System and method for teleoperation service for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020282980-A1
Application number	US-201916295229-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 7, 2019
Priority date	Mar 7, 2019
Publication date	Sep 10, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle control system to provide driving assistance for a vehicle include a plurality of sensors and circuitry. The plurality of sensors captures one or more signals associated with the vehicle. The circuitry identifies a trigger input to change a current operation mode of the vehicle to a teleoperation mode of the vehicle. The circuitry further transmits, in the teleoperation mode, the captured one or more signals to a teleoperation server of a plurality of teleoperation servers. The circuitry further receives, in the teleoperation mode, one or more vehicular instructions from the teleoperation server based on the transmitted one or more signals. The circuitry further controls, in the teleoperation mode, at least one component of the vehicle based on the received one or more vehicular instructions to control movement of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle control system to provide driving assistance for a vehicle, comprising:
a plurality of sensors capturing one or more signals associated with the vehicle; and circuitry, coupled with the plurality of sensors, to:
identify a trigger input to change a current operation mode of the vehicle to a teleoperation mode of the vehicle based on the captured one or more signals;
transmit, in the teleoperation mode, the captured one or more signals to a teleoperation server of a plurality of teleoperation servers;
receive, in the teleoperation mode, one or more vehicular instructions from the teleoperation server based on the transmitted one or more signals; and
control, in the teleoperation mode, at least one component of the vehicle based on the received one or more vehicular instructions to control movement of the vehicle.

2 . The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a first image capturing device capturing one or more first images indicating a view of surrounding of the vehicle in a plurality of directions, and wherein the circuitry:
analyzes a driving situation indicated by the captured one or more first images; and identifies the trigger input based on the analyzed driving situation to change the current operation mode to the teleoperation mode of the vehicle.

3 . The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a second image capturing device configured to capture one or more second images indicating an interior view of the vehicle, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
detect a presence of a rider at a driver seat of the vehicle based on an analysis of the captured one or more second images; determine an emotional state of the rider over a time period based on the analysis of the captured one or more second images and detected presence of the rider; and identify the trigger input based on the determined emotional state of the rider to change the current operation mode to the teleoperation mode of the vehicle.

4 . The vehicle control system according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a biometric sensor, and wherein the circuitry controls the biometric sensor to determine the emotional state of the rider over the time period.

5 . The vehicle control system according to claim 3 , wherein the circuitry:
retrieves past driving information associated with the rider based on the detected presence of the rider; and identifies the trigger input based on the retrieved past driving information to change the current operation mode to the teleoperation mode of the vehicle.

6 . The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry:
determines absence of map information associated with a journey of the vehicle at the time of the journey; and identifies the trigger input based on the determined absence of the map information to change the current operation mode to the teleoperation mode of the vehicle.

7 . The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of teleoperation servers is associated with a geo-location, and
wherein, in the teleoperation mode, the circuitry:
transmits a teleoperation request to each of the plurality of teleoperation servers;
receives a teleoperation cost value from each of the plurality of teleoperation servers based on the transmitted teleoperation request; and
selects the teleoperation server from the plurality of teleoperation servers based on comparison of the teleoperation cost values received from the plurality of teleoperation servers,
wherein the teleoperation cost value received from the selected teleoperation server is lowest among the teleoperation cost values received from the plurality of teleoperation servers.

8 . The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein a geo-location of the vehicle is different from the geo-location of the teleoperation server.

9 . The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein, in the teleoperation mode, the circuitry:
retrieves first time-zone information of a geo-location of each of the plurality of teleoperation servers; and selects the teleoperation server from the plurality of teleoperation servers based on the retrieved first time-zone information of each of the plurality of teleoperation servers and second time-zone information of a current geo-location of the vehicle.

10 . The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein, in the teleoperation mode, the circuitry:
transmits a teleoperation request to each of the plurality of teleoperation servers; receives driving licensing information from each of the plurality of teleoperation servers; and selects the teleoperation server based on a determination that the driving licensing information received from the teleoperation server is compliant with a current geo-location of the vehicle and a geo-location of a destination point of a journey of the vehicle.

11 . The vehicle control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the teleoperation server is associated with a plurality of teleoperation devices; and wherein the circuitry receives the one or more vehicular instructions from a teleoperation device of the plurality of teleoperation devices based on the one or more signals rendered on the teleoperation device.

12 . A teleoperation server to provide teleoperation service, comprising:
a memory configured to store vehicle information of a plurality of vehicles and teleoperation information of a plurality of teleoperation devices; and circuitry, coupled with the memory, to:
receive a teleoperation request from an information processing apparatus, wherein the teleoperation request includes route information indicating a starting point and a destination point of a journey to be started;
select a vehicle from the plurality of vehicles based on a first analysis of the received teleoperation request and the stored vehicle information;
select a teleoperation device from the plurality of teleoperation devices based on a second analysis of the received teleoperation request and the stored teleoperation information;
control a communication between the selected vehicle and the selected teleoperation device;
receive a response indicating a completion of the journey from the information processing apparatus; and
calculate a first incentive value for the selected vehicle and a second incentive value for the selected teleoperation device based on the received response.

13 . The teleoperation server according to claim 12 , wherein the vehicle information comprises at least one of identification information, availability information, a current geo-location, or registered owner information of the plurality of the vehicles.

14 . The teleoperation server according to claim 12 , wherein the teleoperation information comprises at least one of a current geo-location, time-zone information, availability information, or driving licensing information of the plurality of teleoperation devices.

15 . The teleoperation server according to claim 14 , wherein the vehicle information indicates specification information of the plurality of vehicles and the teleoperation information indicates driving capability information of a plurality of human teleoperators associated with each of the plurality of teleoperation devices, and
wherein the circuitry selects the teleoperation device from the plurality of teleoperation devices based on comparison between the specification information and the driving capability information.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kinoshita Shuhei

Classifications

• G06V20/597

  Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness · CPC title

• G06V40/174

  Facial expression recognition · CPC title

• G06V20/56

  exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle · CPC title

• B60W40/04

  Traffic conditions · CPC title

• B60W30/09 Primary

  Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering · CPC title