the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left).

In step S403, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) collects information (43) through its own sensor and/or receives information (42) from other autonomous vehicles (10).

In the embodiment of the present invention, the sequence between step S403 and steps

5401 and S402 is not defined. Step S403 can first be performed, and then steps S401 and

5402 are performed, or steps S401 and S402 can first be performed, and then step S403 is performed, or step S403 is performed together with step S401 or step S402.

In step S404, the autonomous vehicle (10) generates a first traffic control instruction (44) according to the second traffic control instruction (41 ) and the information acquired in step S403.

In step S405, the autonomous vehicle (10) controls its own driving according to the first traffic control instruction (44).

Optionally, the autonomous vehicle (10) can also first generate a third traffic control instruction according to the information acquired in step S404, and then generate the final first traffic control instruction in combination with the second traffic control instruction. [Embodiment 2]

In embodiment 2, the autonomous vehicle (10) (blackened in the figure) generates the final first traffic control instruction.

As shown in Figure 5, in step S501 , a piece of roadside equipment (20) (on the left) collects the information about the traffic condition around the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) through its own sensor and/or acquires the information about the traffic condition around the autonomous vehicle (10) from other roadside equipment (20) (on the right, only one piece of other roadside equipment shown in the figure, but actually a plurality of pieces of other roadside equipment (20)), and uses it as a second piece of traffic control information (51 ). In step S502, the roadside equipment (20) sends the second piece of traffic control information (51 ) to the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left).

In step S503, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) collects information (53) through its own sensor and/or receives information (52) from other autonomous vehicles (10).

In the embodiment of the present invention, the sequence between step S503 and steps

5501 and S502 is not defined. Step S503 can first be performed, and then steps S501 and

5502 are performed, or steps S501 and S502 can first be performed, and then step S503 is performed, or step S503 is performed together with step S501 or step S502.

In step S504, the autonomous vehicle (10) generates a first traffic control instruction (54) according to the second piece of traffic control information (51 ) and the information acquired in step S503.

In step S505, the autonomous vehicle (10) controls its own driving according to the first traffic control instruction (54).

[Embodiment s]

In embodiment 3, the roadside equipment (20) (blackened in the figure) generates the final first traffic control instruction.

As shown in Figure 6, in step S601 , a piece of roadside equipment (20) (on the left) collects the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) through its own sensor and/or acquires the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) from other roadside equipment (20) (on the right, only one piece of other roadside equipment shown in the figure, but actually traffic condition information can be acquired from a plurality of pieces of other roadside equipment (20)), and uses it as a second piece of traffic control information (61 ).

In step S602, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) collects information (63) through its own sensor and/or receives information (62) from other autonomous vehicles (10), and uses it as a first piece of traffic control information (62/63). In step S603, the autonomous vehicle (10) sends the first piece of traffic control information (62/63) acquired in step S602 to the roadside equipment (20) (on the left).

In the embodiment of the present invention, the sequence between step S601 and steps S602 and S603 is not defined. Step S601 can first be performed, and then steps S602 and S603 are performed, or steps S602 and S603 can first be performed, and then step S601 is performed, or step S601 is performed together with step S602 or step S603.

In step S604, the roadside equipment (20) (on the left) generates a first traffic control instruction (64) according to the second piece of traffic control information (61 ) and the first piece of traffic control information (62/63).

In step S605, the roadside equipment (20) (on the left) sends the first traffic control instruction (64) to the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left).

In step S606, the autonomous vehicle (10) controls its own driving according to the first traffic control instruction (64).

[Embodiment 4]

In embodiment 4, the roadside equipment (20) (blackened in the figure) generates the final first traffic control instruction.

As shown in Figure 7, in step S701 , a piece of roadside equipment (20) (on the left) collects the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) through its own sensor and/or acquires the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) from other roadside equipment (20) (on the right, only one piece of other roadside equipment shown in the figure, but actually a plurality of pieces of other roadside equipment (20)), and uses it as a second piece of traffic control information (71 ). In step S702, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) collects information (73) through its own sensor and/or receives information (72) from other autonomous vehicles (10).

