Emergency evacuation using autonomous driving

• US 10,241,511 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2016
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Regmi, Sagar Kumar, Athavale, Shounak, Carpenter, Owen, Marx, Kevin, Kanna, Srilaxmi, Xu, Candice, Kannappa, Meiyappan
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huynh, Luat T
• Application Number:
  US15/342,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20180120837A1
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 701 27, 340436, 340902-905
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/8006 for monitoring and displaying scenes of vehicle interior, e.g. for monitoring passengers or cargo
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/21 Voice
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/215 Selection or confirmation of options
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 : External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 : Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/007 : Emergency override Handing over between remote control and on-board control or handing over between remote control arrangements G05D1/227

Abstract

Methods and systems for detecting a medical emergency related to the driver of a vehicle are described. Various data, such as in-situ biophysical data of the driver, a medical history of the driver, and in-situ motion data of the vehicle, are employed to determine a possible medical emergency. In an event that a medical emergency is detected, the system determines the severity of the emergency and takes appropriate control of the vehicle. If the medical emergency is not life-threatening, the system may drive the vehicle to a safe area, park the vehicle, and then request help from emergency service providers (e.g., ambulance and police). If the medical emergency is severe (e.g., life-threatening), the system may transition the vehicle to an EMS (Emergency Medical Service)-privileged vehicle and autonomously drive the vehicle to an emergency service provider.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, wellness data of a driver driving a vehicle in traffic;

determining, by the processor, an emergency severity based on the wellness data;

determining, by the processor, an evacuation plan based on the emergency severity and an autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle; and

executing, by the processor, the evacuation plan such that the vehicle and the driver are evacuated from the traffic with autonomous driving,

wherein;

the evacuation plan comprises a set of autonomous-driving modes allowed by the autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle, each of the autonomous-driving modes having a respectively different autonomous-driving level, the set of autonomous-driving modes comprising a highest autonomous-driving mode having a highest autonomous-driving level among the set of autonomous-driving modes,

in an event that the emergency severity is determined to be life-threatening, the execution of the evacuation plan comprises attempting to execute the set of autonomous-driving modes in a descending order of the autonomous-driving levels until one of the set of autonomous-driving modes is executed successfully, and

in an event that the emergency severity is determined to be less than life-threatening, the execution of the evacuation plan comprises attempting to execute at least a subset of the autonomous-driving modes in a descending order of the autonomous-driving levels until one of the subset of the autonomous-driving modes is executed successfully.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the receiving of the wellness data of the driver comprises receiving the wellness data from a set of sensors disposed in or on the vehicle, or worn by the driver,

the set of sensors comprises one or more of a heart rate sensor, a blood pressure sensor, a thermometer, a respiratory rate monitor, a video camera, and an infrared image sensor, and

the wellness data comprises a set of biophysical data comprising one or more of a heart rate reading, a blood pressure reading, a body temperature reading, a respiration reading, a body movement, an eye movement, and a facial distortion.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the wellness data further comprises a medical history, a set of emergency-triggering thresholds, or both, associated with the driver, and

the determining of the emergency severity comprises comparing the set of biophysical data to the medical history or the set of emergency-triggering thresholds.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, motion data of the vehicle,

wherein the determining of the emergency severity further comprises determining the emergency severity based on the motion data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a human input from an occupant of the vehicle,

wherein the determining of the emergency severity further comprises determining the emergency severity based on the human input.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle is a high classification, and wherein the highest autonomous-driving mode allowed by the high classification comprises driving the vehicle autonomously to an emergency room, a hospital, an ambulance, or an emergency medical service (EMS) vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the highest autonomous-driving mode allowed by the high classification further comprises at least one of the following:

acquiring an EMS privilege for the vehicle and driving the vehicle autonomously as an EMS-privileged vehicle; and

acquiring a platooning escort and driving the vehicle autonomously with the platooning escort.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle is a middle classification, and wherein the highest autonomous-driving mode allowed by the middle classification comprises driving the vehicle autonomously to a safe location in a vicinity of the vehicle, the safe location comprising a side of a road, a shoulder of the road, or a parking lot by the road.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle is a low classification, and wherein the highest autonomous-driving mode allowed by the low classification comprises reducing a speed of the vehicle autonomously until the vehicle fully stops.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of the following:

turning on emergency lighting of the vehicle;

notifying an emergency service regarding a condition of the driver, the vehicle, or both;

requesting a crowd-sourced emergency response to other vehicles in a vicinity of the vehicle; and

continually monitoring the wellness data of the driver and transmitting the wellness data to an emergency service, a hospital, an ambulance, or a police department.

