WO2020074626A1

WO2020074626A1 - Method, device and system for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2020074626A1
Application number: PCT/EP2019/077443
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andy Liao; Sam Lai
Original assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2018-10-12
Filing date: 2019-10-10
Publication date: 2020-04-16
Also published as: CN111038376B; CN111038376A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle and a corresponding device and system, wherein the method comprises the steps of: obtaining an electronic map; obtaining a positioning information of the vehicle; obtaining a speed limit information of a current road according to the positioning information; determining a direction; determining a safe distance according to the speed limit information; determining coordinates of a position in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction, according to a safety distance; and sending the coordinates of the position. Herewith it's possible to safely and reliably place the warning sign in a suitable position.

Description

DESCRIPTION

METHOD, DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING A WARNING

SIGN FOR A VEHICLE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the technical field of traffic control, and more particularly to a method, a device and a system for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle.

BACKGROUND ART

As the number of vehicles increases continuously, problems of vehicle traffic accidents are also getting worse and worse. When a traffic accident occurs, a warning triangle has to be placed on the road to prompt other vehicles to perform deceleration and avoidance. The warning triangle for a vehicle is a passive reflector of plastic reflective material. When the driver is confronted with stopping to repair due to a suddent fault or an accident during the travel, by the reflectivity of the warning triangle, it is possible to remind other vehicles to take care for avoidance, so as to avoid a second accident. Many countries have established national standards to stipulate the technical requirements and operational methods of a warning triangle.

Generally, when there is found a warning triangle ahead, the driver is required to be subjected to a process of spotting and clearly witnessing a warning signal ahead, and taking measures to perform braking, deceleration and avoidance. Take a vehicle travelling at a speed of 100 km/h for example. Normally, a reaction time of at least 10.8 seconds or a distance of at least 350 meters is required. This requires the warning triangle to be placed far enough away from the vehicle to allow the other drivers to notice it as soon as possible. On an ordinary town road, the driver ought to set a warning sign at least 50 meters behind the vehicle in the direction of an incoming vehicle; on a highway, a warning sign should be set 100 meters away. By this, the warning sign can be noticed by a following vehicle in time. It is especially important to place a warning sign when the vehicle is in trouble at night.

However, when a warning triangle is placed, the driver or passenger has to leave the vehicle and manually place the warning triangle at a distance behind the vehicle. On a road section with a high traffic flow or a highway with a high vehicle speed, it is dangerous to get off to manually place the warning triangle. Therefore, during research and development, the inventors found that how to safely and efficiently place a warning triangle is an urgent problem to be solved. At the same time, how to place a warning triangle at a suitable distance to achieve an adequate warning effect for an incoming vehicle following an accident vehicle is also a problem that needs to be considered.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In order to solve the problem in the prior art, the embodiments of the present invention provides a method, a device and a system for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle. The technical solutions are as follows:

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle, characterized in that, the method comprises:

obtaining an electronic map;

obtaining a positioning information of the vehicle;

obtaining a speed limit information of a current road according to the positioning information; determining a direction;

determining a safe distance according to the speed limit information; determining coordinates of a position in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction, according to the safety distance; and

sending the coordinates of the position.

In view of the problem that the driver or passenger has to leave the vehicle to manually place the warning triangle, the present invention proposes a method for determining coordinates of a suitable position in which the warning sign will be placed according to the positioning information and the map information. The method for controlling a warning sign may be performed after a vehicle accident occurs, wherein a speed limit value of a current road may be read from the electronic map according to the positioning coordinates of the vehicle. Then, the safety distance is determined according to the speed limit value. For example, if the vehicle is currently on an ordinary town road (the speed limit is 50 to 80 km/h), a warning sign should be placed at a position of about 50 meters behind in the direction of an incoming vehicle. If the vehicle is currently on a highway (the speed limit is 80 to 120 km/h), a warning sign should be placed 100 to 150 meters behind.