In step S703, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) generates a second traffic control instruction (74) according to the information (72/73) acquired in step S702.

In step S704, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) sends the second traffic control instruction (74) to the roadside equipment (20) (on the left).

In the embodiment of the present invention, the sequence between step S701 and step S702 to S704 is not defined. Step S701 can first be performed, and then step S702 to step S704 are performed, or step S702 to step S704 can first be performed, and then step S701 is performed, or step S701 is performed together with step S702 to step S704.

In step S705, the roadside equipment (20) generates a first traffic control instruction (75) according to the second traffic control instruction (74) and the second piece of traffic control information (71 ).

In step S706, the roadside equipment (20) (on the left) sends the first traffic control instruction (75) to the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left).

In step S707, the autonomous vehicle (10) controls its own driving according to the first traffic control instruction (75).

[Embodiment 5]

In embodiment 5, the central control platform (30) (blackened in the figure) generates the final first traffic control instruction.

As shown in Figure 8, in step S801 , a piece of roadside equipment (20) (on the left) collects the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) through its own sensor and/or acquires the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) from other roadside equipment (20) (on the right, only one piece of other roadside equipment shown in the figure, but actually a plurality of pieces of other roadside equipment (20)), and uses it as a second piece of traffic control information (81 ). In step S802, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) collects information (83) through its own sensor and/or receives information (82) from other autonomous vehicles (10).

In step S803, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) sends the second traffic control instruction (82) to the roadside equipment (20) (on the left).

In step S804, the roadside equipment (20) sends the information acquired from the autonomous vehicle (10) in step S803 and the information acquired in step S801 to the central control platform (30). Optionally, the roadside equipment (20) can report in a message the information coming from the autonomous vehicle (10), the information collected by itself, and the information acquired from other roadside equipment (20), or the roadside equipment (20) can respectively report the information.

In step S805, the central control platform (30) generates a first traffic control instruction (84) according to the information received in step S804.

In step S806, the central control platform (30) sends the generated first traffic control instruction (84) to the roadside equipment (20) (on the left).

In step S807, the roadside equipment (20) sends the received first traffic control instruction (84) to the autonomous vehicle (10).

In step S808, the autonomous vehicle (10) controls its own driving according to the first traffic control instruction (84).

In the description above, the roadside equipment (20) on the left reports the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) acquired from other roadside equipment (20) to the central control platform (30). Alternatively, different pieces of roadside equipment (20) respectively report the collected information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) to the central control platform (30). Alternatively different pieces of roadside equipment (20) report all collected traffic condition information to the central control platform (30), and the central control platform (30) screens the information to determine the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) and generates a first traffic control instruction (84) according to the information.

In the description above, the roadside equipment (20) realizes message transfer between the autonomous vehicle (10) and the central control platform (30). Optionally, the autonomous vehicle (10) can also directly communicate with the central control platform (30), without the participation of the roadside equipment (20). For example, the autonomous vehicle directly sends the first piece of traffic control information (82/83) to the central control platform (30), and the central control platform (30) directly sends the first traffic control instruction (84) to the autonomous vehicle (10). [Embodiment 6]

In embodiment 6, the central control platform (30) (blackened in the figure) generates the final first traffic control instruction.

As shown in Figure 9, in step S901 , a piece of roadside equipment (20) (on the left) collects the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) through its own sensor and/or acquires the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) from other roadside equipment (20) (on the right, only one piece of other roadside equipment shown in the figure, but actually a plurality of pieces of other roadside equipment (20)), and uses it as a second piece of traffic control information (91 ). In step S902, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) collects information (93) through its own sensor and/or receives information (92) from other autonomous vehicles (10).

In step S903, the autonomous vehicle (10) (on the left) generates a second traffic control instruction (94) according to the information (92/93) acquired in step S902.

In step S904, the autonomous vehicle (10) sends the second traffic control instruction (94) to the roadside equipment (20) (on the left).

In step S905, the roadside equipment (20) sends the second traffic control instruction (94) acquired in step S904 and the information acquired in step S901 to the central control platform (30). Optionally, the roadside equipment (20) can report in a message the information coming from the autonomous vehicle (10), the information collected by itself, and the information acquired from other roadside equipment (20), or the roadside equipment (20) can respectively report the information.

