Method and communication system for supporting at least partially automatic vehicle control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12535335-B2
Application number	US-202017625280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 14, 2020
Priority date	Jul 15, 2019
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

Abstract

A method for providing an information signal ( 8 ) for at least partially automatic vehicle control involves an environment sensor system ( 3 ) of a motor vehicle ( 1 ) being used to generate measurement data for surroundings of the motor vehicle ( 1 ). A computing unit ( 2 ) of the motor vehicle ( 1 ) is used to identify an object ( 7 ) and a landmark ( 5 ) on the basis of the measurement data. The computing unit ( 4 ) is used to determine a first relative position of the object ( 7 ) in relation to the landmark ( 5 ) on the basis of the measurement data. A communication interface ( 4 ) of the motor vehicle ( 1 ) is used to generate the information signal ( 8 ) on the basis of the first relative position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for providing an information signal for at least partially automatic vehicle control, comprising:
generating sensor-based measurement data of surroundings of a motor vehicle by an environment sensor system of the motor vehicle; identifying based on the sensor-based measurement data, a landmark and an object physically distinct from the landmark, wherein the landmark is included in map data accessible to a computing unit of the motor vehicle, but the object is not included in the map data; calculating, using the sensor-based measurement data, a first relative position of the object identified based on the sensor-based measurement data but not included in the map data relative to the landmark identified based on the sensor-based measurement data and included in the map data, including calculating a geometric vector from (a) the landmark identified based on the sensor-based measurement data and included in the map data to (b) the object identified based on the sensor-based measurement data but not included in the map data; and generating the information signal comprising information on the first relative position of the object not included in the map data relative to the landmark included in the map data; and transmitting, using a communication interface of the motor vehicle, the information signal, including the information on the first relative position of the object not included in the map data relative to the landmark included in the map data, to at least one further motor vehicle directly or indirectly; wherein the at least one further motor vehicle is at least partially automatically controlled based on the information signal, including the information on the first relative position of the object not included in the map data relative to the landmark included in the map data.

2 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
performing a comparison based on the map data of the motor vehicle and the measurement data; and identifying the object based on a result of the comparison.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining coordinates of the object in a preset sensor coordinate system depending on the measurement data; determining coordinates of the landmark in the sensor coordinate system depending on the measurement data; and determining the first relative position depending on the coordinates of the object and the landmark in the sensor coordinate system.

4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining coordinates of the object in a map coordinate system of a map of the motor vehicle depending on the measurement data; determining coordinates of the environment sensor system in the map coordinate system depending on the measurement data; and determining the first relative position depending on the coordinates of the object and of the environment sensor system in the map coordinate system.

5 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining coordinates of the object in a preset sensor coordinate system depending on the measurement data; determining coordinates of the landmark in the sensor coordinate system depending on the measurement data; and determining the geometric vector from the landmark included in the map data to the object not included in the map data based on the coordinates of the object and the landmark in the sensor coordinate system.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining coordinates of the object in a map coordinate system of a map of the motor vehicle depending on the measurement data; determining coordinates of the environment sensor system in the map coordinate system depending on the measurement data; and determining the first relative position depending on the coordinates of the object and of the environment sensor system in the map coordinate system.

7 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining coordinates of the object in a map coordinate system of a map of the motor vehicle depending on the measurement data; determining coordinates of the environment sensor system in the map coordinate system depending on the measurement data; and determining the geometric vector from the landmark included in the map data to the object not included in the map data based on the coordinates of the object and of the environment sensor system in the map coordinate system.

8 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining a geometric figure for approximately describing the object based on the measurement data; and determining a relative position of a first point of the geometric figure in relation to the landmark as the first relative position of the object.

9 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining a second relative position of the object based on the measurement data; and generating the information signal depending on the second relative position using the communication interface.

10 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
associating a class of a preset set of classes with the object based on the measurement data; and generating the information signal depending on the class associated with the object using the communication interface.

11 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
transmitting the information signal to the at least one further motor vehicle using the communication interface; and/or transmitting the information signal to a server computer system using the communication interface and generating a further information signal depending on the information signal and wherein the server computer system transmits the further information signal to the at least one further motor vehicle.

12 . The method of claim 11 , comprising:
generating further measurement data of further surroundings of the at least one further motor vehicle using a further environment sensor system of the further motor vehicle; and verifying an existence of the object based on the further measurement data using a further computing unit of the at least one further motor vehicle.

13 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining a geometric figure for approximately describing the object based on the measurement data; and determining a relative position of a first point of the geometric figure in relation to the landmark as the first relative position of the object.

14 . A communication system for supporting an at least partially automatic vehicle control, the communication system comprising:
a first computing unit for a motor vehicle, a communication interface for the motor vehicle and an environment sensor system for the motor vehicle, configured to generate sensor-based measurement data of surroundings of the motor vehicle; wherein the first computing unit is configured to:
identify, using on the sensor-based measurement data, a landmark and an object physically distinct from the landmark, wherein the landmark is included in map data accessible to the first computing unit, but the object is not included in the map data; and
calculate a first relative position of the object identified based on the sensor-based measurement data but not included in the map data relative to the landmark identified based on the sensor-based measurement data and included in the map data, including calculating a geometric vector from (a) the landmark included in the map data to (b) the object not included in the map data, based on the sensor-based measurement data; and
the communication interface is configured to transmit an information signal comprising information on the first relative position of the object not included in the map data relative to the landmark included in the map data to a further mo

Assignees

• Volkswagen Ag
• Man Truck & Bus Se

Inventors

• Rech Bernd
• Hungar Constanze
• Wilbers Daniel
• Koch Niklas
• Jürgens Stefan
• Merfels Christian

Classifications

• B60W2556/45

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

• B60W2556/40

  High definition maps · CPC title

• B60W2554/802

  Longitudinal distance · CPC title

• B60W2554/20

  Static objects · 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