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US-12620308-B2 - Augmented path planning for automotive applications

US12620308B2US 12620308 B2US12620308 B2US 12620308B2US-12620308-B2

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for augmenting capabilities of an Automated Driving System (ADS) of a vehicle. The method includes locally processing, by means of a perception module of the ADS, sensor data obtained from one or more sensors of the vehicle in order to generate a local world-view of the ADS. The sensor data is associated with a time period and includes information about a surrounding environment of the vehicle during the time period. The method further includes generating a local candidate path to be executed by the ADS based on the generated local world-view of the ADS, and transmitting a first set of data to a remote system. The first set of data is associated with the time period and including information about the surrounding environment of the vehicle during the time period.

Inventors

  • Magnus GYLLENHAMMAR
  • Carl ZANDÉN
  • Majid KHORSAND VAKILZADEH

Assignees

  • ZENUITY AB

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20201126

Claims (15)

  1. 1 . A computer-implemented method for augmenting capabilities of an Automated Driving System (ADS) of a vehicle, the method comprising: locally processing, using a perception module of the ADS, sensor data obtained from one or more sensors of the vehicle in order to generate a local world-view of the ADS, wherein the sensor data is associated with a time period and comprises information about a surrounding environment of the vehicle during the time period; generating a local candidate path to be executed by the ADS based on the generated local world-view of the ADS; transmitting a first set of data to a remote system, the first set of data being associated with the time period and comprising information about the surrounding environment of the vehicle; receiving off-board processed data from the remote system, the off-board processed data being indicative of a supplementary candidate path to be executed by the ADS; selecting a path, from the local candidate path and the supplementary candidate path based on at least one constraint, for execution by the ADS; generating, at an output, a signal indicative of the selected path for execution; generating a back-up path based on the local world-view of the ADS; evaluating the selected path for execution against a set of predefined safety constraints; and in response to the selected path for execution fulfilling the set of predefined safety constraint, transmitting a first control signal so to execute the selected path for execution; and in response to the selected path for execution failing to fulfil the set of predefined safety constraints, transmitting a second control signal so to execute the generated back-up path, and generating a second feedback signal to the remote system, wherein the second feedback signal is indicative of the comparison of the selected path for execution against the set of predefined safety constraints.
  2. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitted first set of data comprises at least a subset of the sensor data obtained from one or more sensors of the vehicle.
  3. 3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the sensor data is raw sensor data.
  4. 4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first set of data comprises the locally processed sensor data.
  5. 5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first set of data comprises at least one of: object-level data originating from at least one sensor of the vehicle; fused object-level data from a plurality of data sources; or the local world-view of the ADS.
  6. 6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: generating, at an output, a first feedback signal for transmission to the remote system, wherein the first feedback signal is indicative of the selected candidate path.
  7. 7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitting of the first set of data comprises streaming, in real-time, the first set of data to the remote system.
  8. 8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first set of data is time-stamped.
  9. 9 . The method according to claim 8 , further comprising: evaluating the received off-board processed data against a latency threshold; and wherein the selection of the path from the local candidate path and the supplementary candidate path is only performed if the received off-board processed data doesn't exceed the latency threshold.
  10. 10 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein evaluating the received off-board processed data against a latency threshold comprises: evaluating time-stamps of the first set of data against the latency threshold in order to determine a validity of the supplementary candidate path.
  11. 11 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising: discarding the received off-board processed data if the received off-board processed data exceeds the latency threshold.
  12. 12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the off-board processed data is further indicative of a supplementary world-view of the ADS, the method further comprising: forming an augmented world-view of the ADS based on the generated local world-view and the supplementary world-view; and generating, at an output, a signal indicative of the augmented world-view of the ADS.
  13. 13 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by one or more processors of a vehicle control system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for performing the method according to claim 1 .
  14. 14 . An in-vehicle system for augmenting capabilities of an Automated Driving System (ADS) of a vehicle, the in-vehicle system comprising one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for performing the method according to claim 1 .
  15. 15 . A ground vehicle comprising: at least one sensor configured to monitor a surrounding environment of the vehicle; at least one communication device for transmitting/receiving wireless signals to/from a remote system via a communication network; and an in-vehicle system according to claim 14 .

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a 35 U.S.C § 371 national stage application for International Application No. PCT/EP2020/083535, entitled “AUGMENTED PATH PLANNING FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS”, filed on Nov. 26, 2020, the disclosures and contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to Automated Driving Systems (ADSs) of automotive vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and systems for augmenting capabilities of an Automated Driving System (ADS) of a vehicle. BACKGROUND During the last few years, the research and development activities related to autonomous vehicles has exploded in number and many different approaches are being explored. An increasing portion of modern vehicles have advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to increase vehicle safety and more generally road safety. ADAS—which for instance may be represented by adaptive cruise control, ACC, collision avoidance system, forward collision warning, etc.—are electronic systems that may aid a vehicle driver while driving. Today, there is ongoing research and development within a number of technical areas associated to both the ADAS and Autonomous Driving (AD) field. ADAS and AD will herein be referred to under the common term Automated Driving System (ADS) corresponding to all of the different levels of automation as for example defined by the SAE J3016 levels (0-5) of driving automation, and in particular for level 4 and 5. In a not too distant future, ADS solutions are expected to have found their way into a majority of the new cars being put on the market. An ADS may be construed as a complex combination of various components that can be defined as systems where perception, decision making, and operation of the vehicle are performed by electronics and machinery instead of a human driver, and as introduction of automation into road traffic. This includes handling of the vehicle, destination, as well as awareness of surroundings. While the automated system has control over the vehicle, it allows the human operator to leave all or at least some responsibilities to the system. An ADS commonly combines a variety of sensors to perceive the vehicle's surroundings, such as e.g. radar, LIDAR, sonar, camera, navigation system e.g. GPS, odometer and/or inertial measurement units (IMUS), upon which advanced control systems may interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, as well as obstacles, free-space areas, and/or relevant signage. A problem within the field of automated driving systems is the growing need of processing capability to construct a sufficiently rich representation of the surrounding environment of the vehicle and then plan accordingly. More specifically, the limitation invoked by the available hardware and power resources onboard the vehicle imposes direct limitations on (1) the amount of input data (e.g. raw sensor data) that can effectively be utilized, and (2) on the level of sophistication of the algorithms (including neural networks) responsible for the perception output as well as path planning. This in turn limits the number of extensions or new functionality that can be added to an existing platform which is already at its capability limit. There is accordingly a need in the art for new solutions for handling the growing amount of available data for building better awareness of the vehicle's surroundings and for improving the automated quality and precautionary decisions. As always, the improvement in performance and extension of functionality shall preferably be made without significant impact on the size, power consumption and cost of the on-board system or platform. SUMMARY It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for augmenting capabilities of an ADS of a vehicle, a computer-readable storage medium, a corresponding in-vehicle system, and a vehicle comprising such a system which alleviates all or at least some of the drawbacks associated with currently known systems. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a solution for handling the growing amount of available data for improving the automated quality and precautionary decisions of the ADS with minimal impact on size, power consumption and cost of the on-board system or platform. These and other objects are achieved by means of a method for augmenting capabilities of an ADS of a vehicle, a computer-readable storage medium, a corresponding in-vehicle system, and a vehicle comprising such a system as defined in the appended claims. The term exemplary is in the present context to be understood as serving as an instance, example or illustration. According a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for augmenting capabilities of an Automated Driving System (ADS) of a vehicle. The method comprises locally processing, by means of a perception modu