Route generation using road lane line quality

• US 10,345,111 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2017
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Stephens, Brett, Mullen, Jonathan Thomas, Elwart, Shane
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US15/796,381
• Publication Number:
  US 20180051998A1
• Time in Patent Office: 620 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3407 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0116 from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096811 where the route is computed offboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality

Abstract

A method for routing a vehicle includes determining, based on roadway section information for two or more potential driving routes for a vehicle, a first route along which a driver assistance feature or an automated driving feature will not be available and a second route along which the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature will be available. The method further includes providing navigation instructions for the second route to a driver or control system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, based on roadway section information for two or more potential driving routes for a vehicle, a first route along which a driver assistance feature or an automated driving feature will not be available and a second route along which the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature will be available; and

providing navigation instructions for the second route to a driver or control system;

wherein the roadway section information comprises an indication of road lane line quality for the two or more potential driving routes.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the two or more potential driving routes based on a current location of a vehicle and a destination.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving the roadway section information for each of the two or more potential driving routes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein retrieving the roadway section information comprises retrieving from one or more of:

remote storage accessible over a network;

locally stored map data;

or

locally stored vehicle history data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway section information further comprises an indication of one or more of road curvature, steepness of the roadway, road bumpiness, driving infrastructure built into a roadway, road materials, traffic levels for a current time of day, or a likely presence of pedestrians.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of road lane line quality comprises an indication of lane marking geometry, an indication of lane marking type, or an indication of lane marking color.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature will not be available on the first route but will be available on the second route comprises determining based on whether an automated driver system or driver assistance system will be able to reliably detect lane markings having the road lane line quality.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature comprises a feature that provides lateral and longitudinal control of a vehicle with respect to a roadway.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature comprises one or more of collision avoidance or automated driving with little or no input from a human.

10. A system comprising:

a processor that is programmable to execute instructions stored in non-transitory computer readable storage media, the instructions comprising;

identifying two or more driving routes between a current location of a vehicle and a destination;

retrieving roadway section information for each of the two or more driving routes;

determining, based on the roadway section information for the two or more potential driving routes for the vehicle, a first route along which a driver assistance feature or an automated driving feature will not be available and a second route along which the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature will be available;

selecting the second route; and

providing navigation instructions for the second route to a driver or control system to follow the second route;

wherein the roadway section information comprises an indication of road lane line quality for the two or more potential driving routes.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the roadway section information is retrieved from one or more of:

remote storage accessible over a network;

locally stored map data;

or

locally stored vehicle history data.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the roadway section information further comprises an indication of one or more of road curvature, steepness of the roadway, road bumpiness, driving infrastructure built into a roadway, road materials, traffic levels for a current time of day, or a likely presence of pedestrians.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the indication of road lane line quality comprises an indication of lane marking geometry, an indication of lane marking type, or an indication of lane marking color;

and

wherein determining that the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature will not be available on the first route but will be available on the second route comprises determining based on whether an automated driver system or driver assistance system will be able to reliably detect lane markings having the road lane line quality.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature comprises one or more of:

a feature that provides lateral and longitudinal control of a vehicle with respect to a roadway;

or

collision avoidance or automated driving with little or no input from a human.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising one or more sensing systems, wherein the system gathers and stores roadway section information during driving for later retrieval using the one or more sensing systems, wherein the system stores the roadway section information in local storage or uploads to a remote storage location via a wireless network.

16. Non-transitory computer readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to:

determine, based on roadway section information for two or more potential driving routes for a vehicle, a first route along which a driver assistance feature or an automated driving feature will not be available and a second route along which the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature will be available; and

provide navigation instructions for the second route to a driver or control system;

wherein the roadway section information comprises an indication of road lane line quality for the two or more potential driving routes.

17. The computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the roadway section information further comprises an indication of one or more of road curvature, steepness of the roadway, road bumpiness, driving infrastructure built into a roadway, road materials, traffic levels for a current time of day, or a likely presence of pedestrians.

18. The computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the indication of road lane line quality comprises an indication of lane marking geometry, an indication of lane marking type, or an indication of lane marking color;

and

wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to determine that the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature will not be available on the first route but will be available on the second route based on whether an automated driver system or driver assistance system will be able to reliably detect lane markings having the road lane line quality.

19. The computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the driver assistance feature or the automated driving feature comprises one or more of:

a feature that provides lateral and longitudinal control of a vehicle with respect to a roadway;

or

collision avoidance or automated driving with little or no input from a human.

20. The computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to retrieve the roadway section information from one or more of:

remote storage accessible over a network;

locally stored map data;

or

locally stored vehicle history data.