US-12617432-B2 - Computer-implemented method for providing computing power from a computing unit of a vehicle, control unit and vehicle

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for providing computing power of a computing unit of a vehicle having an energy storage unit includes recording or acquiring operating information of the vehicle, determining status data based on the operating information of the vehicle, and providing computing power from the computing unit of the vehicle, based on the status data. A control unit and a vehicle are also provided.

Inventors

• Jörg BENDER
• Johannes Mantel
• Tobias Höche

Assignees

• ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20231130

Priority Date

20221130

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A computer-implemented method for providing computing power from a computing unit of a vehicle having an energy storage unit, the method comprising: recording or acquiring operating information of the vehicle related to at least a degree of automation of the vehicle; determining status data related to at least the degree of automation of the vehicle based on the operating information of the vehicle; and providing computing power from the computing unit of the vehicle to a cloud network to provide computing power for processing of one or more computing jobs based on the status data and the degree of automation of the vehicle.
2. 2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: providing the computing power of the computing unit dynamically based on continuously updated status data.
3. 3 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the operating information comprises a state of charge of the energy storage unit, a status of the energy storage unit, a characterization of stored energy, a vehicle speed, an automation level of the vehicle, a temperature of the computing unit, and/or a driving state of the vehicle.
4. 4 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the operating information comprises a characterization of stored energy, and wherein the characterization of the stored energy includes information about a CO 2 footprint of the stored energy.
5. 5 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: determining the status data additionally based on travel information, wherein the travel information comprises a planned route, a current position of the vehicle, and/or traffic information.
6. 6 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: determining the status data additionally based on environmental information, wherein the environmental information comprises an outside temperature, a weather condition, and/or a solar radiation level.
7. 7 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: determining the status data additionally based on a user command.
8. 8 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: determining the status data additionally based on connectivity information, wherein the connectivity information comprises information about an available data bandwidth and/or network information.
9. 9 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: determining the status data additionally based on prioritization commands, wherein the prioritization commands comprise information about safety-relevant functions of the vehicle.
10. 10 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: predicting computing power available in a future based on the status data and/or an expected status data.
11. 11 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: receiving at least one computing job via an existing network connection, which computing job can be processed with the computing power provided from the computing unit; and processing the at least one computing job by the computing unit of the vehicle in order to achieve at least one computation result.
12. 12 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: determining compensation information based on the computing power provided and/or a computation result; and outputting the compensation information.
13. 13 . A control unit for controlling provision of computing power of a vehicle, wherein the control unit is configured to: record or acquire operating information of the vehicle related to at least a degree of automation of the vehicle; determine status data related to at least the degree of automation of the vehicle based on the operating information of the vehicle; and provide computing power from a computing unit of the vehicle to a cloud network to provide computing power for processing of one or more computing jobs based on the status data and the degree of automation of the vehicle.
14. 14 . The control unit as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the control unit is configured to: provide the computing power of the computing unit dynamically based on continuously updated status data.
15. 15 . The control unit as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the operating information comprises a characterization of stored energy, and wherein the characterization of the stored energy includes information about a CO 2 footprint of the stored energy.
16. 16 . The control unit as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the control unit is configured to: determine the status data additionally based on travel information, wherein the travel information comprises a planned route, a current position of the vehicle, and/or traffic information.
17. 17 . The control unit as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the control unit is configured to: determine the status data additionally based on environmental information, wherein the environmental information comprises an outside temperature, a weather condition, and/or a solar radiation level.
18. 18 . The control unit as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the control unit is configured to: determine the status data additionally based on connectivity information, wherein the connectivity information comprises information about an available data bandwidth and/or network information.
19. 19 . The control unit as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the control unit is configured to: determine the status data additionally based on prioritization commands, wherein the prioritization commands comprise information about safety-relevant functions of the vehicle.
20. 20 . An at least partially autonomous vehicle comprising: the control unit as claimed in claim 13 .

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to German Application No. DE 10 2022 212 889.3, filed on Nov. 30, 2022, the entirety of which is hereby fully incorporated by reference herein. FIELD The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for providing computing power from a computing unit of a vehicle having an energy storage unit, and to a control unit for controlling provision of computing power of a vehicle, a set of power electronics for a vehicle, and a vehicle having an energy storage unit. BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY For vehicles such as passenger cars, trucks and other vehicles, built-in computing power has increased sharply in recent years. In particular, due to driving functions such as autonomous driving, considerable computing power is sometimes required, which must be held in store in the vehicles. However, the computing power required by the vehicle varies depending on the current driving situation. In other words, it can happen that considerable potential for computing power in a vehicle is unused over long usage periods. DE 10 2017 008 956 A1 shows a method for using a computing unit of an autonomously movable vehicle. In this method, during a vehicle charging process the computing power of the vehicle computing unit is made available to an external computer network. In this case, however, the computing power is provided only during a charging process and free computing capacity remains unused during operation of the vehicle. Therefore, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a method and a device in which the computing power of a vehicle can be used efficiently. This problem is solved with a computer-implemented method having the features disclosed herein, with a control unit having the features disclosed herein, and with a vehicle having the features disclosed herein. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-implemented method is provided for providing computing power from a computing unit of a vehicle having an energy storage unit, said method comprising: recording or acquiring operating information of the vehicle, determining status data based on the operating information of the vehicle, and providing computing power from the computing unit of the vehicle based on the status data. Compared to the known prior art, the present disclosure offers the advantage that the computing power can be provided not only when the vehicle is not in use, but also during operation (for example, driving) of the vehicle. Since during operation of the vehicle the computing unit is also required to ensure certain functions for the operation of the vehicle, the supplied computing power can be provided in accordance with status data. Thus, it is possible to guarantee both a) a safe operation of the vehicle and b) provision of unneeded computing power for external calculation processes, for example. This means that optimal utilization of the computing unit can be achieved not only while the vehicle is not in use. The status data may include information about the operating state of the vehicle, so that the computing power can be provided dynamically and individually adapted to the current status of the vehicle. This ensures efficient use of the computing power even during operation of the vehicle without impairing vehicle functions. The vehicle may be an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a hydrogen-powered vehicle or the like. In particular, the vehicle can be a passenger car or a truck. However, it is conceivable to apply the present disclosure to all vehicles that have a computing unit. The energy storage unit of the vehicle may be designed to be operated with a secondary energy source. In particular, the energy store may be an accumulator for storing electricity, a hydrogen tank for storing hydrogen, and the like. Furthermore, the vehicle may be designed to drive at least partially autonomously. In particular, it may be an autonomously operable vehicle. The vehicle can be assigned to one of the autonomy levels 1 to 5. In particular at levels 3 (automated driving), level 4 (fully automated driving) and level 5 (autonomous driving), very high demands are placed on the computing power of the computer unit of the vehicle. Preferably, the vehicle is assigned to one of levels 3 to 5. The operating information of the vehicle may be acquired vehicle-internally or recorded or acquired by external devices. The operating information of the vehicle can provide information about the current operating status of the vehicle. For example, the operating information can be recorded by a control unit that is connected to the vehicle systems via a CAN bus. In addition, sensors may be provided to record operating information. For example, operational information may be recorded from external devices whenever the vehicle interacts with other devices. For example, during a charging process, the charging station can determine and transmit operating informat