After the safety distance is determined, the method of the present invention may comprises obtaining a traveling direction of the vehicle according to the lane information, thereby determining the direction in which the warning sign should be placed. Then, the road information data in the map is used to calculate coordinates of the position which has the safety distance from the own vehicle along a curve of the lane. After that, the coordinates are sent, for example, to a mobile device such as a drone equipped with a warning sign. The drone may deliver the warning sign (e.g., a warning triangle) to the position according to the coordinates of the position. Therefore, the present invention may automatically determine a position on the road in which an accident warning sign will be placed, and send the coordinates of the position for example to a drone, which then delivers the warning sign to that position. The driver or passenger does not need to manually place the warning triangle or leave the vehicle, so that the whole process is safe and efficient. Furthermore, under different road conditions, the warning triangle may be placed at a suitable distance to achieve an adequate warning effect for an incoming vehicle following the accident vehicle, thereby improving the traffic safety.

Optionally, the step of "determining coordinates of a position in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction, according to the safety distance" includes: determining the coordinates of the position in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction, according to the road information in the electronic map and the safety distance.

Optionally, the step“determining coordinates of a position in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction, according to the road information in the electronic map and the safety distance" includes: obtaining a road profile information in the electronic map; and calculating the coordinates of the position which has the safety distance from the vehicle in a curve along the current road in the direction, with the aid of a curve coordinate calculation.

Since the lane is not necessarily straight, in order to determine the position which has the safety distance from the own vehicle on the road, accumulative calculation of the curve distance may be performed to obtain the position according to the road profile information in the electronic map.

Optionally, the curve coordinate calculation is performed with the aid of a Frenet-Serret formula.

Optionally, the step of "determining a direction" includes: determining the direction according to a direction of the vehicle or a traveling direction of a current lane in which the vehicle is located.

Optionally, the direction is a rear direction of the vehicle or a direction reverse to the traveling direction of the current lane in which the vehicle is located. Since the warning sign has to be placed behind the vehicle, the direction is also the direction of the incoming vehicle on the road as mentioned above.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle, characterized in that, the device comprises:

a map module for obtaining an electronic map;

a positioning module for obtaining a positioning information of the vehicle;

a speed limit information module for obtaining a speed limit information of a current road according to the positioning information; a direction module for determining a direction;

a distance module for determining a safety distance according to the speed limit information;

a coordinate module for determining coordinates of a position in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction according to the safety distance; and

a sending module for sending the coordinates of the position.

Optionally, the coordinate module is further configured to: determine the coordinates of the position in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction, according to the road information in the electronic map and the safety distance.

Optionally, the coordinate module is further configured to: obtain a road profile information in the electronic map; and calculate the coordinates of the position which has the safety distance from the vehicle in a curve along the current road in the direction, with the aid of a curve coordinate calculation.

Optionally, the direction module is further configured to: determine the direction according to a direction of the vehicle or a traveling direction of a current lane in which the vehicle is located.

Optionally, the direction is a rear direction of the vehicle or a direction reverse to the traveling direction of the current lane in which the vehicle is located.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for controlling a warning sign, characterized in that, the system comprises at least one vehicle and a transport device, wherein the transport device contains the warning sign or the transport device is capable of obtaining the warning sign from the vehicle; wherein the at least one vehicle and/or the transport device includes the device for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle according to the present invention.

The transport device may be a drone aircraft.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing device, comprising:

a memory in which computer executable instructions are stored; and a processor, which is configured to execute the computer executable instructions, wherein the method according to the present invention is carried out when the processor executes the instructions.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable storage medium, in which computer executable instructions are stored, wherein the method according to the present invention is carried out when the instructions are executed by a processor.

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in hardware or software according to defined implementation needs. The implementation manner may be implemented in the case of using a digital storage medium such as a floppy disk, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, CD, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM or a flash memory, a solid state drive or other magnetic or optical memory, wherein the digital storage medium is stored with electronically readable control signals which may thus operate or thus operate in conjunction with the programmable hardware assemblies such as to implement the corresponding method.

The programmable hardware assemblies may include a processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a computer, a computer system, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an integrated circuit (1C), a system on chip (SOC), a programmable logic element or a field programmable gate array (FPGA) with a microprocessor.

Thus, the computer readable storage medium may be machine readable or computer readable. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the computer readable storage medium includes a data carrier having executable instructions that are capable of such cooperative function with a programmable computer system or a programmable hardware assembly, such as to implement one of the methods described here. Thus, one embodiment is a data carrier, a digital storage medium or a computer readable storage medium, on which there is recorded a program for implementing one of the methods described herein.

