Creation of following distance profiles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12385753-B2
Application number	US-202218066633-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2022
Priority date	Dec 21, 2021
Publication date	Aug 12, 2025
Grant date	Aug 12, 2025

Abstract

A method for ascertaining following distances as a function of position by a control device. Measurement data of at least one trajectory along at least one route, having a multiplicity of measurement points including position data and distance data from vehicles that are ahead, are received, A group of test points along the route is distributed at pre-defined distances from one another. At each test point, an intersection line that is oriented transversely in relation to a course of the route is generated, Pairs of points corresponding to the intersection lines are ascertained from the multiplicity of measurement points. Based on the distance data, at least one following distance is allocated to the pairs of points corresponding to at least one intersection line. A control device, a computer program, and a machine-readable storage medium are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for autonomous control of an ego vehicle, the method comprising the following steps:
for each of at least one route of a plurality of routes, while the ego vehicle is traveling along a respective one of a plurality of trajectories that correspond to the respective route:
generating by the ego vehicle measurement data of the respective trajectory, the measurement data including, for each of a plurality of measurement points along the respective trajectory, a respective position data identifying a respective position of the ego vehicle and a respective distance data that indicates a distance of the ego vehicle from vehicles that are ahead while the ego vehicle was at the respective position identified by the measurement data of the respective measurement point; and
transmitting, by a processor of the ego vehicle, the measurement data of the respective trajectory to a central processor that is programmed to:
distribute a group of test points along the respective route at pre-defined distances from one another;
generate, at each of the test points, a respective intersection line that is oriented transversely in relation to a course of the route;
for each of a plurality of the intersection lines:
ascertain a respective pair of the plurality of measurement points that corresponds to the respective intersection line;
based on the distance data of the ascertained respective pair of measuring points, allocate a respective following distance to the respective pair of points; and
ascertain a following distance value for the respective one of the test points for which the respective intersection line was generated using the respective following distance allocated to the ascertained respective pair of measuring points, thereby updating a following distance profile of distance values along the at least one route;

receiving, by the processor of the ego vehicle and from the central processor, the updated following distance profile; and
performing, by the processor of the ego vehicle, an automatic distance control of the ego vehicle to adjust distances maintained by the ego vehicle while driving along the at least one route.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein, for the each of the plurality of intersection lines, the respective pair of the plurality of measurement points ascertained for the respective intersection line are associated with respective positions of the ego vehicle closest to the respective intersection line at respective ones of two sides of the respective intersection line along a direction perpendicular to the respective intersection line.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein, for the each of the plurality of intersection lines, the pair of points corresponding to the respective intersection line are ascertained when a connecting line between two of the measurement points or a regression of the measurement data of the respective trajectory intersects the corresponding intersection line.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a multiplicity of following distances based on a multiplicity of trajectories is allocated to at least one of the intersection lines, the central processor being programmed to update the following distance profile based on a combination of the multiplicity of following distances.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the update of the following distance profile is based on a calculation, for each of the intersection lines, for the multiplicity of following distances, of: a standard deviation, and/or a mean value, and/or a variance, and/or a measure of dispersion, and/or a 25% percentile and/or a 75% percentile.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring, by the processor of the ego vehicle, a distance of the ego vehicle from a road user ahead;
comparing values of the monitored distance to corresponding ones of the distance values from the following distance profile; and
responsive to a result of the comparison being that one or more of the compared monitored distances being below a limit value of a corresponding one or more of the distance values from the following distance profile, outputting, by the processor of the ego vehicle, a warning.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the limit value is established as a mean value plus a standard deviation.

8. A system of an ego vehicle for autonomous control of the ego vehicle, the system comprising:
sensors; and
a processor, the processor being programmed to:
for each of at least one route of a plurality of routes, while the ego vehicle is traveling along a respective one of a plurality of trajectories that correspond to the respective route:
generate, using the sensors, measurement data of the respective trajectory, the measurement data including, for each of a plurality of measurement points along the respective trajectory, a respective position data identifying a respective position of the ego vehicle and a respective distance data that indicates a distance of the ego vehicle from vehicles that are ahead while the ego vehicle was at the respective position identified by the measurement data of the respective measurement point; and
transmit the measurement data of the respective trajectory to a central processor that is programmed to:
distribute a group of test points along the respective route at pre-defined distances from one another;
generate, at each of the test points, a respective intersection line that is oriented transversely in relation to a course of the route;
for each of a plurality of the intersection lines:
 ascertain a respective pair of plurality of measurement points that corresponds to the respective intersection line;
 based on the distance data of the ascertained respective pair of measuring points, allocate a respective following distance to the respective pair of points; and
 ascertain a following distance value for the respective one of the test points for which the respective intersection line was generated using the respective following distance allocated to the ascertained respective pair of measuring points, thereby updating a following distance profile of distance values along the at least one route;

receive the updated following distance profile from the central processor; and
perform an automatic distance control of the ego vehicle to adjust distances maintained by the ego vehicle while driving along the at least one route.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium on which is stored a computer program that is executable by a computer of an ego vehicle and that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform a method for autonomous control of the ego vehicle, the method including the following steps:
for each of at least one route of a plurality of routes, while the ego vehicle is traveling along a respective one of a plurality of trajectories that correspond to the respective route:
generating, using sensors of the ego vehicle, measurement data of the respective trajectory, the measurement data including, for each of a plurality of measurement points along the respective trajectory, a respective position data identifying a respective position of the ego vehicle and a respective distance data that indicates a distance of the ego vehicle from vehicles that are ahead while the ego vehicle was at the respective position identified by the measurement data of the respective measurement point; and
transmitting the measurement data of the respective trajectory to a central processor that is programmed to:
distribute a group of test points along the respective route at pre-defined distances from one another;
generate, at each of the test points, a respective intersection line that is oriente

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Schmitt Andreas
• Rodriguez Jesus
• Tamura Kazuya
• Gao Ming
• Roeth Oliver
• Namura Keisuke

Classifications

• B60W30/165

  Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar" · CPC title

• B60W60/0027

  using trajectory prediction for other traffic participants · CPC title

• G01S17/08

  for measuring distance only (indirect measurement G01S17/46; active triangulation systems G01S17/48) · CPC title

• G01S13/08

  Systems for measuring distance only (indirect measurement G01S13/46) · CPC title

• G08G1/166

  for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes · CPC title