Information processing apparatus for generating vehicle operation plans based on electrical energy consumption

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12447859-B2
Application number	US-202318460586-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2023
Priority date	Sep 13, 2022
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes a controller that creates an electrical energy consumption map, for an autonomous vehicle, indicating electrical energy consumption of links in an operation route defined by an operation plan, calculates, based on the map, a first predicted value of total electrical energy consumption required for traveling the operation route, and compares the total electrical energy consumption indicated by the first predicted value with a SOC prior to operation of the vehicle, and when the SOC prior to operation does not satisfy the total electrical energy consumption, extracts links satisfying a predetermined condition as candidate links for switching to a manual driving section from among links designated as an autonomous driving section and changes the operation plan so that the SOC prior to operation satisfies the total electrical energy consumption by switching at least one of the extracted candidate links to the manual driving section.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus comprising a first controller and a communication interface, the first controller being configured to:
acquire, from a database, an operation plan for a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a second controller and performing autonomous driving operated by the second controller;
create an electrical energy consumption map, for the vehicle, indicating an electrical energy consumption of a plurality of links included in an operation route defined by the operation plan;
calculate, based on the electrical energy consumption map, a first predicted value that is a predicted value of a total electrical energy consumption required for traveling the operation route;
communicate, via the communication interface with the vehicle, to acquire information indicating a state of charge prior to operation of the vehicle;
compare the total electrical energy consumption indicated by the first predicted value with the state of charge prior to operation of the vehicle; and
in a case in which it is determined that the state of charge prior to operation does not satisfy the total electrical energy consumption, extract links satisfying a predetermined condition as candidate links for switching to a manual driving section from among links, included in the plurality of links, designated as an autonomous driving section and change the operation plan so that the state of charge prior to operation satisfies the total electrical energy consumption by switching at least one candidate link among the extracted candidate links to the manual driving section, wherein
upon the operation plan being changed by the first controller, the second controller operates the vehicle to move along the operation route defined in the changed operation plan,
the predetermined condition is that an average electrical energy consumption per unit distance exceeds a reference value, and
the first controller is configured to switch the at least one candidate link to the manual driving section on a priority basis starting from a candidate link with a highest electrical energy consumption per unit distance.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first controller is configured to create the electrical energy consumption map for each autonomous driving system that controls the autonomous driving of the vehicle.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first controller is configured to
calculate a second predicted value that is a predicted value of a remaining electrical energy consumption required for traveling a remaining portion of the operation route, and
compare the remaining electrical energy consumption indicated by the second predicted value with a state of charge during operation of the vehicle, and in a case in which it is determined that the state of charge during operation does not satisfy the remaining electrical energy consumption, change the operation plan so that the state of charge during operation satisfies the remaining electrical energy consumption by switching, to the manual driving section, another candidate link that has not been switched to the manual driving section among the candidate links.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the vehicle is a semi-demand bus configured to make at least one stop on the operation route in response to a request by a user, and
the first controller is configured to change a location at which the user boards or alights to a different location than a stop designated by the user so that the state of charge during operation satisfies the remaining electrical energy consumption.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the second controller is configured to autonomously switch an operation mode of the vehicle between manual driving and autonomous driving in accordance with the operation plan, such that the vehicle operates in autonomous driving while in the autonomous driving section and in manual driving while in the manual driving section.

6. A system comprising the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 and the vehicle, wherein
the second controller is configured to autonomously switch an operation mode of the vehicle between manual driving and autonomous driving in accordance with the operation plan, such that the vehicle operates in autonomous driving while in the autonomous driving section and in manual driving while in the manual driving section.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nagata Yu
• Shimada Ibuki
• Nakamura Toshihiro

Classifications

• B60W60/0053

  from vehicle to occupant · CPC title

• B60W2510/244

  Charge state · CPC title

• B60L2240/60

  Navigation input · CPC title

• B60W2556/45

  External transmission of data to or from the vehicle · CPC title

• G01C21/3469 Primary

  Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects · CPC title