The embodiments of the present invention may generally be implemented as a program, a firmware, a computer program, or computer program product with program codes, or as data, wherein the program codes or data effectively implements the aforementioned method when the program runs on a processor or a programmable hardware assembly. The program codes or data may, for example, also be stored on a machine readable carrier or a data carrier. Program codes or data may additionally be present as source codes, machine codes or bytecodes, and as other intermediate codes.

Moreover, another embodiment is a data stream, a signal order, or a signal sequence, which is a program for implementing one of the methods described herein. The data stream, signal order or signal sequence may, for example, be configured for transmission via a data communication connection, such as via Internet or other networks. Thus, the embodiment may also be a signal sequence representing data, which is adapted to be sent via a network or data communication connection, wherein the data is a program.

As described above, according to the present invention, the position on the road in which an accident warning sign will be placed may be automatically determined based on the relevant road information extracted from the on-board navigation map according to the positioning information of the vehicle, before sending the coordinates of the position for example to the drone. Therefore, the drone may accurately deliver the warning sign to the position based on the coordinates of the position. The driver or passenger does not need to manually place the warning triangle or leave the vehicle, so that the whole process is safe and efficient. In addition, the present invention may allow to adjust adaptively the safety distance. Therefore, under different road conditions, the warning triangle may be placed at a suitable distance to achieve an adequate warning effect for an incoming vehicle following the accident vehicle, thereby avoiding potential traffic safety hazards caused by an inadequate safety distance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The schematic drawings are briefly described as follows: FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of another application scenario of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for controlling a warning sign according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a structural block diagram of a device for controlling a warning sign according to an embodiment of the present invention.

EMBODIMENTS

In order to make the aforementioned object, features and advantages of the present invention more apparent and understandable, detailed explanations are made to the specific embodiments of the present invention with references to the drawings as follows.

In the following description, specific details are set forth in order to facilitate an adequate understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention can be implemented in multiple manners other than those described herein, and those skilled in the art may make similar promotion without departing from the merit of invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited by the specific embodiments disclosed below.

The meaning of the term“and/or” used herein is to include at least one of the members listed before and after the term. Moreover, the meaning of the term“connection/coupling” is to include direct connection with another intermediate member or indirect connection through another member. The singular forms herein also include the plural forms, unless particularly mentioned in the wording. Also, the meaning of the members, steps, operations, and elements used herein which involve“comprising” or“containing”, is to be present with or add at least one other member, step, operation, and element.

It should be understood that the term“vehicle” or other similar terms as used herein generally comprise motor vehicles, for example including sport utility vehicles (SUVs), large buses, large trucks, and passenger vehicles of various commercial vehicles, comprises various boats, ship vessels, aircrafts and the like, and comprises hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (for example, fuels from sources other than petroleum). As mentioned herein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle having two or more sources of power, such as a vehicle incorporating both gasoline power and electric power.

As used herein, the term“on-board system” means an integrated information system with information processing capabilities. These systems are sometimes referred to as in-vehicle information systems and are typically integrated with telematics services, on-board sensors, entertainment systems, and/or navigation systems.

Further, it should be understood that the following methods for vehicle-to-vehicle communication may be performed by at least one controller and communication member. The term“controller” refers to a hardware device that includes a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store program instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the program instructions to perform one or more of the processes described further below.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario of the present invention. A vehicle 1 is provided with a movable transport device 21. The transport device 21 may be a drone. The drone 21 carries a warning sign 22, such as a warning triangle. When a traffic accident occurs, the drone 21 may deliver the warning sign 22 to a position P. The position P is located in a rear direction R of the vehicle 10, and the path from the position to the vehicle 10 corresponds to a safe distance d. The warning sign 22 may prompt other vehicles to perform deceleration and on the road. When there is found a warning triangle ahead, the drivers of other vehicles are subjected to a process of deceleration and avoidance. This requires the position P, in which the warning triangle will be placed, to be set at a safe distance d far enough from the vehicle 10, so that the drivers of the other vehicles can notice the warning triangle in time. On ordinary town road, the driver of the vehicle 10 ought to set the warning sign at least 50 meters away from the own vehicle in the direction of an incoming vehicle. On a highway, a warning sign should be set at least meters away. By this, the warning sign can be noticed by a following vehicle in time. Therefore, the safety distance d should not be a fixed value, but should be specifically adjusted according to different road conditions such as a speed limit for a vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of another application scenario of the present invention. In most cases, as shown in FIG. 2, a road is not straight but curved. Even some road sections are zigzag curves or spiral curves. The rectilinear distance between any two points on these road sections is not equal to the length of the path between the two points on the road. An important problem to be solved by the present invention is how to automatically determine a suitable position in which the warning device will be placed, wherein the distance between the so-called suitable position and the vehicle 10 is the safety distance d. The safety distance should not be a rectilinear distance between the two points, but a mileage distance of the road curve. If the rectilinear distance between the two points is used uniformly to calculate the position P for placement, there may be an apparent calculation error on the above-described curved road sections such as road sections in zigzag curves or spiral curvi¾G. 3 shows a flow chart of a method 100 for controlling a warning sign according to an embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, when a traffic accident occurs, for example, a system for controlling a warning sign in an on-board system may be triggered. According to the method of the present invention, first in the step 101 , electronic map data may be obtained from the on-board system (or from a system server of the network). The electronic map may contain data defined in general standards of typical electronic map data such as a road profile information, a lane information, and a road speed limit information.

