Redundancy for automated vehicle operations

• US 9,174,649 B1
• Filed: 06/02/2014
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Johri, Rajit, Brown, Andrew, Lauffer, Scott J., Elwart, Shane, Rhode, Douglas Scott, Miller, Alex Maurice, Pallett, Tobias John, Lockwood, John A., Yako, Sarra Awad
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUTLER, RODNEY ALLEN
• Application Number:
  US14/293,178
• Time in Patent Office: 519 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/12 for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/029 Adapting to failures or work around with other constraints, e.g. circumvention by avoiding use of failed parts
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/00 Arrangements for automatically controlling steering depending on driving conditions sensed and responded to, e.g. control circuits means for initiating a change in direction B62D1/00; steering valves B62D5/06; combined with means for inclining the vehicle body or wheels on bends B62D9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa

Abstract

A vehicle sub-system controller is configured to receive a first message and a second message, wherein the first message includes at least a command for the controller, and the second message includes at least a target value for the controller to achieve. A fault may be detected with respect to the first message; and an adjustment to the sub-system may be locally determined in the sub-system controller to achieve the target value.

Claims

1. A system, comprising a controller for a vehicle sub-system, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:

receive a first message and a second message, wherein the first message includes at least a command for the controller, and the second message includes at least a target value for the controller to achieve, wherein the target value is provided along with a series of values and a corresponding set of parameters according to which additional target values can be estimated, the parameters including at least one of a time traveled parameter and a distance traveled parameter;

detect a fault with respect to the first message; and

locally determine an adjustment to the sub-system to achieve the target value.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle sub-system is one of a steering sub-system, a braking sub-system, and a powertrain sub-system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the fault is at least one of a failure to receive the message, an error in the message, and a sending system fault.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the target value is one of a velocity, acceleration, a deceleration, a curvature, a wheel torque, an output shaft torque, an engine torque, and a steering wheel angle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the second message further includes a boundary value limiting a quantity to be attained by the sub-system during the adjustment.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a vehicle computer including a processor and a memory, the computer configured to send the first message and the second message to the controller.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the boundary value is one of a velocity, acceleration, a deceleration, and a curvature.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, in a vehicle sub-system controller, a first message and a second message, wherein the first message includes at least a command for the controller, and the second message includes at least a target value for the controller to achieve, wherein the target value is provided along with a series of values and a corresponding set of parameters according to which additional target values can be estimated, the parameters including at least one of a time traveled parameter and a distance traveled parameter;

detecting a fault with respect to the first message; and

locally determining an adjustment to the sub-system to achieve the target value.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the vehicle sub-system is one of a steering sub-system, a braking sub-system, and a powertrain sub-system.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the fault is at least one of a failure to receive the message, an error in the message, and a sending system fault.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the target value is one of a velocity, acceleration, a deceleration, a curvature, a wheel torque, an output shaft torque, an engine torque, and a steering wheel angle.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the second message further includes a boundary value limiting a quantity to be attained by the sub-system during the adjustment.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising sending the first message and the second message to the controller from a vehicle computer.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the boundary value is one of a velocity, acceleration, a deceleration, and a curvature.

15. A system, comprising a controller for a vehicle sub-system, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:

receive a first message and a second message, wherein the first message includes at least a command for the controller, and the second message includes at least two target values for the controller to achieve, wherein the second message further includes at least one of a time parameter and a distance parameter, and also coefficients for a function with sub-functions, each of the sub-functions corresponding to one of the target values as well as at least one of the parameters;

detect a fault with respect to the first message; and

locally determine an adjustment to the sub-system to achieve the target values by using the sub-functions.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle sub-system is one of a steering sub-system, a braking sub-system, and a powertrain sub-system, and the target value is one of a velocity, acceleration, a deceleration, a curvature, a wheel torque, an output shaft torque, an engine torque, and a steering wheel angle.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the fault is at least one of a failure to receive the message, an error in the message, and a sending system fault.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the second message further includes a boundary value limiting a quantity to be attained by the sub-system during the adjustment.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the boundary value is one of a velocity, acceleration, a deceleration, and a curvature.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving, in a vehicle sub-system controller, a first message and a second message, wherein the first message includes at least a command for the controller, and the second message includes at least two target values for the controller to achieve, wherein the second message further includes at least one of a time parameter and a distance parameter, and also coefficients for a function with sub-functions, each of the sub-functions corresponding to one of the target values as well as at least one of the parameters;

detecting a fault with respect to the first message; and

locally determining an adjustment to the sub-system to achieve the target values according to the sub-functions.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the vehicle sub-system is one of a steering sub-system, a braking sub-system, and a powertrain sub-system, and the target value is one of a velocity, acceleration, a deceleration, a curvature, a wheel torque, an output shaft torque, an engine torque, and a steering wheel angle.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the fault is at least one of a failure to receive the message, an error in the message, and a sending system fault.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the second message further includes a boundary value limiting a quantity to be attained by the sub-system during the adjustment.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the boundary value is one of a velocity, acceleration, a deceleration, and a curvature.