Method and system for guiding an autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10955856-B2
Application number	US-201816135083-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2018
Priority date	Oct 12, 2017
Publication date	Mar 23, 2021
Grant date	Mar 23, 2021

Abstract

A method and system for guiding a self-driving vehicle. The vehicle comprises an ultrasound-based proximity sensing system. The method comprises determining a location and an orientation of the vehicle in a predetermined coordinate system; in the vehicle, receiving a predetermined route from the traffic control unit; by a vehicle control unit, controlling the vehicle to travel along the predetermined route while estimating a vehicle travel path; receiving an ultrasound signal from a beacon having a known location in the predetermined coordinate system, wherein the ultrasound signal transmitted by the beacon uniquely identifies the beacon location; determining a relative position of the vehicle in relation to the beacon by means of ultrasound signals transmitted between the beacon and the vehicle; and determining a location of the vehicle in the predetermined coordinate system based on the determined relative position of the vehicle and the known location of the beacon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for guiding a self-driving vehicle:
the vehicle comprising an ultrasound-based proximity sensing system comprising a plurality of ultrasound sensors and a communication device for communication with a traffic control unit;
the method comprising:
determining a location and an orientation of the vehicle in a predetermined coordinate system;
in the vehicle, receiving a predetermined route from the traffic control unit;
by a vehicle control unit, controlling the vehicle to travel along the predetermined route while estimating a vehicle travel path;
receiving an ultrasound signal from a beacon having a known location in the predetermined coordinate system, wherein the ultrasound signal transmitted by the beacon uniquely identifies the beacon having the known location;
determining a relative position of the vehicle in relation to the beacon by means of ultrasound signals transmitted between the beacon and the vehicle;
determining a location of the vehicle in the predetermined coordinate system based on the determined relative position of the vehicle and the beacon having the known location; and
controlling the vehicle to act as a stationary ultrasound beacon for a second vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the beacon is a stationary vehicle comprising an ultrasound-based proximity sensing system.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising controlling a vehicle defined as a beacon to instead be defined as a vehicle in a traffic control system.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, in the vehicle, receiving a location of all beacons along the predetermined route from the traffic control unit.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the location of all beacons along the predetermined route is received when receiving the predetermined route.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, in the vehicle, receiving beacon location information from the beacon via an RF-communication channel.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein estimating a travel path comprises calculating a vehicle position using dead reckoning.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein estimating a travel path comprises detecting road indicators having known locations in the predetermined coordinate system.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the relative position of the vehicle in relation to the beacon is performed using a time of arrival model or a time difference of arrival model.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising controlling the ultrasound-based proximity sensing system to act in a beacon detection mode where the ultrasound-based proximity sensing system listens for beacon signals.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising switching the ultrasound-based proximity sensing system between a beacon detection mode and a proximity sensing mode.

Assignees

• Volvo Car Corp

Inventors

• Björkengren Ulf

Classifications

• B62D15/0285

  Parking performed automatically · CPC title

• G01S5/18

  using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves · CPC title

• B60W30/10 Primary

  Path keeping {(cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165)} · CPC title

• G01S1/751

  Mounting or deployment thereof · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title