In the step 102, a current positioning information of the vehicle 10 may be obtained from an on-board positioning module (e.g., a GPS module).

In the step 103, the position and the road section in which the vehicle 10 is currently located may be determined in the electronic map system based on the positioning information. Then, the speed limit information of the current road section is read from the electronic map data.

In the step 104, a direction R, in which the warning sign will be placed, may be determined according to a direction of the vehicle or a traveling direction of a current lane in which the vehicle is located. Specifically, the direction R may be a rear direction of the vehicle. The direction R may also be determined according to the information obtained in the map. If the traveling direction of the current lane can be obtained according to the map, the direction R may also be a direction reverse to the traveling direction of the current lane in which the vehicle is located.

In the step 105, a safety distance d may be determined according to the speed limit information. As mentioned above, the safety distance d should not be a fixed value, but should be specifically set according to different road speed limit conditions. If the vehicle is currently on a road section with a speed limit of 50km/h, a warning sign should be set at a position 50m behind the vehicle 10. If the vehicle is currently on a highway with a speed limit of 100km/h, a warning sign should be placed 100m away behind the vehicle. When the speed limit is 120km/h or above, a warning sign should be even placed 150m away behind the vehicle.

According to the step 106, coordinates of a position P, where the warning sign will be placed, may be determined based on the road information in the electronic map and the obtained safety distance d. As mentioned above, the road is normally not straight but curved, even in a zigzag shape. The rectilinear distance between any two points on these road sections is not equal to the length of the path between the two points on the road. The safety distance d is a distance between a suitable position P where the warning sign will be placed and the vehicle 10. The safety distance should be based on a mileage distance of the road curve.

Specifically, the road profile information may first be obtained from the electronic map. Then, the coordinates of the position P which has the safety distance d from the vehicle in a curve along the current road in the direction R are calculated, with the aid of the coordinate calculation method for the curve length, such as the Frenet-Serret formula and the corresponding algorithm.

In the step 107, the control system of the present invention may send the coordinates of the suitable position P, where the warning sign 22 will be placed, to a transport device (a drone 21 ) equipped with the warning sign 22.

The drone 21 may transport the warning sign to the suitable position according to the received coordinates of the position P.

FIG. 4 is a structural block diagram of a device for controlling a warning sign according to an embodiment of the present invention. Accordingly, a device 200 for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle, is characterized in that, the device comprises: a map module 201 for obtaining an electronic map;

a positioning module 202 for obtaining a positioning information of the vehicle;

a speed limit information module 203 for obtaining a speed limit information of a current road according to the positioning information; a direction module 204 for determining a direction R;

a distance module 205 for determining a safety distance d according to the speed limit information;

a coordinate module 206 for determining coordinates of a position P, in which the warning sign will be placed, in the direction R according to the safety distance d; and

a sending module 207 for sending the coordinates of the position P. To sum up, the technical solution of the present invention may have at least the following advantageous effects:

