Method and system for environment detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11009602-B2
Application number	US-201815909510-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2018
Priority date	Mar 8, 2017
Publication date	May 18, 2021
Grant date	May 18, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and systems for environment detection in which a first vehicle detects its vehicle environment with at least one sensor, wherein the first vehicle transmits sensor data of the sensor pertaining to its vehicle environment to an off-board server device; at least one second vehicle with at least one sensor transmits sensor data of the sensor pertaining to its vehicle environment to the off-board server device; the off-board server device merges the transmitted sensor data of the vehicles and generates an environmental model of the vehicle environment of the first vehicle on the basis thereof; the environmental model that is generated is subsequently transmitted by the off-board server device to the first vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for environment detection by which a first vehicle, having a first sensor, detects a vehicle environment of the first vehicle, wherein the method comprises:
transmitting, by the first vehicle, sensor data of the first sensor pertaining to the vehicle environment of the first vehicle to an off-board server device;
transmitting, by a second vehicle with a second sensor, sensor data of the second sensor pertaining to a vehicle environment of the second vehicle to the off-board server device;
merging, by the off-board server device, the transmitted sensor data of the first vehicle and of the second vehicle into merged sensor data;
generating, by the off-board server device, an environmental model of the vehicle environment of the first vehicle using the merged sensor data of the first vehicle and of the second vehicle;
transmitting, by the off-board server device, the environmental model that is generated to the first vehicle; and
determining, by the off-board server device, during the merging of the sensor data, a probability of occurrence of individual objects detected in the sensor data of the first sensor and the sensor data of the second sensor, wherein the individual objects detected in the sensor data of the first sensor and the sensor data of the second sensor that have a predefined probability of occurrence are considered as a part of the environmental model.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the first vehicle and the second vehicle, respective positional data of the first vehicle and of the second vehicle, along with the merged sensor data, to the off-board server device; and
using, by the off-board server device, the respective positional data of the first vehicle and of the second vehicle, along with the merged sensor data, in the generating of the environmental model.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the first vehicle and the second vehicle, respective movement data of the first vehicle and of the second vehicle, along with the merged sensor data, to the off-board server device; and
using, by the off-board server device, the respective movement data of the first vehicle and of the second vehicle, along with the merged sensor data, in the generating of the environmental model.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor of the first vehicle or the second sensor of the second vehicle for the environment detection is at least one of, or a combination of more than one of, a radar sensor, a laser scanner, an ultrasonic sensor, a LiDAR system, and a camera system.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting of a road user that is concealed by another vehicle that is traveling directly ahead, wherein the detecting comprises:
evaluating, by the first sensor of the first vehicle or by the second sensor of the second vehicle, an interreflected sensor signal; and
transmitting, by the first sensor of the first vehicle or by the second sensor of the second vehicle, the interreflected sensor signal as part of the merged sensor data to the off-board server device.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
using, by the first vehicle and the second vehicle, the environmental model to achieve a synchronous convoy startup.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
controlling an automatic longitudinal guidance as a function of the environmental model in at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle.

8. A system for environment detection, comprising:
a first vehicle, having a first sensor for detecting a vehicle environment of the first vehicle, wherein the first vehicle is configured to transmit first sensor data of the first sensor of the first vehicle, pertaining to the vehicle environment of the first vehicle, to an off-board server device of the system;
a second vehicle, having a second sensor for detecting a vehicle environment of the second vehicle, wherein the second vehicle is configured to transmit second sensor data of the second sensor of the second vehicle, pertaining to the vehicle environment of the second vehicle, to the off-board server device; and
the off-board server device, configured to:
merge the first sensor data transmitted from the first vehicle and the second sensor data transmitted from the second vehicle into merged sensor data;
determine, during the merging of the first and second sensor data, a probability of occurrence of individual objects detected in the first sensor data and the second sensor data in the vehicle environment of the first vehicle;
generate an environmental model of the vehicle environment of the first vehicle based at least in part on the merged sensor data, wherein the environmental model comprises the individual objects detected in the first sensor data and the second sensor data that have a predefined probability of occurrence; and
transmit the environmental model of the vehicle environment of the first vehicle to the first vehicle.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first vehicle and the second vehicle are configured to transmit their respective positional data along with the merged sensor data to the off-board server device, and wherein the off-board server device is configured to use the respective positional data of the first vehicle and of the second vehicle along with the merged sensor data to generate the environmental model.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first vehicle and the second vehicle are configured to transmit their respective movement data along with the merged sensor data to the off-board server device, and wherein the off-board server device is configured to use the respective movement data of the first vehicle and of the second vehicle along with the merged sensor data to generate the environmental model.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first sensor of the first vehicle or the second sensor of the second vehicle for the environment detection is configured to be at least one of, or a combination of more than one of, a radar sensor, a laser scanner, an ultrasonic sensor, a LiDAR system, and a camera system.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the system is configured to:
detect a road user that is concealed by another vehicle that is traveling directly ahead, wherein to detect the road user, the system is further configured to:
evaluate, by the first sensor of the first vehicle or by the second sensor of the second vehicle, an interreflected sensor signal; and
transmit, by the first sensor of the first vehicle or the second sensor of the second vehicle, the interreflected sensor signal as part of the merged sensor data to the off-board server device.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first vehicle and the second vehicle are configured to use the environmental model to achieve a synchronous convoy startup.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the system is configured to control an automatic longitudinal guidance as a function of the environmental model in the first vehicle and in the second vehicle.

Assignees

• Audi Ag

Inventors

• Correia Pedro Sebastiao
• Spannaus Paul

Classifications

• B60W2554/4041

  Position · CPC title

• G01S7/003

  Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations · CPC title

• B60W2554/804

  Relative longitudinal speed · CPC title

• G01S2013/462

  using multipath signals · CPC title

• G01S15/46

  Indirect determination of position data · CPC title