Method for updating a map of the surrounding area, device for executing method steps of said method on the vehicle, vehicle, device for executing method steps of the method on a central computer, and computer-readable storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11940291-B2
Application number	US-201917263045-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2019
Priority date	Jul 27, 2018
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

A method for updating a map of the surrounding area wherein the map is used when controlling a transportation vehicle. The transportation vehicle attempts, when travelling along a carriageway, to detect a landmark recorded in the map of the surrounding area using sensors. In response to the transportation vehicle being unable to detect the landmark using its sensors, the transportation vehicle prepares a proposal for deletion which is sent to an external central computer. The proposal for deletion is examined in the external central computer and deletes the landmark from the map of the surrounding area in response to the proposal for deletion being verified. In the method, information regarding a visibility range for the landmark is entered in the map of the surrounding area specifying at what range the landmark is visible from a road permitting a more effective detection of landmarks.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for updating a map of a surrounding area of a transportation vehicle, wherein the map is used in control of navigation of the transportation vehicle, the method comprising:
evaluating the map of the surrounding area as part of vehicle navigation;
controlling differentiated operation of sensors on the transportation vehicle based on whether the evaluation of the map of the surrounding area indicates a presence of a landmark being recorded in the map of the surrounding area, wherein the differentiated operation controls the sensors to perform sensor-based landmark detection only in response to the presence of the landmark being indicated in the map of the surrounding area;
in response to the sensors of the transportation vehicle being controlled to perform sensor-based landmark detection and unsuccessfully detecting a landmark indicated in the map of the surrounding area, developing a deletion hypothesis by the transportation vehicle to propose deletion of the indicated landmark presence in the map of the surrounding area;
transmitting the developed deletion hypothesis to an external central computer;
verifying the developed deletion hypothesis in the external central computer;
deleting the indication of the presence of the landmark from the map of the surrounding area in accordance with the deletion hypothesis in response to the verification of the deletion hypothesis; and
updating the map of the surrounding area to generate an updated map by recording visibility range information for the indication of the landmark presence in the map of the surrounding area, the visibility range information indicating a range within which the landmark is visible from a road,
wherein, thereafter, the visibility range information for the indication of the landmark presence is evaluated during subsequent evaluation of the updated map of the surrounding area to control whether sensor-based landmark detection should be performed as part of vehicle navigation at a determined location of the transportation vehicle in the updated map.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visibility range is recorded in the updated map of the surrounding area by indicating circle segments of a circle in a center of which the landmark is positioned.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visibility range is recorded in the updated map of the surrounding area by indicating the roadway segments of a roadway on which the transportation vehicle is travelling from which the landmark is detectable.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the roadway segments have a defined length and only those roadway segments of the roadway on which the transportation vehicle is travelling in which the landmark remains completely detectable using the sensors during the journey through the roadway segment are recorded in the updated map of the surrounding area as the visibility range.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the visibility range is recorded in the updated map of the surrounding area by indicating a number of further landmarks from which a line of sight to the verified landmark exists.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visibility range is indicated separately for the different traffic lanes of a roadway.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a temporary concealment of landmarks by obstacles is detected and wherein the detection of landmarks using the sensors is suspended on those roadway sections on which an obstacle is recognized by which a line of sight to such landmarks is blocked.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein multiple, successive attempts at detection of the landmark are performed by the transportation vehicle to corroborate the developed deletion hypothesis, wherein, for the multiple, successive detection attempts, a minimum driving distance is predefined which the transportation vehicle must have travelled before the transportation vehicle attempts the next detection of the landmark.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the deletion hypothesis is verified in response to a sufficient certainty existing that the deletion hypothesis is correct through statistical evaluation of the reports on the results of the attempts.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein, to verify the deletion hypothesis, a request is transmitted from the external central computer to a further transportation vehicles which are located in the area in which the indicated landmark presence is located, the further transportation vehicles then attempting to detect the indicated landmark using sensors and transmitting a report relating to results of the attempt to the external central computer.

11. A device for updating a map of a surrounding area of transportation vehicle in a central computer of the method of claim 1 , the device comprising at least one computing device configured to update a map of the surrounding area and to record information relating to a visibility range for the indication of the landmark in the map of the surrounding area.

12. A device for use in the control of navigation of a transportation vehicle which updates a map of a surrounding area of the transportation vehicle, the device comprising:
at least one computing device configured to:
evaluate the map of the surrounding area as part of vehicle navigation;
control differentiated operation of sensors on the transportation vehicle based on whether the evaluation of the map of the surrounding area indicates a presence of a landmark recorded in the map of the surrounding area, wherein differentiated operation controls sensor-based landmark detection only in response to the presence of the landmark being indicated in the map of the surrounding area;
in response to the sensors of the transportation vehicle being controlled to perform sensor-based landmark detection and unsuccessfully detecting a landmark indicated in the map of the surrounding area, developing a deletion hypothesis by the transportation vehicle to propose deletion of the indicated landmark presence in the map of the surrounding area,
transmit the developed deletion hypothesis to an external central computer that verifies the developed deletion hypothesis, and deletes the indication of the presence of the landmark from the map of the surrounding area in accordance with the developed deletion hypothesis in response to the verification of the developed deletion hypothesis to update the map of the surrounding area to generate an updated map by recording visibility range information for the indication of the presence of the landmark in the map of the surrounding area, the visibility range information indicating a range within which the landmark is visible from a road,
wherein, thereafter, the visibility range information for the indication of the landmark presence is evaluated during subsequent evaluation of the updated map of the surrounding area to control whether sensor-based landmark detection should be performed as part of vehicle navigation at a determined location of the transportation vehicle in the updated map.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the computing device evaluates the data from the sensors to determine whether landmarks are temporarily concealed by obstacles, and suspends the detection of landmarks using sensors on those roadway sections on which an obstacle by which a line of sight to such landmarks is blocked is identified through the detection using sensors.

14. The device of claim 12 , wherein the at least one computing unit performs multiple, successive attempts at detection of the landmark to corroborate the developed deletion hypothesis, wherein, for the multiple, successive detection attempts, a minimum dr

Assignees

• Volkswagen Ag
• Man Truck & Bus Se

Inventors

• Wilbers Daniel
• Merfels Christian
• Rech Bernd
• Schaper Thilo
• Koch Niklas
• Jürgens Stefan
• Perdomo Lopez David
• Hungar Constanze

Classifications

• G01C21/3863 Primary

  Structures of map data · CPC title

• G01C21/3811

  Point data, e.g. Point of Interest [POI] · CPC title

• G01C21/3815

  Road data · CPC title

• G01C21/3833

  characterised by the source of data · CPC title

• G01C21/3848

  Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors · CPC title