According to the present invention, the position on the road in which an accident warning sign will be placed may be automatically determined based on the relevant road information extracted from the on-board navigation map according to the positioning information of the vehicle, before sending the coordinates of the position for example to a drone. Therefore, the drone may accurately deliver the warning sign to the position based on the coordinates of the position. The driver or passenger does not need to manually place the warning triangle or leave the vehicle, so that the whole process is safe and efficient. In addition, the device of the present invention may adaptively select a suitable safety distance d according to different road conditions. Therefore, under different road conditions, the warning triangle may be placed at a suitable distance to achieve an adequate warning effect for an incoming vehicle following the accident vehicle, thereby avoiding potential traffic safety hazards caused by an inadequate safety distance. In the present invention, environmental image information around the vehicle may be collected without using a speedometer, a distance measurement equipment or an image sensor, but with a high-speed control algorithm having less calculation and a simple and efficient hardware. Furthermore, the entire process may be adjusted adaptively. It is possible that there is no need to distract the user’s attention to an operation interface, and there is no need to input an instruction. It brings convenience to the user and also improves the safety.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1 . A method (100) for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle, characterized in that, the method comprises:

obtaining (101 ) an electronic map;

obtaining (102) a positioning information of the vehicle;

obtaining (103) a speed limit information of a current road according to the positioning information;

determining (104) a direction (R);

determining (105) a safe distance (d) according to the speed limit information;

determining (106) coordinates of a position (P) in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction (R), according to the safety distance (d); and

sending (107) the coordinates of the position (P).

2. The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that, the step of "determining (106) coordinates of a position (P) in wh ich the warning sign will be placed in the direction (R), according to the safety distance (d)" includes:

determining the coordinates of the position (P) in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction (R), according to the road information in the electronic map and the safety distance (d).

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, the step of "determining coordinates of a position (P) in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction (R), according to the road information in the electronic map and the safety distance (d)" includes:

obtaining a road profile information in the electronic map; and calculating the coordinates of the position (P) which has the safety distance (d) from the vehicle in a curve along the current road in the direction (R), with the aid of a curve coordinate calculation.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, the curve coordinate calculation is performed with the aid of a Frenet-Serret formula.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, the step of "determining (104) a direction (R)" includes:

determining the direction (R) according to a direction of the vehicle or a traveling direction of a current lane in which the vehicle is located.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, the direction (R) is a rear direction of the vehicle or a direction reverse to the traveling direction of the current lane of the vehicle.

7. A device (200) for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle, characterized in that, the device comprises:

a map module (201 ) for obtaining an electronic map;

a positioning module (202) for obtaining a positioning information of the vehicle;

a speed limit information module (203) for obtaining a speed limit information of a current road according to the positioning information;

a direction module (204) for determining a direction (R);

a distance module (205) for determining a safety distance (d) according to the speed limit information; a coordinate module (206) for determining coordinates of a position (P) in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction (R) according to the safety distance (d); and

a sending module (207) for sending the coordinates of the position

(P)·

8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that, the coordinate module is further configured to:

determine the coordinates of the position (P) in which the warning sign will be placed in the direction (R), according to the road information in the electronic map and the safety distance (d).

9. The device according to claim 8, characterized in that, the coordinate module is further configured to:

obtain a road profile information in the electronic map; and

calculate the coordinates of the position (P) which has the safety distance (d) from the vehicle in a curve along the current road in the direction (R), with the aid of a curve coordinate calculation.

10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that, the curve coordinate calculation is performed with the aid of a Frenet-Serret formula.

1 1 . The device according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that, the direction module is further configured to:

determine the direction (R) according to a direction of the vehicle or a traveling direction of a current lane in which the vehicle is located.

12. The device according to claim 11 , characterized in that, the direction (R) is a rear direction of the vehicle or a direction reverse to the traveling direction of the current lane in which the vehicle is located.

13. A system for controlling a warning sign, characterized in that, the system comprises at least one vehicle and a transport device, wherein the transport device contains the warning sign or the transport device is capable of obtaining the warning sign from the vehicle;

wherein the at least one vehicle and/or the transport device includes the device for controlling a warning sign for a vehicle according to any one of claims 7 to 12.

14. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that, the transport device is a vehicle-carried drone.

15. A data processing device, comprising:

a memory in which computer executable instructions are stored; and a processor, which is configured to execute the computer executable instructions, wherein the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 is carried out when the processor executes the instructions.

16. A computer readable storage medium, in which computer executable instructions are stored, wherein the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 is carried out when the instructions are executed by a processor.