WO2020126191A1

WO2020126191A1 - Method and apparatus for operating an automated vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2020126191A1
Application number: PCT/EP2019/080348
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andreas Beicht
Original assignee: Robert Bosch Gmbh
Priority date: 2018-12-19
Filing date: 2019-11-06
Publication date: 2020-06-25
Also published as: DE102018222329A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method (300) and an apparatus (110) for operating (340) an automated vehicle (100), comprising: a step of detecting (310) at least one additional vehicle (210) in the surroundings (200) of the automated vehicle (100), which additional vehicle is located in front of the automated vehicle (100) in the direction of travel; a step of determining (320) a current relative movement of the at least one additional vehicle (210), depending on a movement of the automated vehicle (100); a step of determining (330) an relative movement to be anticipated of the at least one additional vehicle (210), depending on the current relative movement; and a step of operating (340) the automated vehicle (100), depending on the relative movement to be anticipated.

Description

description

Method and device for operating an automated vehicle

The present invention relates to at least one method for operating an automated vehicle comprising a step of detecting at least one further vehicle in an environment of the automated vehicle, a step of determining a current relative movement of the at least one further vehicle, a step of determining an expected relative movement of the at least one further vehicle, depending on the current relative movement, and a step of operating the automated vehicle, depending on the relative movement to be expected.

Disclosure of the invention

The method according to the invention for operating an automated vehicle comprises a step of detecting at least one further vehicle in an environment of the automated vehicle, which is located in front of the automated vehicle in the direction of travel - in particular in the same lane - and a step of determining a current relative movement of the at least one another vehicle, depending on a movement of the automated vehicle. The method further comprises a step of determining an expected relative movement of the at least one further vehicle, depending on the current relative movement and in particular depending on the environment, and a step of operating the automated vehicle, depending on the expected relative movement.

Operating the automated vehicle means that the automated vehicle is operated in a partially, highly or fully automated manner - in accordance with one of SAE levels 1 to 5 (see standard SAE J3016). This includes

Operate, for example, determining a trajectory for the automated

Vehicle and / or traversing the trajectory by means of an automated lateral and / or longitudinal control and / or executing safety-relevant driving functions etc. The method according to the invention advantageously achieves the object of reliably determining a traffic situation, depending on an expected relative movement of at least one further vehicle, and operating the automated vehicle on the basis thereof. Due to the foresighted approach, it also applies that a quick and thus possibly risky and / or uncomfortable change in the operation of the automated vehicle - in particular a quick switchover between different vehicle modes (for example depending on different SAE levels) - can be avoided.

The at least one further vehicle is preferably detected by means of an environment sensor system of the automated vehicle.

An environment sensor system is to be understood as meaning at least one video and / or at least one radar and / or at least one lidar and / or at least one ultrasound and / or at least one further sensor which is designed to, in particular, the environment of the vehicle in the form of environmental data values. In one embodiment, the environment sensor system comprises, for example, an evaluation unit which is designed to determine and classify objects - for example at least one further vehicle - in the environment of the automated vehicle based on the environment data values.

This shows the advantage that the at least one additional vehicle can be detected quickly and directly by the automated vehicle. Thus, for example, no additional infrastructure (with a Car-2-X connection) is necessary and the at least one additional vehicle is recorded in real time without additional delays. This increases the reliability and also the safety when operating the automated vehicle.

The current relative movement preferably comprises a speed of the at least one further vehicle and the relative movement to be expected comprises an expected speed and / or an expected speed range and / or a change in speed.

A speed to be expected is to be understood, for example, as a speed which the at least one further vehicle within and / or after predetermined time span - starting from the time of determining the current relative movement - absolutely and / or relative to the speed of the automated vehicle. The predefined time period can be, for example, one second and / or predefined depending on the current relative movement of the at least one further vehicle and / or depending on the current speed of the automated vehicle and / or depending on the environment.

A speed range is understood to mean, for example, a (relative) minimum and (relative) maximum speed, by means of which the at least one further vehicle is moving. This type of movement is present, for example, in a so-called traffic jam situation, for example, when the at least one vehicle is at a slight speed difference relative to the automated vehicle

(e.g. within a speed range from -10km / h to + 10km / h).