In step S906, the central control platform (30) generates a first traffic control instruction (95) according to the information received in step S904.

In step S907, the central control platform (30) sends the generated first traffic control instruction (95) to the roadside equipment (20) (on the left).

In step S908, the roadside equipment (20) sends the received first traffic control instruction (95) to the autonomous vehicle (10). In step S909, the autonomous vehicle (10) controls its own driving according to the first traffic control instruction (95).

In the description above, the roadside equipment (20) on the left reports the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) acquired from other roadside equipment (20) to the central control platform (30). Alternatively, different pieces of roadside equipment (20) respectively report the collected information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) to the central control platform (30). Alternatively different pieces of roadside equipment (20) report all collected traffic condition information to the central control platform (30), and the central control platform (30) screens the information to determine the information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) and generates a first traffic control instruction (95) according to the information.

In the description above, the roadside equipment (20) realizes message transfer between the autonomous vehicle (10) and the central control platform (30). Optionally, the autonomous vehicle (10) can also directly communicate with the central control platform (30), without the participation of the roadside equipment (20). For example, the autonomous vehicle directly sends the second traffic control instruction (94) to the central control platform (30), and the central control platform (30) directly sends the first traffic control instruction (95) to the autonomous vehicle (10). In the above-mentioned embodiments, unicast, broadcast, or multicast can be adopted for communication between the roadside equipment (20) and the autonomous vehicle (10). For the unicast mode, when sending a message to an autonomous vehicle (10), one piece of roadside equipment (20) can designate the ID of the autonomous vehicle (10) in the message or adopt an established dedicated wireless channel to communicate with the autonomous vehicle (10). For the multicast mode, when one piece of roadside equipment (20) sends a message to autonomous vehicles (10), the message can carry information sent to a plurality of autonomous vehicles (10) and the ID of each autonomous vehicle (10) is correspondingly labeled. For the broadcast mode, when sending a message to autonomous vehicles (10), one piece of roadside equipment (20) sends the message in broadcast mode and all autonomous vehicles (10) in the wireless communication range can receive the message. For example, when one piece of roadside equipment (20) sends traffic jam information in a traffic system (100) in broadcast mode, all autonomous vehicles (10) in the wireless communication range can receive the message and obtain the traffic jam information in the traffic system (100) from the message.

Similarly, for the unicast mode, when sending a message to a piece of roadside equipment (20), an autonomous vehicle (10) can designate the ID of the roadside equipment in the message or adopt an established dedicated wireless channel to communicate with the roadside equipment (20). For the multicast mode, when an autonomous vehicle (10) sends a message to roadside equipment (20), the message can carry information sent to a plurality of pieces of roadside equipment (20) and the ID of each piece of roadside equipment (20) is correspondingly labeled. For the broadcast mode, when sending a message to roadside equipment (20), an autonomous vehicle (10) can send the message in broadcast mode and all roadside equipment (20) in the wireless communication range can receive the message. For example, when an autonomous vehicle (10) sends the information about its geographical position, driving velocity, and driving direction in broadcast mode, all roadside equipment (20) in the wireless communication range can receive the message and obtain the information about the autonomous vehicle (10) from the message.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the weights of centralized control and autonomous control can be set according to a weight factor when the final first traffic control instruction is generated. The weight factor is used to indicate the degree of influence when said first traffic control instruction is generated according to said second piece of traffic control information and said first piece of traffic control information. In this way, the first piece of equipment generates said first traffic control instruction according to the weight factor. For example, the weight factor is set so that the first traffic control instruction depends only on centralized control. Centralized control is applicable when a traffic accident or large-area traffic jam happens in the traffic system (100). In this case, traffic control can totally depend on the centralized control of the central control platform (30).

It should be noted that on the basis of Moore's law and the development of blockchain technology, a cloud platform which can realize centralized control is not limited to the above-mentioned central control platform (30) , and it can be a distributed system, where different roadside equipment (20) cooperate to realize centralized control, without communication between roadside equipment (20) and the central control platform (30), and the delay is smaller.

