Methods and systems for monitoring vehicle motion with driver safety alerts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11535271-B2
Application number	US-202117144441-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2021
Priority date	Jan 8, 2021
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

Vehicle driver assistance and warning systems that alert a driver of a vehicle to wrong-way driving and/or imminent traffic control measures (TCMs) are disclosed. The system will identify a region of interest around the vehicle, access a vector map that includes the region of interest, and extract lane segment data associated with lane segments that are within the region of interest. The system will analyze the lane segment data and the vehicle's direction of travel to determine whether motion of the vehicle indicates that either: (a) the vehicle is traveling in a wrong-way direction for its lane; or (b) the vehicle is within a minimum stopping distance to an imminent TCM in its lane. When the system detects either condition, it will cause a driver warning system of the vehicle to output a driver alert.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of assisting a driver of a vehicle, the method comprising
by one or more sensors of a vehicle, sensing a direction of travel of the vehicle; and
by a computing device of the vehicle:
identifying a region of interest comprising an area in proximity to and including a current location of the vehicle,
accessing a vector map that includes the region of interest,
extracting lane segment data associated with lane segments of the vector map that are within the region of interest,
analyzing the lane segment data and the direction of travel to determine whether motion of the vehicle satisfies a condition associated with one or more of the following:
a direction of travel of a lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle, or
a minimum stopping distance to an imminent traffic control measure in the lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle, and

when the motion does not satisfy the condition, controlling a driver warning system of the vehicle to generate and output a driver alert of non-valid motion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the lane segment data includes a heading for each lane segment in the region of interest, wherein the heading corresponds to the direction of travel of the lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle;
the condition is associated with the direction of travel of the lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle; and
determining whether the motion of the vehicle satisfies the condition comprises, by the computing device of the vehicle:
(a) determining whether any of the lane segments within the region of interest has a heading that is within an opposing-heading tolerance range and that is opposing the sensed direction of travel,
(b) determining whether any of the lane segments within the region of interest has a heading that is within a similar-heading tolerance range and that is similar to the sensed direction of travel, and
(c) determining that the motion does not satisfy the condition, and that the sensed direction of travel is a wrong-way direction, when both:
(i) at least one of the lane segments is determined at (a) to have the heading opposing the sensed direction of travel, and
(ii) none of the lane segments in the region of interest is determined at (b) have the heading that is similar to the sensed direction of travel,
otherwise determining that the satisfies the condition.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the lane segment data includes a heading and length for each lane segment;
the condition is associated with the minimum stopping distance to the imminent traffic control measure in the lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle; and
determining whether the motion of the vehicle satisfies the condition comprises, by the computing device of the vehicle:
receiving, from one or more sensors of the vehicle, a speed of travel of the vehicle,
determining a minimum stopping distance representing a distance from the current location of the vehicle and a location within a stop zone that is within the lane of travel before the location of the imminent traffic control measure, and
using the speed and the current location to determine whether the vehicle can stop within the minimum stopping distance.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
using the speed and the current location to determine whether the vehicle can stop within the minimum stopping distance comprises, by the computing device of the vehicle:
computing a rate of deceleration required to stop the vehicle at the location within the stop zone,
determining if the computed rate of deceleration meets of a deceleration threshold, and
if the computed rate of deceleration is over the deceleration threshold, determining that the motion does not satisfy the condition, otherwise determining that the motion satisfies the condition.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the determining whether the motion of the vehicle satisfied the condition, further comprises, by the computing device of the vehicle:
prior to determining the minimum stopping distance,
calculating a stopping zone polygon for the imminent traffic control measure; and
calculating an end threshold polyline for the imminent traffic control measure that is at an end of the stopping zone polygon,

wherein the location within the stop zone corresponds to the end threshold polyline, and the minimum stopping distance is determined through the stopping zone polygon and up to the end threshold polyline.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
calculating the stopping zone polygon comprises setting a width of the stopping zone polygon to be larger than a width of the lane segment; and
calculating the minimum stopping distance comprises including, in the minimum stopping distance, a distance of travel that includes a veering motion to an end of the width of the stopping zone polygon.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the motion of the vehicle satisfies the condition further comprises, by the computing device of the vehicle:
detecting a plurality of candidate traffic control measures ahead of the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle;
detecting that a traffic signal activation command has been initiated in the vehicle before the vehicle reaches a first one of the candidate traffic control measures;
ranking the candidate traffic control measures based on distances from the vehicle to each of the candidate control measures or remaining lane segments in the region of interest between the vehicle and the candidate traffic control measures; and
selecting the imminent traffic control measure based on one or both of the distance and the vehicle turning signal state.

8. A system for assisting a driver of a vehicle, the system comprising
a vehicle having one or more sensors, a driver warning system, and an onboard computing system that comprises a processor, and a memory portion containing programming instructions that, when executed, will cause the processor to:
determine a direction of travel of the vehicle,
identify a region of interest comprising an area in proximity to and including a current location of the vehicle,
access a vector map that includes the region of interest,
extract lane segment data associated with lane segments of the vector map that are within the region of interest,
analyze the lane segment data and the direction of travel to determine whether motion of the vehicle satisfies a condition associated with one or more of the following:
a direction of travel of a lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle, or
a minimum stopping distance to an imminent traffic control measure in the lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle, and

when the motion does not satisfy the condition, control the driver warning system of the automated vehicle to generate and output a driver alert of non-valid motion.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein:
the lane segment data includes a heading for each lane segment in the region of interest, wherein the heading corresponds to the direction of travel of the lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle; and
the instructions to determine whether the motion of the vehicle satisfies the condition comprise instructions to:
(a) determine whether any of the lane segments within the region of interest has a heading that is within an opposing-heading tolerance range and that is opposing to the sensed direction of travel,
(b) determine whether any of the lane segments within the region of interest has a heading that is within a similar-heading tolerance range and that is similar to the sensed direction of travel, and

Assignees

• Argo Ai Llc

Inventors

• Mcalister Colen
• Breeden David
• Petroff Thomas
• Cunningham Christopher
• Barone Patrick
• Sredzki Arek
• Seegmiller Neal
• Cai Xi

Classifications

• G08G1/0145

  for active traffic flow control · CPC title

• B60W50/14 Primary

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• B60W2050/143

  Alarm means · CPC title

• G06V10/25

  Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI] · CPC title

• B60W2556/50

  of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data · CPC title