A change in speed is understood to mean, for example, a (positive or negative) deceleration of the at least one further vehicle relative to the automated vehicle (for example within a range from -2 m / s ² to +1 m / s ² ).

This shows the advantage that the safety when operating the automated vehicle is increased, since it is precisely the speed and, in particular, the change in speed of other road users in the area that has a major influence on the safety of one's own vehicle. This applies in particular if a vehicle is operated automatically.

The method preferably comprises a step of determining a traffic jam situation, in particular a stable traffic jam situation, depending on the expected situation

Relative motion.

A congestion situation is to be understood, for example, as meaning at least one further vehicle which is located in front of the automated vehicle in such a way that the automated vehicle is operated at a normal speed

(for example, a target speed and / or maximum speed, as prescribed for example by law) is not possible. Under a stable

Congestion situation is to be understood, for example, as a congestion situation that exists for a predetermined minimum duration (for example at least 5 minutes). This is advantageous because a traffic jam situation, for example due to an increased traffic density in the vicinity of the automated vehicle, is an increased one

Represents security risk.

Operating the automated vehicle preferably includes executing a traffic jam pilot.

This shows the advantage that the automated vehicle - when there is a traffic jam situation - is operated reliably and efficiently by the traffic jam pilot.

A traffic jam pilot is generally only approved for a certain speed range (e.g. up to a maximum speed of 70 km / h). If the

Traffic flow (for example due to a decrease in traffic density) exceeds this speed, this inevitably leads to a deactivation of the system after a certain time (since the distance to an object in front is constantly increasing). One criterion is therefore that the speed of the automated vehicle and the at least one further vehicle are below this limit value. Furthermore, the stability of the situation increases with reduced

Speed considerably. Another important criterion is, for example, the relative speed between the automated vehicle and the at least one other vehicle. If the relative speed is too high (because, for example, the at least one other vehicle is significantly faster or slower than that

automated vehicle drives), there is a risk that the distance between the automated vehicle and the at least one other vehicle will increase rapidly or that the automated vehicle will be decelerated sharply (in order to prevent a rear-end collision). Comparable to an impact of

Relative speed is the effect of a relative acceleration or

Delay (if the difference between the automated vehicle and the at least one other vehicle becomes too large). These criteria (maximum

Speed range or maximum speed of the automated vehicle or the at least one further vehicle, relative speed between the automated vehicle and the at least one further vehicle) are referred to as stability criteria. The device according to the invention, in particular a computing unit and / or

Control unit is set up to carry out all steps of the method according to one of the method claims.

Furthermore, a computer program is claimed, comprising commands which, when the computer program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute a method according to one of the method claims.

Furthermore, a machine-readable storage medium on which the computer program is stored is claimed.

Advantageous developments of the invention are specified in the subclaims and listed in the description.

drawings

Embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings and are explained in more detail in the following descriptions. Show it:

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the method according to the invention; and

Figure 2 shows an embodiment of the method according to the invention in the form of a flow chart.

Embodiments of the invention

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of the method 300 according to the invention. An automated vehicle 100 is located on a traffic route 201 with a plurality of lanes 202, which are designed here for the same direction of travel along the traffic route 201. Furthermore, there is at least one further vehicle 210 in an environment 200 of the automated vehicle 100, this being in front of the automated vehicle 100 in the direction of travel. The environment 200 is to be understood here as an area, for example, which is detected by the environment sensor system 101 comprised by the automated vehicle 100. The automated vehicle 100 further comprises the device 110, which is designed to carry out the method 300 for operating 340 of the automated vehicle 100. In one embodiment, the automated vehicle 100 now detects the at least one further vehicle 210 by means of the device 110 in connection with the environment sensor system 101. In this case, a current relative movement of the at least one further vehicle 210 is determined, for example in the form of a relative speed to the automated vehicle 100 . Furthermore, an expected relative movement - and / or, for example, an absolute movement based on this - of the at least one further vehicle 210 is determined, depending on the current relative movement. For this purpose, the future or expected speed is determined, for example, based on the current speed of the at least one further vehicle 210.

For this, the current speed (v _act ) is based on the current

Acceleration (a _act ) predicted into the future by assuming this acceleration to be constant in the near future. A time parameter (t _p ) used for this must be chosen carefully and depends, for example, on the current one

Speed specified. The determination 330 of the relative movement to be expected in the form of the expected speed (v _p ) is carried out, for example, using the following

Formula.