The embodiments of the present invention realize control over an autonomous vehicle (10), as if there is an invisible traffic light which is used to control the driving of vehicles. As described in the previous embodiments, the invisible traffic light can be located in the roadside equipment (20), autonomous vehicle (10), or central control platform (30).

Various solutions for controlling an autonomous vehicle in the embodiments of the present invention are introduced above. The following introduces the optional realization manner of different pieces of equipment in the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of one structure of a first piece of equipment provided in the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figure 10, the first piece of equipment can comprise:

an information acquisition module (1001 ) used to acquire a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information, wherein said first piece of traffic control information is collected by said autonomous vehicle (10), and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information ;

an instruction generation module (1 002) used to generate a first traffic control instruction according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information, wherein said first traffic control instruction is used to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10) .

The first piece of equipment is the above-mentioned roadside equipment (20) , central control platform (30), or autonomous vehicle (1 0). According to the optional realization manners in embodiment 1 to embodiment 6, the information acquisition module (1001 ) can

correspondingly realize the acquisition of information, while the instruction generation module (1002) can correspondingly realize the generation of the first traffic control instruction. Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of another structure of a first piece of equipment provided in the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figure 11 , the first piece of equipment can comprise:

at least a memory (1101 ) used to store machine readable instructions;

at least a processor (1102) used to invoke the above-mentioned machine readable

instructions to realize the function of the first piece of equipment in any embodiment of the present invention.

The structure shown in Figure 11 can be considered a hardware realization manner of the structure shown in Figure 10. The information acquisition module (1001 ) and the instruction generation module (1002) can be considered at least a memory (1101 ) in which some of the above-mentioned machine readable instructions are stored and at least one processor (1102) used to invoke the instructions in the above-mentioned modules to realize the function of the first piece of equipment, respectively.

In addition, the first piece of equipment further comprises a user interface (1103), which is used to realize interactions with the user. For example, if the first piece of equipment is an autonomous vehicle (10), then the user interface (1103) realizes interactions between the autonomous vehicle (10) and the driver. If the first piece of equipment is roadside equipment (20), then the user interface (1103) realizes interactions between the roadside equipment (20) and the equipment maintainer. If the first piece of equipment is a central control platform (30), then the user interface (1103) can realize interactions between the traffic manager and the central control platform (30).

When a message needs to be transferred between the first piece of equipment and other equipment, the first piece of equipment can further comprise at least a communication device (1104), which is used to realize communication between the first piece of equipment and other equipment. For example, if the first piece of equipment is an autonomous vehicle (10), then at least one communication device (1104) can realize communication between autonomous vehicles (10), and communication with roadside equipment (20), and optionally, the communication device can further realize communication with a central control platform (30) in some embodiments. If the first piece of equipment is roadside equipment (20), then at least one communication device (1104) can realize communication with autonomous vehicles (10) and/or other roadside equipment (20), and optionally, the communication device can further realize communication with a central control platform (30) in some embodiments. If the first piece of equipment is a central control platform (30), then at least one communication device (1104) can realize communication with roadside equipment (20), and optionally, the communication device can further realize communication with autonomous vehicles (10) in some embodiments.

Different components in the first piece of equipment shown in Figure 11 can be connected through a bus to realize message transfer between different components.

Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a type of roadside equipment (20) provided in the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figure 12, the roadside equipment (20) can comprise:

an information processing module (1201 ) used to determine a second piece of traffic control information, wherein said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information;

an information sending module (1202) used to send the second piece of traffic control information to the autonomous vehicle (10) so that the autonomous vehicle (10) generates a first traffic control instruction according to the second piece of traffic control information and the first piece of traffic control information and controls the driving of the autonomous vehicle (10) according to the first traffic control instruction, wherein the first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information: a first piece of traffic condition information collected by the autonomous vehicle through its own sensor; and a second piece of traffic condition information acquired by the autonomous vehicle (10) from other autonomous vehicles (10).

