Action planning device having a trajectory generation and determination unit that prevents entry into a failure occurrence range

• US 10,725,474 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2019
• Issued: 07/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Astemo Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Otsuka, Satoshi, Matsumoto, Noritaka, Sakurai, Kouhei, Tanimichi, Taisetsu
• Primary Examiner(s): Goldman, Richard A
• Application Number:
  US16/445,869
• Publication Number:
  US 20190369624A1
• Time in Patent Office: 405 Days
• Field of Search: 701 25, 701 23, 701 314, 701 70, 701 2, 701 36, 701 41, 701 96, 701 292, 701 93
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/26 the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/5035 electronic displays
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/005 automatically actuated
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0231 Circuits relating to the driving or the functioning of the vehicle monitoring tyres B60C23/00; indicating overspeed B60K31/00; for dash boards B60K37/00, B60Q3/10; for indicating emergencies B60Q1/52; brake control systems B60T; registering or indicating the working of vehicles G07C5/00; measuring distance G01C, e.g. combinations of speed and distance G01C23/00; engine indicators G01L; measuring speed or acceleration G01P
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/10 Path keeping cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18163 Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/02 Ensuring safety in case of control system failures, e.g. by diagnosing, circumventing or fixing failures
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/023 Avoiding failures by using redundant parts
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0214 in accordance with safety or protection criteria, e.g. avoiding hazardous areas monitoring the location of vehicles within a certain area, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas, in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/13
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

Vehicle systems that implement action planning for a vehicle have had difficulty in maintaining safety in the event of a failure in a recognition device since these systems generate trajectories and control the vehicle on the basis of outside-world information recognized by recognition devices. The present invention was conceived in light of the aforementioned situation and addresses the problem of maintaining safety even in the event of a failure in a recognition device of a vehicle system. This problem can be solved by an action planning device having a failure detection unit for detecting a failure in an outside-world recognition unit and a trajectory generation/determination unit for executing an action on the occurrence of a failure on the basis of outside-world information outputted by the outside-world recognition unit, wherein the trajectory generation/determination unit takes an action for coping with the failure on the basis of failure information from the failure detection unit.

Claims

1. An action planning device, comprising:

a failure detection unit that is configured to detect an occurrence of a failure in outside-world recognition units, and issue a notification;

an integration recognition unit that is configured to integrate outside-world recognition information output from the outside-world recognition units, and output integration recognition information; and

a trajectory generation/determination unit that is configured to send, to a drive unit, a control instruction to execute an action on the occurrence of the failure, on the basis of the integration recognition information output by the integration recognition unit, wherein

the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to send, to the drive unit, the control instruction to take an action that addresses the failure, on the basis of the notification of the failure detection unit,

the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to generate a vehicular trajectory to avoid a dynamic object from entering a failure occurrence range, in which recognition of one of the outside-world recognition units is disabled.

2. The action planning device according to claim 1, wherein the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to generate the vehicular trajectory that addresses the failure in outside-world recognition units so as to enter a safe state based on past outside-world recognition information in the failure occurrence range which the failure detection unit issued the notification.

3. The action planning device according to claim 1, wherein the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to determine a failure occurrence time, and is configured to discard outside-world recognition information in the failure occurrence range which the failure detection unit recognized after the failure occurrence time.

4. The action planning device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a notification unit that is configured to output information regarding the failure to the exterior of a vehicle.

5. The action planning device according to claim 1, wherein the integration recognition unit is configured to predict that the dynamic object existing in a recognition range of the outside-world recognition units in which the failure has occurred will perform an action at a higher risk than the case where the outside-world recognition units are not in failure.

6. The action planning device according to claim 1, wherein the integration recognition unit in which a failure does not occur outputs an existence probability of the outside-world recognition information in the same area as the failure occurrence range.

7. The action planning device according to claim 1, wherein the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to perform, for maintaining a safe state in a middle step of a traffic lane change, at least one action of

executing an operation to maintain the width direction position in a traffic lane at which a traffic lane change operation has stopped, (ii) when an own vehicle is over two traffic lanes, moving the vehicle into the lane having the larger inclusion ration of the vehicle, (iii) measuring a distance from the own vehicle to each following vehicle when there are following vehicles in both the left and right neighboring traffic lanes, and moving the own vehicle to a position closer to the traffic lane having the greater of the two distances.

8. The action planning device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output unit that is configured to notify a user of a failure occurrence state.

9. An action planning device, comprising:

a failure detection unit that is configured to detect an occurrence of a failure in outside-world recognition units, and issue a notification;

an integration recognition unit that is configured to integrate outside-world recognition information output from the outside-world recognition units, and output integration recognition information; and

a trajectory generation/determination unit that is configured to send, to a drive unit, a control instruction to execute an action on the occurrence of the failure, on the basis of the integration recognition information output by the integration recognition unit, wherein

the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to send, to the drive unit, the control instruction to take an action that addresses the failure, on the basis of the notification of the failure detection unit,

the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to perform, for maintaining a safe state in a middle step of a traffic lane change, at least one action of

(i) executing an operation to maintain the width direction position in a traffic lane at which a traffic lane change operation has stopped, (ii) when an own vehicle is over two traffic lanes, moving the vehicle into the lane having the larger inclusion ration of the vehicle, (iii) measuring a distance from the own vehicle to each following vehicle when there are following vehicles in both the left and right neighboring traffic lanes, and moving the own vehicle to a position closer to the traffic lane having the greater of the two distances.

10. The action planning device according to claim 9, wherein the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to generate a vehicular trajectory that addresses the failure in outside-world recognition units so as to enter a safe state based on past outside-world recognition information in the failure occurrence range which the failure detection unit issued the notification.

11. The action planning device according to claim 9, wherein the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to determine a failure occurrence time, and is configured to discard outside-world recognition information in the failure occurrence range which the failure detection unit recognized after the failure occurrence time.

12. The action planning device according to claim 9, further comprising:

a notification unit that is configured to output information regarding the failure to the exterior of a vehicle.

13. The action planning device according to claim 9, wherein the integration recognition unit is configured to predict that a dynamic object existing in a recognition range of the outside-world recognition units in which the failure has occurred will perform an action at a higher risk than the case where the outside-world recognition units are not in failure.

14. The action planning device according to claim 9, wherein the integration recognition unit is configured to superimpose an action prediction result in the failure occurrence range and an existence probability of the outside-world recognition information in the same area as the failure occurrence range output from a recognition device in which a failure does not occur.

15. The action planning device according to claim 9, wherein the trajectory generation/determination unit is configured to generate a vehicular trajectory to avoid a dynamic object from entering a failure occurrence range.

16. The action planning device according to claim 9, further comprising:

an output unit that is configured to notify a user of a failure occurrence state.