Method and apparatus for evaluating pedestrian collision risks and determining driver warning levels

• US 10,363,944 B1
• Filed: 02/14/2018
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Yu, Bo, Bordo, Robert A., Vijaya Kumar, Vivek, Krishnan, Hariharan
• Primary Examiner(s): Bousono, Orlando
• Application Number:
  US15/896,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20190248381A1
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/4029 Pedestrians
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/0953 the prediction being responsive to vehicle dynamic parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/0956 the prediction being responsive to traffic or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18154 Approaching an intersection
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0116 from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/162 event-triggered
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

Technical solutions are described for generating a pedestrian detection warning in a vehicle. An example method includes constructing, by a vehicle controller, a pedestrian zone based on pedestrian information that is received from a traffic controller. The method further includes computing, by the vehicle controller, a vehicle trajectory that predicts a path for the vehicle. The method further includes determining, by the vehicle controller, a minimal distance between the pedestrian zone and the vehicle trajectory. The method further includes predicting, by the vehicle controller, a time to collision by computing a time for the vehicle to reach a location corresponding to the minimal distance along the vehicle trajectory. The method further includes in response to the time to collision being below a threshold, generating, by the vehicle controller, a warning for an operator of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method to generate a pedestrian detection warning in a vehicle, the method comprising:

constructing, by a vehicle controller, a pedestrian zone based on pedestrian information that is received from a traffic controller external to the vehicle;

computing, by the vehicle controller, a vehicle trajectory that predicts a path for the vehicle;

determining, by the vehicle controller, a minimal distance between the pedestrian zone and the vehicle trajectory;

predicting, by the vehicle controller, a time to collision by computing a time for the vehicle to reach a location corresponding to the minimal distance along the vehicle trajectory;

computing a time-decay risk as;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pedestrian information comprises a trigger time corresponding to a push button associated with a pedestrian light.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pedestrian information further comprises a pedestrian location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle trajectory is computed based on vehicle information that comprises at least one of a vehicle speed, a vehicle location, and a vehicle yaw rate.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence-value is computed as CV=CV+c, where c is a predetermined value, if a pedestrian is observed in the pedestrian zone;

and

as CV_t2=CV_t1+ƒ

(t2−

t1) wherein CV_t2 is the confidence-value at time t2 if there is no updated pedestrian information since time t1, and wherein the function ƒ

is a monotonically decreasing function.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the warning further comprises:

selecting a warning level based on a vehicle status, an environmental visibility, and an intersection familiarity.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the vehicle status comprises:

computing

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the environmental visibility is determined based on a brightness value in vicinity of the vehicle, and based on whether a wiper of the vehicle is being used.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the intersection familiarity is computed as

10. A system for pedestrian warning in a vehicle, the system comprising:

a traffic controller external to the vehicle; and

a vehicle controller receiving pedestrian information from the traffic controller external to the vehicle, the vehicle controller configured to generate a pedestrian detection warning based on evaluating the pedestrian information, the generation of the pedestrian detection warning comprising;

constructing a pedestrian zone based on pedestrian information that is received from the traffic controller external to the vehicle;

computing a vehicle trajectory that predicts a path for the vehicle;

determining a minimal distance between the pedestrian zone and the vehicle trajectory;

predicting a time to collision by computing a time for the vehicle to reach a location corresponding to the minimal distance along the vehicle trajectory; and

in response to the time to collision being below a threshold, generating a warning for an operator of the vehicle,

wherein the vehicle controller is further configured to compute a time-decay risk as;

11. The system of claim 10, wherein generating the warning further comprises selecting a warning level based on a vehicle status, an environmental visibility, and an intersection familiarity.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the pedestrian information comprises a trigger time corresponding to a push button associated with a pedestrian light.

13. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having one or more computer executable instructions stored thereon that when executed by a vehicle controller cause the vehicle controller to generate a pedestrian detection warning for a vehicle, the generation of the pedestrian detection warning comprising:

constructing a pedestrian zone based on pedestrian information that is received from a traffic controller external to the vehicle;

computing a vehicle trajectory that predicts a path for the vehicle;

determining a minimal distance between the pedestrian zone and the vehicle trajectory;

predicting a time to collision by computing a time for the vehicle to reach a location corresponding to the minimal distance along the vehicle trajectory; and

in response to the time to collision being below a threshold, generating a warning for an operator of the vehicle,

wherein the vehicle controller further computes a time-decay risk as;

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the pedestrian information comprises a trigger time corresponding to a push button associated with a pedestrian light.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein generating the warning further comprises selecting a warning level based on a vehicle status, wherein determining the vehicle status comprises:

computing

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein generating the warning further comprises selecting a warning level based on an environmental visibility, the environmental visibility is determined based on a brightness value in vicinity of the vehicle, and based on whether a wiper of the vehicle is being used.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein generating the warning further comprises selecting a warning level based on an intersection familiarity, the intersection familiarity is computed as