Optionally, the information processing module (1201 ) is specifically used to collect information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) as the second piece of traffic control information, or collect information about the traffic conditions around the autonomous vehicle (10) and generate a second traffic control instruction for the autonomous vehicle (10) according to the collected information as the second piece of traffic control information.

For other optional realization manners of roadside equipment (20), reference can be made to the realization of roadside equipment (20) in previous embodiment 1 and embodiment 2. No details about other optional realization manners of roadside equipment will be given here.

Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an autonomous vehicle (10) in the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figure 13, the autonomous vehicle (10) can comprise:

an information processing module (1301 ) used to determine a first piece of traffic control information, wherein the first piece of traffic control information comprises a first piece of traffic condition information and/or a second piece of traffic condition information, or the first piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction generated by the autonomous vehicle (10), wherein the first piece of traffic condition information is collected by the autonomous vehicle (10) through its own sensor, and the second traffic condition information is acquired by the autonomous vehicle (10) from other autonomous vehicles (10); an information transceiver module (1302) used to send the first piece of traffic control information to a piece of roadside equipment (20) and receive a first traffic control instruction from the roadside equipment (20), wherein the traffic control instruction is generated according to the first piece of traffic control information and the second piece of traffic control information;

a vehicle control module (1303) used to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle (10) according to the first traffic control instruction.

For other optional realization manners of the autonomous vehicle (10), reference can be made to the realization of the autonomous vehicle (10) in previous embodiment 3 to embodiment 6. No details about other optional realization manners of the autonomous vehicle will be given here.

Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another type of roadside equipment (20) provided in the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figure 14, the roadside equipment (20) can comprise:

an information sending module (1401 ) used to send a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information to a central control platform (30), wherein the first piece of traffic control information is collected by the autonomous vehicle (10), and the second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information;

an information receiving module (1402) used to receive a first traffic control instruction from the central control platform (30), wherein the first traffic control instruction is generated by the central control platform (30) according to the first piece of traffic control information and the second piece of traffic control information;

the information sending module (1401 ) is used to send the first traffic control instruction to the autonomous vehicle (10) to control the driving of the autonomous vehicle (10).

For other optional realization manners of roadside equipment (20), reference can be made to the realization of roadside equipment (20) in previous embodiment 5 or embodiment 6. No details about other optional realization manners will be given here.

Another structure of the equipment shown in Figure 12 to Figure 14 can be shown as in Figure 11 . The structure shown in Figure 11 can be considered a hardware realization manner of the structure shown in Figure 10. The modules can be considered at least a memory in which some of the above-mentioned machine readable instructions are stored and at least one processor (1102) used to invoke the instructions in the above-mentioned modules to realize the function of the equipment, respectively.

In addition, as shown in Figure 11 , the structure can further comprise a user interface (1103) used to realize interactions with the user and at least a communication device (1104) used to realize communication with other equipment. Different components in the structure can be connected through a bus to realize message transfer between different components.

Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of an optional protocol stack for roadside equipment (20) in the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figure 15, the software protocol stack of the roadside equipment (20) can comprise the following four layers:

an operating system layer (151 ), a service layer (152), an algorithm layer (153), and an application layer (154).

The operating system layer (151 ) is used to support hardware functions to realize wireless communication and positioning. For example, the operating system layer can comprise the following components:

an RF module (1511 ) used to realize communication with an autonomous vehicle (10) and/or a central control platform (30). The communication mode includes but is not limited to dedicated short range communications (DSRC), wireless fidelity (WiFi), and long term evolution-vehicle (LTE-V). The RF module (1511 ) can further comprise a global positioning system (GPS) module.

At least a sensor (1512) used to collect information about the traffic conditions around an autonomous vehicle (10), for example, traffic jam information, signal light control information, and weather condition information.

A camera (1513) used to monitor traffic conditions in real time and acquire visual traffic condition information.

A real time clock (RTC) module (1514).

The service layer (152) is used to integrate data and provide the upper layer with services, including infrastructure to X (I2X) communication service (1521 ), sensor data fusion service (1522), and data processing service (1523).

