Autonomous driving apparatus and method that outputs different warnings based on driving risk

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11654939-B2
Application number	US-202016878467-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2020
Priority date	May 20, 2019
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

In an autonomous driving apparatus and method, the apparatus includes a sensor unit, an output unit, a memory, and a processor configured to control the autonomous driving of an ego vehicle based on a map information stored in the memory. The processor generates 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 the sensor unit and the map information and controls one or more of the driving of the ego vehicle and provides communication with an external organization, based on a state of a passenger detected by the sensor unit when an autonomous driving mode of the ego vehicle is turned off, and based on an autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle determined based on a trajectory error between the actual driving trajectory and expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle.

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 a state of a passenger who is in the ego vehicle;
an output unit;
a memory configured to store a map information; and
a processor configured to control an 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,
determine an autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle based on whether a driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is an autonomous driving mode and a trajectory error between the actual driving trajectory and the expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle,
control one or more of driving modes of the ego vehicle and provide communication with an external organization, based on the state of the passenger detected by the sensor unit when the autonomous driving mode of the ego vehicle is turned off, and based on the determined autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle; and
output a warning to the passenger through the output unit at a level corresponding to the determined autonomous driving risk,

wherein the output the warning comprises:
output, to the passenger, the warning corresponding to a first level through the output unit when the driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is the autonomous driving mode, and
output, to the passenger, the warning corresponding to a second level through the output unit when the driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is a manual driving mode,
wherein the processor outputs the warnings to the passenger through the output unit, as the first level, the second level, or a third level warning based on ascending order of the autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle,
wherein the first warning is a visual display of a first color, the second warning is a visual display of a second color different from the first color, and the third warning is a visual display of a third color different from the first and second colors.

2. The autonomous driving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
perform a diagnosis of reliability of the 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 the trajectory errors, and
output, to the passenger, the warning corresponding to the third level warning through the output unit if, as a result of an execution of the diagnosis, it is determined that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable.

3. The autonomous driving apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to determine that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable, when the state in which the size of the trajectory error occurs within a preset first critical time.

4. The autonomous driving apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to release the warning output through the output unit when the size of the trajectory error is less than the first critical value, when the cumulative addition of the trajectory errors is less than a second critical value or when it is determined that 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.

5. The autonomous driving apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processor is configured to turn off the autonomous driving mode of the ego vehicle if it is determined that the state of the passenger detected by the sensor unit does not correspond to the forward looking state, in a state in which the size of the trajectory error is the first critical value or more or the cumulative addition of the trajectory errors is the second critical value or more.

6. The autonomous driving apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to allow the driving mode of the ego vehicle to enter an emergency autonomous driving mode so that the ego vehicle moves to a specific point necessary to the passenger, when a manual driving manipulation is not performed by the passenger after the autonomous driving mode of the ego vehicle is turned off.

7. The autonomous driving apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to transmit a rescue signal to the external organization when a behavior of the passenger is not detected through the sensor unit or a bio signal of the passenger detected through the sensor unit has a pattern different from that of a normal bio signal previously stored in the memory as a bio signal in a normal physical state of the passenger.

8. An autonomous driving method comprising:
controlling, by a processor, an autonomous driving of an ego vehicle based on a 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;
determining an autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle based on whether a driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is an autonomous driving mode and a trajectory error between the actual driving trajectory and the expected driving trajectory of the surrounding vehicle;
controlling, by the processor, one or more of driving modes of the ego vehicle and providing communication with an external organization, based on the state of a passenger detected by the sensor unit when the autonomous driving mode of the ego vehicle is turned off, and based on the determined autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle; and
outputting a warning to the passenger through the output unit at a level corresponding to the determined autonomous driving risk,
wherein the outputting the warning comprises:
outputting, to the passenger, the warning corresponding to a first level through the output unit when the driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is the autonomous driving mode, and
outputting, to the passenger, the warning corresponding to a second level through the output unit when the driving mode of the surrounding vehicle is a manual driving mode,
wherein the processor outputs the warnings to the passenger through the output unit, as the first level, the second level, or a third level warning based on ascending order of the autonomous driving risk of the ego vehicle,
wherein the first warning is a visual display of a first color, the second warning is a visual display of a second color different from the first color, and the third warning is a visual display of a third color different from the first and second colors.

9. The autonomous driving method of claim 8 , wherein in the outputting of the warning, the processor performs a diagnosis of reliability of the 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 the trajectory errors, and outputs, to the passenger, the warning corresponding to the third level warning through the output unit if, as a result of an execution of the diagnosis, it is determined that the autonomous driving control over the ego vehicle is unreliable.

10. The autonomous driving method of claim 9 , wherein in the outputting of the warning, the processor determines that the autono

Assignees

• Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G05D1/0061

  for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa · CPC title

• B60W30/182

  Selecting between different operative modes, e.g. comfort and performance modes · CPC title

• B60W50/14

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

• B60W60/0059 Primary

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

• B60W60/0017

  of other traffic participants · CPC title