For the system described here, an obvious presumption for the future is defined from the observation of the past.

If all of the above stability criteria are valid for a certain time at the same time, this is a good indicator for the near future. Since also for less

If a higher stability of the situation is assumed at speeds, this time criterion is interpreted based on the speed. Since, when the traffic jam pilot is activated, the speed of the automated vehicle 100 depends on the

Speed of the at least one further vehicle 210, only the expected speed of the at least one further vehicle 210

considered.

In a further embodiment, a plurality of preceding vehicles 210 are taken into account. For example, the environment sensor system in the form of at least one radar sensor can reliably detect and determine a plurality of vehicles 210 driving in front. Furthermore, additional criteria can be used, for example, to ensure that, for example, a traffic jam pilot is executed in situations that are obviously not to be assessed as traffic jam. These are, for example, the following criteria:

• Exclusion of slow-moving trucks due to constant:

Trucks generally drive at a setting speed of at least 80 km / h, but they slow down significantly due to performance (for example, from a gradient of 2%). In this case, for example, the at least one additional vehicle 210 can now be classified as a truck and a traffic jam situation can be excluded if a significantly increasing topology is additionally detected using the environment sensor system. Such a topology is identified, for example, by means of a digital map, which is encompassed by the automated vehicle 100, and a position determination of the automated vehicle 100 (for example by means of a navigation device and / or by means of a further method)

Positioning).

• Viewing traffic on adjacent lanes:

Furthermore, the traffic flow of adjacent lanes can be taken into account, for example, by means of the environment sensors. If, for example, traffic flows on the direct side lanes at a significantly higher speed, this significantly reduces the probability that the traffic in your own lane will continue to drive slowly. As a further criterion for determining a traffic jam situation, it can therefore be defined, for example, that the traffic flow of the secondary lanes does not exceed a predetermined speed value.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of the method 300 according to the invention.

The method 300 starts in step 301.

In step 310, at least one further vehicle 210 is detected in an environment 200 of the automated vehicle 100, which is located in front of the automated vehicle 100 in the direction of travel. In step 320, a current relative movement of the at least one other

Vehicle 210 is determined depending on a movement of the automated vehicle 100. In step 330, an expected relative movement of the at least one further vehicle 210 is determined, depending on the current relative movement. In a

Embodiment follows step 335; in another embodiment, step 340 follows.

In step 335, a traffic jam situation is determined depending on the relative movement to be expected.

In step 340, the automated vehicle 100 is operated depending on the relative movement to be expected. The method 300 ends in step 350.

Claims

Expectations

1. Method (300) for operating (340) an automated vehicle (100)

full:

Detecting (310) at least one further vehicle (210) in an environment (200) of the automated vehicle (100), which is located in front of the automated vehicle (100) in the direction of travel;

Determining (320) a current relative movement of the at least one further vehicle (210), depending on a movement of the automated vehicle (100);

Determining (330) an expected relative movement of the at least one further vehicle (210), depending on the current relative movement; and operating (340) the automated vehicle (100) depending on the relative movement to be expected.

2. The method (300) according to claim 1, characterized in that the detection (310) of the at least one further vehicle (210) takes place by means of an environment sensor system (101) of the automated vehicle.

3. The method (300) according to claim 1, characterized in that the current

Relative movement comprises a speed of the at least one further vehicle (210) and the relative movement to be expected is an expected one

Includes speed and / or an expected speed range and / or a change in speed.

4. The method (300) according to claim 1, characterized in that the method comprises a step of determining (335) a traffic jam situation, depending on the relative movement to be expected.

5. The method (300) according to claim 4, characterized in that the operation (340) of the automated vehicle (100) comprises executing a traffic jam pilot.

6. The method (300) according to claim 1, characterized in that the environment (200) comprises a plurality of lanes (202) in a direction of travel of a traffic route (201).

7. The device (1 10), in particular a computing unit, which is set up to carry out all steps of the method (300) according to one of claims 1 to 6.

8. Computer program, comprising commands that are required in the execution of the

Computer program cause a computer to execute a method (300) according to one of claims 1 to 6.

9. Machine-readable storage medium on which the computer program according

Claim 8 is saved.