The algorithm layer (153) is used to realize algorithm processing. For previous embodiment 1 , embodiment 3, and embodiment 4, where roadside equipment (20) is required to generate a traffic control instruction, the algorithm layer (153) can make an optimal decision on the basis of the acquired traffic control information, and optionally can have the capabilities of self learning and self-adaptation. The algorithm layer (153) can comprise a system training module (1531 ) used for self-learning according to the acquired traffic control information and various algorithm realization modules, for example, a game theory module (1532) and a green wave module (1533).

The application layer (154) is used to realize service logic on the basis of different traffic scenarios. The application layer can comprise, for example, a crossroad scenario processing module (1541 ), a parking lot processing module (1542), and an alarm module (1543).

Figure 16 to Figure 19 are schematic diagrams of four traffic scenarios in the embodiments of the present invention. In scenario 1 , an autonomous vehicle (10) passes a crossroad; in scenario 2, the autonomous vehicle (10) autonomously parks; in scenario 3, an indication is given to the autonomous vehicle (10) in the case of an emergency; in scenario 4, roadside equipment (20) exchanges information to cooperatively control the autonomous vehicle (10) so as to optimize the efficiency of the whole traffic system (100).

In these scenarios, the I2CU is an example of roadside equipment (20), and the previously mentioned first traffic control instruction is generated by the I2CU and is used to control the autonomous vehicle (10).

[Scenario 1 ]

In scenario 1 shown in Figure 16, each I2CU uses its own sensor to continuously collect various pieces of traffic information, including the previously mentioned first piece of traffic control information and second piece of traffic control information, through infrastructure to infrastructure (121) communication and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication.

An autonomous vehicle (10) sends a Pass_Crossroad request to an I2CU. After receiving the request, the I2CU makes a decision and generates the previously mentioned first traffic control instruction according to the traffic mode (the centralized control mode, autonomous control mode, and the combination of centralized control with autonomous control can be realized by the previously mentioned weight factor), the collected information, and the preset algorithm.

There may be other autonomous vehicles (10) around the crossroad, which need to pass the crossroad. The I2CU respectively generates a first traffic control instruction and sends it to corresponding autonomous vehicles (10) to control the driving directions and velocities of the vehicles. Each autonomous vehicle (10) passes the crossroad according to the received first traffic control instruction.

The I2CU can record historical data and train itself to optimize the decision. [Scenario 2]

In scenario 2 shown in Figure 17, l2CUs realize invisible mobile parking lots. The dashed-line boxes in the figure are parking spaces, and each autonomous vehicle (10) can park (speed up or slow down) on the basis of the first traffic control instruction of l2CUs.

[Scenario 3]

In scenario 3 shown in Figure 18, although tens of thousands of sensors are configured, an autonomous vehicle (10) can still not find vehicles or pedestrians at street corners or behind some obstacles. In this case, l2CUs can direct the autonomous vehicle (10) to slow down to avoid hitting the bike rider in the figure.

[Scenario 4]

In scenario 4 shown in Figure 19, a traffic jam happens at a crossroad, l2CUs can cooperate with each other to execute the green wave algorithm to prevent more vehicles from entering the jammed area and quickly relieve the traffic jam.

In the above-mentioned scenarios, l2CUs can realize optimal decision-making in the whole traffic system (100) on the basis of not only autonomous control of the autonomous vehicle (10), but also V2I, I2I, and V2V communication. Blockchain technology can be adopted between l2CUs so that they can cooperate with each other to realize highly efficient traffic control. On the basis of the same technical conception, the embodiments of the present invention further provide a machine readable medium, on which machine readable instructions used to let a machine execute the previously mentioned methods are stored. In particular, a system or device equipped with the machine readable medium is provided, software program codes realizing the function in any of the above-mentioned embodiments are stored on the machine readable medium, and the computer (or central processing unit (CPU)) or micro processor unit (MPU)) of the system or device reads and executes the program codes stored on the storage medium.

In this case, program codes read from the storage medium themselves can realize the function in any of the above-mentioned embodiments. Therefore, program codes and the storage medium where program codes are stored constitute a part of the embodiments of the present invention.

