System amd method for providing a ride assistant for on-demand autonomy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12223841-B2
Application number	US-202117447132-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2021
Priority date	Sep 8, 2021
Publication date	Feb 11, 2025
Grant date	Feb 11, 2025

Abstract

A method in an On-Demand Autonomy system includes: monitoring for a trip change request from a plurality of platoon vehicles including a first leader vehicle (Lv) and a follower vehicle (Fv). When a trip termination request is received from a platoon vehicle, the method includes broadcasting information regarding the request to the other platoon vehicles, and monitoring for an acknowledgement of the request. When the trip termination request originated from the first Lv, the method includes electing a new Lv, computing a rendezvous point for the new Lv and the Fv, and signaling the Fv and new Lv regarding the rendezvous point. When a trip modification request is received from the Fv, the method includes broadcasting information regarding the request to the first Lv, electing a new Lv, computing a rendezvous point for the new Lv and the Fv, and signaling the Fv and new Lv regarding the rendezvous point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An On-Demand Autonomy (ODA) system comprising:
a plurality of platoon vehicles comprising:
a follower vehicle (Fv) configured to be controlled toward a requested location; and
a first leader vehicle (Lv) configured to control the Fv toward the requested location;

a cloud based server (ODAS) comprising a controller for supporting ODA platooning, the controller comprising non-transitory computer readable media and one or more processors configured by programming instructions on the non-transitory computer readable media; and
the ODAS configured to receive a trip request for ODA platooning service from a first vehicle, seek an agreement to establish a virtual coupling link between the first vehicle and at least one second vehicle, wherein the ODAS is further configured to:
broadcast the trip request to a plurality of second vehicles;
receive a set of responses from at least one of the plurality of second vehicles to the broadcast trip request;
coordinate one or more responses between the first and second vehicles based on results of a matching operation to confirm an acceptance of the agreement and facilitate the establishment of the virtual coupling;
in response to confirmation of the acceptance of the agreement, create a trip plan for the trip request for the ODA service based on a set of preferences received from the plurality of platoon vehicles, wherein the first vehicle is the Fv and the second vehicle is the first Lv;
monitor the Fv and the first Lv during the platooning trip for information comprising trip termination request, trip modification request, platooning status, vehicle health status, virtual coupling health status and safety information;
communicate and broadcast the information comprising platooning status, vehicle health status, virtual coupling health status, and safety information to the platoon vehicles;
monitor for periodic heartbeat messages from the platoon vehicles, and compute a first result upon receipt of each heartbeat message to determine whether a fault has occurred with the vehicle that sent the message;
upon detecting a fault, diagnose a fault type;
select a feedback mechanism from one or more options comprising voice, text, and non-verbal cue; and
signal the platoon vehicles using the selected feedback mechanism with an alert message identifying the fault type.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ODAS is further configured to:
provide decoupling instructions for the Fv and first Lv responsive to receipt of the Fv trip termination request;
broadcast information regarding the trip termination request to the plurality of platoon vehicles including the Lv; and
monitor for an acknowledgement and acceptance of the trip termination request from the Lv, wherein the Lv stops controlling the Fv toward the requested location responsive to the broadcast information regarding the trip termination request.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ODAS is further configured to:
provide decoupling instructions for the Fv and first Lv and coupling instructions for the Fv and a second Lv responsive to receipt of the Fv trip modification request;
broadcast information regarding the trip modification request to the first Lv;
monitor for a first Lv acknowledgement of the trip modification request, elect the second Lv, compute a rendezvous point at which the second Lv will begin to lead the Fv, and signal the Fv and the second Lv that the second Lv will take over as the leader for the platooning trip at the rendezvous point; and
monitor for an acknowledgement that indicates acceptance of the second Lv as the leader for the platooning trip at the rendezvous point, wherein the second Lv controls the Fv toward the requested location and the first Lv stops controlling the Fv.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the ODAS is further configured to:
consistently monitor the platooning trip for information comprising trip termination request, trip modification request, platooning status, vehicle health status, virtual coupling health status and safety information;
communicate and broadcast the information to the platoon vehicles;
monitor for periodic heartbeat messages from the platoon vehicles, and compute a first result upon receipt of each heartbeat message to determine whether a fault has occurred in the vehicle that sent the message;
upon detecting a fault, diagnose the fault type; and
select a feedback mechanism from one or more feedback options, and signal the platoon vehicles with an alert message identifying the fault type.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ODAS is further configured to:
provide decoupling instructions for the Fv and first Lv responsive to receipt of the first Lv trip termination request; and
elect a second Lv, compute a rendezvous point at which the second Lv will begin to lead the Fv, and signal the Fv and second Lv that the second Lv will take over as the leader for the platooning trip at the rendezvous point;
wherein the second Lv controls the Fv toward the requested location and the first Lv stops controlling the Fv.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ODAS is further configured to monitor for a subsequent periodic heartbeat message from each of the plurality of platoon vehicles that acknowledges receipt of the alert message that identifies the diagnosed type of fault.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ODAS is further configured to:
when a periodic heartbeat message is not received from one of the plurality of platoon vehicles, query the platoon vehicle from which the periodic heartbeat message was not received regarding vehicle health status and virtual coupling health status;
select a feedback mechanism from one or more options comprising voice, text, and non-verbal cue, and signal using the selected feedback mechanism to other of the plurality of platoon vehicles an alert message that provides notification that the periodic heartbeat message was not received; and
when a responsive message to the query is received, signal the other of the plurality of platoon vehicles with status information regarding the platoon vehicle from which the periodic heartbeat message was not received.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ODAS is further configured to
when a safety alert message regarding the Fv is received, request further information from a message sender;
when further information is received, calculate a second result comprising a safety event response, cause the safety response to occur, and signal the first Lv that a safety alert message was received and to adjust driving accordingly;
monitor for an acknowledgement from the first Lv after signaling the first Lv that a safety alert message was received;
broadcast an alert regarding the safety event response to the Fv; and
monitor for an acknowledgement from the Fv.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the virtual coupling enables the first Lv to control and command the Fv toward the requested location during a platooning trip, and is further configured to allow future vehicle maneuvers to be communicated ahead of time to allow the platoon vehicles to accelerate or brake simultaneously.

10. A method in an On-Demand Autonomy (ODA) system comprising a follower vehicle (Fv), a first leader vehicle (Lv), and a cloud based server (ODAS), the method comprising:
receiving by the ODAS a trip request for ODA service from a first vehicle;
seeking by the ODAS an agreement to establish a virtual coupling link between the first vehicle and at least one second vehicle, wherein seeking an agreement comprises:
broadcasting the trip request to a plurality of second vehicles;
receiving a set of responses from at least one of the plurality of second vehicles to

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Adiththan Arun
• Peranandam Prakash Mohan
• Sethu Ramesh

Classifications

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• B60W30/14

  {Adaptive} cruise control · CPC title

• B60W60/0027

  using trajectory prediction for other traffic participants · CPC title

• H04W4/46

  for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V] · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title