Autonomous Driving Vehicle and Autonomous Driving System

• US 20160282874A1
• Filed: 11/08/2013
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: KURATA, Kenichirou, MORIZANE, Hiroto, MATSUO, Shigeru
• Granted Patent: US 10,466,709 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/862 Combination of radar systems with sonar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/865 Combination of radar systems with lidar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2007/4975 of sensor obstruction by, e.g. dirt- or ice-coating, e.g. by reflection measurement on front-screen
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9318 Controlling the steering
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93185 Controlling the brakes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9323 Alternative operation using light waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93274 on the side of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4039 of sensor or antenna obstruction, e.g. dirt- or ice-coating
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4043 including means to prevent or remove the obstruction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/497 Means for monitoring or calibrating
• 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: G05D 1/0223 involving speed control of the vehicle vehicle fittings for automatically controlling, i.e. preventing speed from exceeding an arbitrarily established velocity or maintaining speed at a particular velocity, as selected by the vehicle operator B60K31/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0251 extracting 3D information from a plurality of images taken from different locations, e.g. stereo vision stereoscopic image analysis H04N13/00; depth recovery from images G06T7/593
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0257 using a radar radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0289 : with means for avoiding collisions between vehicles vehicle fittings for automatically controlling speed including means for detecting potential obstacles B60K31/0008; avoiding obstacles by action on the steering system B62D; radar, sonar, lidar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93

Abstract

In an autonomous driving system in which a plurality of autonomous driving vehicles drive under the control by occlusion control, such a situation is prevented that a vehicle is disabled to drive by a failure of an external world sensor for recognizing an obstacle and stops in an occlusion region thereby to obstruct advancement of overall succeeding vehicles to remarkably degrade the efficiency of the overall transportation work. In the autonomous driving system of the present invention, an autonomous driving vehicle which detects an obstacle or a driving road by a sensor and performs autonomous driving includes sensor state evaluation means configured to evaluate a state of performance degradation of the sensor, speed and steering angle control value setting means configured to provide limit values to the driving speed and the steering angle based on a state of performance degradation of the sensor, and movement obstacle evaluation means configured to evaluate an influence on movement of other vehicles when the vehicle stops at a position at present. When the sensor suffers from performance degradation, the vehicle stops after it drives within the set limit values to the speed and the steering angle to a point at which the vehicle does not obstruct movement of other vehicles.

Claims

1. An autonomous driving vehicle which autonomously drives with an external world recognition sensor, comprising:

map information storage means configured to store map information of a driving path of the vehicle therein;

sensor state evaluation means configured to evaluate a state of performance degradation of a sensor;

movement obstacle evaluation means configured to evaluate, from a position at present of the vehicle and the map information, an influence on movement of other vehicles when the vehicle stops at the position; and

speed limit value setting means configured to set a limit value to a speed when the vehicle drives in response to a result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means; and

wherein,

when the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means is within a first range, if a result of the evaluation of the movement obstacle evaluation means is without a second range, then a speed limit value is set based on the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means and then driving is continued within a range of the limit value.

2. The autonomous driving vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the speed limit value setting means performs control of a steering angle;

and,

when the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means is within the first range, if the result of the evaluation of the movement obstacle evaluation means is without the second range, a steering angle limit value is set based on the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means and then driving is continued within a range of the limit value.

3. The autonomous driving vehicle according to claim 1, wherein,

when the result of the evaluation of the movement obstacle evaluation means is within the second range, the vehicle is stopped.

4. The autonomous driving vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

a detection area of the sensor is divided into a plurality of divisional areas and a weight is set individually to the areas and an evaluation value based on dirt of the sensor or a degree of failure is calculated for each of the areas, and the result of the evaluation by the sensor state evaluation means is obtained using a value obtained by adding a value obtained by weighting corresponding to the area to the evaluation value.

5. The autonomous driving vehicle according to claim 2, wherein,

when the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means satisfies a predetermined condition, the vehicle moves to a destination which is outside an occlusion section using a value of the set limit value of the steering angle.

6. The autonomous driving vehicle according to claim 1, wherein,

when the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means in a state in which the result satisfies a predetermined condition, a notification of the state is issued to an external control center, and

route information to a destination transmitted from the control center is received.

7. An autonomous driving system for performing control by occlusion control to move a plurality of autonomous driving vehicles by a sensor, the vehicle comprising:

sensor state evaluation means configured to detect a state of performance degradation of the sensor;

rule storage means configured to store a rule which prescribes a motion to be performed by the vehicle based on a result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means; and

rule execution means configured to perform a motion in accordance with the rule in response to the result of the sensor state evaluation means;

the sensor state evaluation means, rule storage means and rule execution means being provided on the vehicle;

wherein

the vehicle or the control center includes;

map information storage means configured to store map information; and

occlusion section decision means configured to decide whether or not a position at present of the own vehicle is within an occlusion section based on positional information of the own vehicle; and

the rule of the rule storage means includes a motion for setting a limit value to a speed at least based on the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means such that, when the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means satisfies a predetermined condition, if the position at present of the own vehicle is within the occlusion section, the limit value to the speed set in the rule is set and the vehicle drives within the set speed range to the outside of the occlusion section.

8. The autonomous driving system according to claim 7, wherein

rule creation means configured to create the rule is provided in the control center;

and

the rule created by the rule creation means is transmitted from the control center to and utilized by an autonomous driving vehicle.

9. The autonomous driving system according to claim 7, wherein

a detection area of the sensor is divided into a plurality of divisional areas and a weight is set individually to the areas and an evaluation value based on dirt of the sensor or a degree of failure is calculated for each of the areas, and the result of the evaluation by the sensor state evaluation means is obtained using a value obtained by adding a value obtained by weighting corresponding to the area to the evaluation value.

10. The autonomous driving system according to claim 7, wherein,

when the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means satisfies a predetermined condition, a notification of the satisfaction is issued to the control center, and

the control center searches for a destination on the outside of the occlusion section and transmits route information to the destination to the vehicle.

11. The autonomous driving system according to claim 7, wherein,

when the result of the evaluation of the sensor state evaluation means satisfies a predetermined condition, the vehicle drives to a destination on the outside of the occlusion section using a value of a limit value to a steering angle set by the rule execution means.

12. The autonomous driving system according to claim 7, wherein,

when a destination is to be selected by the control center, a suitable place is selected from the map information and a section which is not the occlusion section is newly provided to update the map information and then route information to the destination in the section is transmitted to the vehicle.

13. The autonomous driving system according to claim 7, wherein

sensor state storage means configured to store a history of a value evaluated by the sensor state evaluation means at predetermined intervals is provided and a next delimitation time point is predicted based on route information transmitted from the control center at a predetermined timing;

an evaluation value at the delimitation time point is estimated from the history of the evaluated value;

when the estimated value exceeds a range set in advance, a maintenance request is transmitted to the control center; and

the control center transmits route information to a position at which maintenance can be performed to the vehicle.