Embodiments of storage media used to provide program codes include floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk (for example, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM)), compact disk - recordable (CD-R), compact disk - rewritable (CD-RW), digital video disk - read only memory (DVD-ROM), digital versatile disk - random access memory (DVD-RAM), digital versatile disk ± rewritable (DVD±RW), magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, and read-only memory (ROM). Optionally, program codes can be downloaded from the server computer or cloud over a communication network.

In addition, it should clearly be understood that the function of any of the above-mentioned embodiments can be realized not only by executing the program codes read out by a computer, but also by letting the operating system running on the computer complete a part or all of practical operations through a program code based instruction.

In addition, it should be understood that the program codes read out from a storage medium are written into the memory in the expansion board in a computer or are written into a memory in an expansion unit connected to the computer, and then the instruction based on program codes lets the CPU installed on the expansion board or expansion unit execute a part or all of practical operations to realize the function of any of the above-mentioned embodiments.

It should be noted that not all steps or modules in the above-mentioned processes and structural diagrams of equipment are required, and some steps or modules can be ignored, depending on the actual requirements. The execution sequence of the steps is not fixed and can be adjusted as required. The equipment structures described in the above-mentioned embodiments can be physical structures or logical structures. That is to say, some modules may be realized by a physical entity, or some modules may be realized by a plurality of physical entities or may jointly be realized by some components in a plurality of

self-contained equipment.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, hardware units can be realized mechanically or electrically. For example, a hardware unit can comprise a permanent dedicated circuit or logic (for example, special processor, FPGA, or ASIC) for the completion of the corresponding operations. A hardware unit can further comprise a programmable logic or circuit (for example, a general processor or other programmable processor) and can complete the corresponding operations through temporary software setting. The specific realization manners (mechanical, or dedicated permanent circuit, or a circuit which is temporarily set) can be determined on the basis of consideration of cost and time.

The present invention is revealed and described in detail above in combination with the drawings and preferred embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to these disclosed embodiments. On the basis of the plurality of above-mentioned embodiments, those skilled in the art shall understand that more embodiments of the present invention can be obtained by combining the code review means in the above-mentioned different embodiments, and all these embodiments should also fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1 . A control method for an autonomous vehicle (10), wherein it comprises:

a first piece of equipment acquiring a first piece of traffic control information, wherein said first piece of traffic control information is collected by equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side,

said first piece of equipment acquiring a second piece of traffic control information, wherein said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information;

said first piece of equipment generating a first traffic control instruction according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information, wherein said first traffic control instruction is used to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said first piece of equipment is the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side,

said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information:

a first piece of traffic condition information, collected by the equipment of said autonomous vehicle (10) through a sensor,

a second piece of traffic condition information, acquired by the equipment of said

autonomous vehicle (10) from other autonomous vehicles (10);

said second piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction for said autonomous vehicle (10) from a piece of roadside equipment (20).

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said first piece of equipment is the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side,

a first piece of traffic condition information, collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side through a sensor;

a second piece of traffic condition information, acquired by the equipment on said

autonomous vehicle (10) side from other autonomous vehicles (10);

said second piece of traffic control information comes from a piece of roadside equipment (20) and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle (10).

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said first piece of equipment is a piece of roadside equipment (20),

autonomous vehicle (10) side from other autonomous vehicles (10);

said second piece of traffic control information comes from said roadside equipment (20) and/or at least one piece of other roadside equipment (20) around said roadside equipment (20), and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle (10).

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said first piece of equipment is a piece of roadside equipment (20),

said first piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction generated by said autonomous vehicle (10) ;

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said first piece of equipment is a central control platform (30),

autonomous vehicle (10) side from other autonomous vehicles (10);

said second piece of traffic control information comes from at least a piece of roadside equipment (20) and is used to indicate the traffic conditions around said autonomous vehicle (10).

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said first piece of equipment is a central control platform (30),

said first piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction generated by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side;

8. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein

said first piece of equipment acquires a weight factor before generating said first traffic control instruction, wherein said weight factor is used to indicate the degree of influence when said first traffic control instruction is generated according to said second piece of traffic control information and said first piece of traffic control information;

said first piece of equipment generates said first traffic control instruction, comprising said first piece of equipment generating said first traffic control instruction according to said weight factor.

