Autonomous driving apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11420653-B2
Application number	US-202015930357-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2020
Priority date	May 20, 2019
Publication date	Aug 23, 2022
Grant date	Aug 23, 2022

Abstract

An autonomous driving apparatus and method, in which the apparatus includes a sensor unit detecting a surrounding vehicle around an ego vehicle that autonomously travels, an output unit, a memory storing map information, and a processor controlling the autonomous driving of the ego vehicle based on the map information. The processor is configured to generate an actual driving trajectory and expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle based on driving information of the surrounding vehicle detected by the sensor unit and the map information, determine whether a driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is an autonomous driving mode and an autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle based on a trajectory error between the actual driving trajectory and expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle, and output a warning to a passenger through the output unit at a level corresponding to the determined autonomous driving risk.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous driving apparatus comprising:
a sensor unit configured to detect a surrounding vehicle around an ego vehicle that autonomously travels and to detect a state of a passenger within the ego vehicle;
an output unit;
a memory configured to store map information; and
a processor configured to control the autonomous driving of the ego vehicle based on the map information stored in the memory,
wherein:
the processor is configured to:
generate an actual driving trajectory and an expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle based on driving information of the surrounding vehicle detected by the sensor unit and the map information stored in the memory, respectively;
determine whether a driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is an autonomous driving mode and an autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle based on a trajectory error between the actual driving trajectory and expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle;
output a warning to a passenger through the output unit at a level corresponding to the determined autonomous driving risk;
release the warning output through the output unit, when the state of the passenger detected by the sensor unit is a forward looking state after outputting the warning to the passenger through the output unit;
output the warnings to the passenger through the output unit as first to third levels based on ascending order of autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle;
perform diagnosis of reliability of autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle based on a size of the trajectory error between the actual driving trajectory and expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle or a cumulative addition of trajectory errors; and
output, to the passenger, a warning corresponding to the third level through the output unit if, as a result of the execution of the diagnosis, it is determined that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable;
determine that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable when the state in which the size of the trajectory error is equal to or greater than a preset first threshold value occurs within a preset first critical time period;
additionally perform the diagnosis of reliability using the cumulative addition of the trajectory errors in the state in which the size of the trajectory error is less than the first threshold value for the first critical time period; and
determine that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable, when the state in which the cumulative addition of the trajectory errors is equal to or greater than a preset second threshold value occurs within a second critical time period preset as a value greater than the first critical time period, in the state in which the size of the trajectory error is less than the first threshold value for the first critical time period.

2. The autonomous driving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
output, to the passenger, a warning corresponding to the first level through the output unit when the driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is the autonomous driving mode; and
output, to the passenger, a warning corresponding to the second level through the output unit when the driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is a manual driving mode.

3. The autonomous driving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to release the warning output through the output unit when the size of the trajectory error becomes less than the first threshold value or the cumulative addition of the trajectory errors becomes less than the second threshold value after outputting the warning to the passenger through the output unit.

4. An autonomous driving method comprising:
controlling, by a processor, autonomous driving of an ego vehicle based on map information stored in a memory;
generating, by the processor, an actual driving trajectory and an expected driving trajectory of a surrounding vehicle around the ego vehicle based on driving information of the surrounding vehicle detected by a sensor unit and the map information stored in the memory, respectively;
determining, by the processor, whether a driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is an autonomous driving mode and an autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle based on a trajectory error between the actual driving trajectory and expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle, and outputting a warning to a passenger through an output unit at a level corresponding to the determined autonomous driving risk; and
after the outputting of the warning, releasing, by the processor, the warning output through the output unit when the state of the passenger detected by the sensor unit is a forward looking state,
wherein, in the outputting of the warning, the processor:
outputs the warnings to the passenger through the output unit as first to third levels based on ascending order of autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle;
performs diagnosis of reliability of autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle based on a size of the trajectory error between the actual driving trajectory and expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle or a cumulative addition of trajectory errors;
outputs, to the passenger, a warning corresponding to the third level through the output unit if, as a result of the execution of the diagnosis, it is determined that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable;
determines that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable, when the state in which the size of the trajectory error is equal to or greater than a preset first threshold value occurs within a preset first critical time period; and
determines that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable, when the state in which the cumulative addition of the trajectory errors is equal to or greater than a preset second threshold value occurs within a second critical time period preset as a value greater than the first critical time period, in the state in which the size of the trajectory error is less than the first threshold value for the first critical time period.

5. The autonomous driving method of claim 4 , wherein, in the outputting of the warning, the processor:
outputs, to the passenger, a warning corresponding to the first level through the output unit when the driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is the autonomous driving mode; and
outputs, to the passenger, a warning corresponding to the second level through the output unit when the driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is a manual driving mode.

6. The autonomous driving method of claim 4 , further comprising, after the outputting of the warning, releasing, by the processor, the warning output through the output unit when it is determined that the size of the trajectory error becomes less than the first threshold value or the cumulative addition of the trajectory errors becomes less than the second threshold value.

Assignees

• Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jeon Byeong Hwan
• Lee Hyuk
• Lee Jun Han
• Jin Soon Jong

Classifications

• B60W60/0059

  Estimation of the risk associated with autonomous or manual driving, e.g. situation too complex, sensor failure or driver incapacity · CPC title

• B60W60/0016 Primary

  of the vehicle or its occupants · CPC title

• B60W2540/18

  Steering angle · CPC title

• B60W60/00274

  considering possible movement changes · CPC title

• B60W2554/4044

  Direction of movement, e.g. backwards · CPC title