Apparatus and method transitioning between driving states during navigation for highly automated vechicle

• US 9,581,460 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2016
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Delp, Michael J., McNew, John-Michael, Ebe, Kazutoshi, Prokhorov, Danil V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stroud, James E
• Application Number:
  US15/083,648
• Time in Patent Office: 336 Days
• Field of Search: 701/428
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/08 Interaction between the driver and the control system
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3605 Destination input or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A navigation apparatus for an autonomous vehicle includes circuitry configured to receive at least one route between a start location and a destination, display the at least one route on a first screen that allows selection of a first set of routes from the at least one route, receive a plurality of characteristics corresponding to each of the at least one route. Each characteristic of the plurality of characteristics is associated with a measure and a longest block within which each characteristic can be performed continuously. The circuitry further configured to divide a route of the at least one route to generate a plurality of segments based on the plurality of characteristics, and display the first set of routes, the plurality of characteristics corresponding to the first set of routes, the measure and the longest block corresponding to the plurality of characteristics on a second screen.

Claims

1. A navigation apparatus for an autonomous vehicle comprising:

circuitry configured to

receive, via a network, at least one route between a start location and a destination,

display the at least one route on a first screen that allows selection of a first set of routes from the at least one route,

receive, via the network, a plurality of characteristics for each of the at least one route, each characteristic of the plurality of characteristics is associated with a measure and a longest block within which each characteristic can be performed continuously,

divide a route of the at least one route to generate a plurality of segments based on the plurality of characteristics, a first segment is highlighted with a first identifier corresponding to a first characteristic of the plurality of characteristics and a second segment is highlighted with a second identifier corresponding to a second characteristic of the plurality of characteristics,

display the first set of routes, the plurality of characteristics for the first set of routes, the measure, and the longest block corresponding to the plurality of characteristics on a second screen, and

display a real-time route selected from the first set of routes on a third screen.

2. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of characteristics include a travel time, a travel distance, a hands free state, an eyes-off-road state, a sleeping state, a reclining state, a seat forward state, a manual state, a safety factor and a fuel economy factor.

3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one route displayed on the first screen includes a summary of each routes of the at least one route.

4. The navigation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the summary is based on at least one measure of the plurality of characteristic.

5. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first identifier or the second identifier of the plurality of segments are based on a color-coding scheme to identify the first segment or the second segment.

6. The navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a first color identifies the first segment having the first characteristic and a second color identifies the second segment having the second characteristic.

7. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measure is at least one of a time and a distance.

8. The navigation apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the circuitry is further configured to display at least one transition point on the real-time route, wherein each transition point corresponds to a start of a segment of the plurality of segments associated with the real-time route.

9. The navigation apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the number of transition points is substantially equal to the number of segments in the plurality of segments corresponding to the real-time route.

10. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to display a transition message at the transition point on the real-time route, the transition point corresponds to start of a segment of the plurality of segments corresponding to the real-time route.

11. The navigation apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the transition message is associated with an appended message, wherein the appended message includes the plurality of characteristics ordered based on the measure of each of the plurality of characteristics.

12. A method for navigation of an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, via a network, at least one route between a start location and a destination;

displaying, using processing circuitry, the at least one route on a first screen that allows selection of a first set of routes from the at least one route;

receiving, via the network, a plurality of characteristics for each of the at least one route, each characteristic of the plurality of characteristics is associated with a measure and a longest block within which each characteristic can be performed continuously,

dividing, using the processing circuitry, a route of the at least one route to generate a plurality of segments based on the plurality of characteristics, a first segment is highlighted with a first identifier corresponding to a first characteristic of the plurality of characteristics and a second segment is highlighted with a second identifier corresponding to a second characteristic of the plurality of characteristics;

displaying, using the processing circuitry, the first set of routes, the plurality of characteristics for the first set of routes, the measure and the longest block corresponding to the plurality of characteristics on a second screen; and

displaying, using the processing circuitry, a real-time route selected from the first set of routes on a third screen.

13. The method according to claim 12, further displaying, using the processing circuitry, displaying at least one transition point on the real-time route, a transition point corresponds to start of a segment of the plurality of segments associated with the real-time route.

14. The method according to claim 13, further displaying, using the processing circuitry, a transition message at the transition point on the real-time route, the transition point corresponds to start of a segment of the plurality of segments corresponding to the real-time route.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the transition message is associated with an appended message, where the appended message includes the plurality of characteristics ordered based on the measure of each of the plurality of characteristics.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method for navigation of an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, via a network, at least one route between a start location and a destination;

displaying the at least one route on a first screen that allows selection of a first set of routes from the at least one route;

receiving, via the network, a plurality of characteristics for each of the at least one route, each characteristic of the plurality of characteristics is associated with a measure and a longest block within which each characteristic can be performed continuously;

dividing a route of the at least one route to generate a plurality of segments based on the plurality of characteristics, a first segment is highlighted with a first identifier corresponding to a first characteristic of the plurality of characteristics and a second segment is highlighted with a second identifier corresponding to a second characteristic of the plurality of characteristics;

displaying the first set of routes, the plurality of characteristics for the first set of routes, the measure and the longest block corresponding to the plurality of characteristics on a second screen; and

displaying a real-time route selected from the first set of routes on a third screen.