Responsibilities and agreement acceptance for vehicle platooning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10739787-B2
Application number	US-201815870246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2018
Priority date	Jan 12, 2018
Publication date	Aug 11, 2020
Grant date	Aug 11, 2020

Abstract

The systems and methods described herein generally relate to semi-autonomous driving in a vehicular platoon. The lead vehicle initiates the platoon and identifies one or more trailing vehicle positions. Formation information is transmitted to at least one platoon-capable vehicle. A request for joining the platoon is received from the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the request including acceptance of an agreement from the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the agreement including lead vehicle responsibilities and trailing vehicle responsibilities. The lead vehicle then controls the platoon based on the lead vehicle responsibilities and delegates control based on the trailing vehicle responsibilities.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A platoon coordination system for organizing multiple vehicle control, comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory communicably coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:
initiate a platoon by identifying one or more trailing vehicle positions;
transmit formation information for joining the platoon to at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the formation information comprising at least one lead vehicle responsibility to the platoon and at least one trailing vehicle responsibility delegated to the at least one platoon-capable vehicle;
receive a request for joining the platoon from the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the request including acceptance of an agreement from the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the agreement comprising the at least one lead vehicle responsibility and the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility;
control at least a portion of the platoon based on the at least one lead vehicle responsibility; and
delegate control of the platoon-capable vehicle based on the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility.

2. The platoon coordination system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one platoon-capable vehicle moves into one of the one or more trailing vehicle positions using the formation information.

3. The platoon coordination system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one lead vehicle responsibility to the platoon and the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility are mutually exclusive.

4. The platoon coordination system of claim 1 , wherein the formation information further comprises guidance for entering and exiting the platoon.

5. The platoon coordination system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility includes one or more inter-platoon responsibilities that are established between two or more platoon-capable vehicles while interacting with the platoon.

6. The platoon coordination system of claim 1 , wherein the memory stores further instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:
control one or more autonomous systems of the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, wherein the control does not include the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility.

7. The platoon coordination system of claim 1 , wherein the acceptance of the agreement occurs through a computing device outside of the platoon-capable vehicle.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for organizing multiple vehicle control and storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:
initiate a platoon by identifying one or more trailing vehicle positions;
transmit formation information for joining the platoon to at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the formation information comprising at least one lead vehicle responsibility to the platoon and at least one trailing vehicle responsibility delegated to the at least one platoon-capable vehicle;
receive a request for joining the platoon from the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the request including acceptance of an agreement from the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the agreement comprising the at least one lead vehicle responsibility and the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility;
control at least a portion of the platoon based on the at least one lead vehicle responsibility; and
delegate control of the platoon-capable vehicle based on the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the at least one platoon-capable vehicle moves into one of the one or more trailing vehicle positions using the formation information.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the at least one lead vehicle responsibility to the platoon and the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility are not overlapping.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the formation information further comprises guidance for entering and exiting the platoon.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility includes one or more inter-platoon responsibilities, inter-platoon responsibilities being responsibilities established between two or more platoon-capable vehicles while interacting with the platoon.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions to control one or more autonomous systems of the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, wherein the control does not include the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the acceptance of the agreement occurs through a computing device outside of the platoon-capable vehicle.

15. A method for organizing multiple vehicle control, comprising:
initiating, using one or more processors, a platoon by identifying one or more trailing vehicle positions;
transmitting, using one or more processors, formation information for joining the platoon to at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the formation information comprising at least one lead vehicle responsibility to the platoon and at least one trailing vehicle responsibility delegated to the at least one platoon-capable vehicle;
receiving, using one or more processors, a request for joining the platoon from the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the request including acceptance of an agreement from the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, the agreement comprising the at least one lead vehicle responsibility and the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility;
controlling, using one or more processors, the platoon based on the at least one lead vehicle responsibility; and
delegating, using one or more processors, control of the platoon-capable vehicle based on the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least one lead vehicle responsibility to the platoon and the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility are not overlapping.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the formation information further comprises guidance for entering and exiting the platoon.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility includes one or more inter-platoon responsibilities, the one or more inter-platoon responsibilities being responsibilities established between two or more platoon-capable vehicles while interacting with the platoon.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising controlling one or more autonomous systems of the at least one platoon-capable vehicle, wherein the control does not include the at least one trailing vehicle responsibility.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the acceptance of the agreement occurs through a computing device outside of the platoon-capable vehicle.

Assignees

• Toyota Eng & Mfg North America

Inventors

• Vladimerou Vladimeros
• Das Colin E

Classifications

• G08G1/202

  Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching · CPC title

• G08G1/22 Primary

  Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles · CPC title

• G08G1/123

  indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; {Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, trams}(transmission of navigation instructions to vehicles G08G1/0968) · CPC title

• G05D1/0293 Primary

  Convoy travelling · CPC title

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title