9. A control method for an autonomous vehicle (10), wherein it comprises:

a piece of roadside equipment (20) determining a second piece of traffic control information, wherein said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information; said roadside equipment (20) sending said second piece of traffic control information to the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side so that the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side generates a first traffic control instruction according to said second piece of traffic control information and said first piece of traffic control information and controls the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10) according to said first traffic control instruction, wherein said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information:

a second piece of traffic condition information, acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side from other autonomous vehicles (10).

10. A control method for an autonomous vehicle (10), wherein it comprises:

the equipment on said autonomous equipment (10) side determining a first piece of traffic control information, wherein said first piece of traffic control information comprises a first piece of traffic condition information and/or a second piece of traffic condition information, or said first piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction generated by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side, wherein said first piece of traffic condition information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side through a sensor, and said second traffic condition information is acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side from other autonomous vehicles (10) ;

the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side sending said first piece of traffic control information to a piece of roadside equipment (20);

the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side receiving a first traffic control instruction from said roadside equipment (20), wherein said traffic control instruction is generated according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information;

the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side controlling the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10) according to said first traffic control instruction.

11 . A control method for an autonomous vehicle (10), wherein it comprises:

a piece of roadside equipment (20) sending a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information to a central control platform (30), wherein said first piece of traffic control information is collected by said autonomous vehicle (10), and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information;

said roadside equipment (20) receiving a first traffic control instruction from said central control platform (30), wherein said first traffic control instruction is generated by said central control platform (30) according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information;

said roadside equipment (20) sending said first traffic control instruction to the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10).

12. A first piece of equipment for controlling the autonomous vehicle (10), wherein it comprises:

an information acquisition module used to acquire a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information, wherein said first piece of traffic control information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side, and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information;

an instruction generation module used to generate a first traffic control instruction according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information, wherein said first traffic control instruction is used to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10).

13. A piece of roadside equipment (20), wherein it comprises:

an information sending module (1202) used to send said second piece of traffic control information to the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side so that the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side generates a first traffic control instruction according to said second piece of traffic control information and said first piece of traffic control information and controls the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10) according to said first traffic control instruction, wherein said first piece of traffic control information comprises at least one piece of the following information:

autonomous vehicle (10) side from other autonomous vehicles (10).

14. An autonomous vehicle (10), wherein it comprises:

an information processing module (1301 ) used to determine a first piece of traffic control information, wherein said first piece of traffic control information comprises a first piece of traffic condition information and/or a second piece of traffic condition information, or said first piece of traffic control information is a second traffic control instruction generated by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side, wherein said first piece of traffic condition information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side through a sensor, and said second traffic condition information is acquired by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side from other autonomous vehicles (10);

an information transceiver module (1302) used to send said first piece of traffic control information to a piece of roadside equipment (20) and receive a first traffic control instruction from said roadside equipment (20), wherein said traffic control instruction is generated according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information;

a vehicle control module (1303) used to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10) according to said first traffic control instruction.

15. A piece of roadside equipment (20), wherein it comprises: an information sending module (1401 ) used to send a first piece of traffic control information and a second piece of traffic control information to a central control platform (30), wherein said first piece of traffic control information is collected by the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side, and said second piece of traffic control information is centralized control information;

an information receiving module (1402) used to receive a first traffic control instruction from said central control platform (30), wherein said first traffic control instruction is generated by said central control platform (30) according to said first piece of traffic control information and said second piece of traffic control information;

said information sending module (1401 ) used to send said first traffic control instruction to the equipment on said autonomous vehicle (10) side to control the driving of said autonomous vehicle (10).

16. A vehicle control device, wherein it comprises:

at least a memory (1101 ) used to store machine readable instructions;

at least a processor (1102) used to invoke said machine readable instruction to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 .

17. A machine readable medium, wherein a machine readable instruction is stored on said machine readable medium and a processor executes the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 when said machine readable instruction is executed by said processor.