11. An emergency evacuation system implementable in a vehicle, comprising:

a memory configured to store one or more sets of instructions; and

a processor coupled to execute the one or more sets of instructions stored in the memory, the processor, upon executing the one or more sets of instructions, configured to perform operations comprising;

receiving wellness data of a driver;

receiving motion data of the vehicle;

determining an emergency severity based on the wellness data and the motion data;

determining an evacuation plan based on the emergency severity and an autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle; and

executing the evacuation plan such that the vehicle and the driver are evacuated from traffic with autonomous driving,

wherein;

the evacuation plan comprises a set of autonomous-driving modes allowed by the autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle, each of the autonomous-driving modes having a respectively different autonomous-driving level, the set of autonomous-driving modes comprising a highest autonomous-driving mode having a highest autonomous-driving level among the set of autonomous-driving modes,

in an event that the emergency severity is determined to be life-threatening, the execution of the evacuation plan comprises attempting to execute the set of autonomous-driving modes in a descending order of the autonomous-driving levels until one of the set of autonomous-driving modes is executed successfully, and

in an event that the emergency severity is determined to be less than life-threatening, the execution of the evacuation plan comprises attempting to execute at least a subset of the autonomous-driving modes in a descending order of the autonomous-driving levels until one of the subset of the autonomous-driving modes is executed successfully.

12. The emergency evacuation system of claim 11, further comprising:

a set of biophysical sensors disposed in or on the vehicle, or worn by the driver, the set of biophysical sensors comprising one or more of a heart rate sensor, a blood pressure sensor, a thermometer, a respiratory rate monitor, a video camera, and an infrared image sensor,

wherein the wellness data of the driver comprises a set of biophysical data comprising one or more of a heart rate reading, a blood pressure reading, a body temperature reading, a respiration reading, a body movement, an eye movement, and a facial distortion, and

wherein, in receiving the wellness data of the driver, the processor is configured to receive the wellness data from the set of biophysical sensors.

13. The emergency evacuation system of claim 12, wherein:

the wellness data further comprises a medical history, a set of emergency-triggering thresholds, or both, associated with the driver, and

in determining the emergency severity, the processor is configured to compare the set of biophysical data to the medical history or the set of emergency-triggering thresholds.

14. The emergency evacuation system of claim 11, further comprising:

a set of motion detectors disposed in or on the vehicle, the set of motion detectors comprising one or more of a speedometer, a global positioning device, a video camera, and a proximity sensor,

wherein the motion data comprises one or more of a speed of the vehicle, a moving direction of the vehicle, and a distance between the vehicle and a nearby object, and

wherein, in receiving the motion data of the vehicle, the processor is configured to receive the motion data from the set of motion detectors.

15. The emergency evacuation system of claim 11, further comprising:

a user interface configured to receive a human input from an occupant of the vehicle,

wherein, in determining the emergency severity, the processor is further configured to determine the emergency severity based on the human input.

16. The emergency evacuation system of claim 11, wherein:

in executing an autonomous-driving mode having a high autonomous-driving level, the processor is configured to drive the vehicle autonomously to an emergency room, a hospital, an ambulance, or an emergency medical service (EMS) vehicle.

17. The emergency evacuation system of claim 11, wherein:

in executing an autonomous-driving mode having a middle autonomous-driving level, the processor is configured to drive the vehicle autonomously to a safe location in a vicinity of the vehicle, the safe location comprising a side of a road, a shoulder of the road, or a parking lot by the road, and

in executing an autonomous-driving mode having a low autonomous-driving level, the processor is configured to reduce a speed of the vehicle autonomously until the vehicle fully stops.

18. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, wellness data of a driver driving a vehicle in traffic;

determining, by the processor, an emergency severity based on the wellness data;

determining, by the processor, an evacuation plan based on the emergency severity and an autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle; and

executing, by the processor, the evacuation plan such that the vehicle and the driver are evacuated from the traffic with autonomous driving,

wherein the evacuation plan comprises a set of autonomous-driving modes allowed by the autonomous-driving classification of the vehicle, each of the autonomous-driving modes having a respectively different autonomous-driving level, and

wherein the executing of the evacuation plan comprises attempting to execute the set of autonomous-driving modes in a descending order of the autonomous-driving levels until one of the set of autonomous-driving modes is executed successfully.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the receiving of the wellness data of the driver comprises receiving the wellness data from a set of sensors disposed in or on the vehicle, or worn by the driver,

the set of sensors comprises one or more of a heart rate sensor, a blood pressure sensor, a thermometer, a respiratory rate monitor, a video camera, and an infrared image sensor,

the wellness data comprises a set of biophysical data comprising one or more of a heart rate reading, a blood pressure reading, a body temperature reading, a respiration reading, a body movement, an eye movement, and a facial distortion

the wellness data further comprises a medical history, a set of emergency-triggering thresholds, or both, associated with the driver, and

the determining of the emergency severity comprises comparing the set of biophysical data to the medical history or the set of emergency-triggering thresholds.