Lamp and autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9969320-B2
Application number	US-201715689523-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2017
Priority date	Aug 29, 2016
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

A lamp of an autonomous vehicle may include at least one light emitting unit. The lamp may further include at least one processor configured to: in a first state in which the autonomous vehicle is operating in a manual driving state, control the at least one light emitting unit to emit a light into a space outside the autonomous vehicle; and in a second state in which the autonomous vehicle is transitioned from the manual driving state to an autonomous driving state, control the at least one light emitting unit to not emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lamp of an autonomous vehicle, comprising:
at least one light emitting unit; and
at least one processor configured to:
in a first state in which the autonomous vehicle is operating in a manual driving state, control the at least one light emitting unit to emit a light into a space outside the autonomous vehicle; and
in a second state in which the autonomous vehicle is transitioned from the manual driving state to an autonomous driving state, control the at least one light emitting unit to not emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle.

2. The lamp according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, in a third state in which the autonomous vehicle is transitioned from the autonomous driving state to the manual driving state:
control the at least one light emitting unit to emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle.

3. The lamp according to claim 1 , further comprising an interface configured to receive driving situation information, wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the at least one light emitting unit based on the driving situation information.

4. The lamp according to claim 3 , wherein the driving situation information comprises at least one of the following: information regarding an object located in the vicinity of the autonomous vehicle, information regarding a road on which the autonomous vehicle is travelling, ambient illumination information, navigation information, or information regarding an object detection sensor being used by the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving state.

5. The lamp according to claim 4 ,
wherein the information regarding the object comprises information regarding a nearby vehicle travelling in the vicinity of the autonomous vehicle, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, in a fourth state in which the autonomous vehicle is operating in the autonomous driving state, control the at least one light emitting unit based on the information regarding the nearby vehicle.

6. The lamp according to claim 5 ,
wherein the information regarding the nearby vehicle comprises information as to whether the nearby vehicle is a manually driven vehicle, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, in the fourth state in which the autonomous vehicle is operating in the autonomous driving state, control the at least one light emitting unit to emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle in response to the nearby vehicle being determined to be a manually driven vehicle.

7. The lamp according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to control the at least one light emitting unit based on a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the nearby vehicle.

8. The lamp according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
based on the distance between the autonomous vehicle and the nearby vehicle being equal to or less than a threshold distance, control the at least one light emitting unit to emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle.

9. The lamp according to claim 4 ,
wherein the information regarding the object comprises information regarding at least one of a nearby vehicle, a two-wheeled vehicle, or a pedestrian being located within a threshold distance from the autonomous vehicle, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, in a fourth state in which the autonomous vehicle is operating in the autonomous driving state, control the at least one light emitting unit to emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle in response to acquisition of the information regarding the object.

10. The lamp according to claim 9 ,
wherein the navigation information comprises route information of the autonomous vehicle, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to control the at least one light emitting unit to display a visual image, corresponding to the route information, in the space outside the autonomous vehicle in a direction toward the object.

11. The lamp according to claim 4 ,
wherein the information regarding the road on which the autonomous vehicle is travelling comprises information indicating whether the road is an autonomous-vehicle-only road, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, based on detecting that the autonomous vehicle is travelling on the autonomous-vehicle-only road, control the at least one light emitting unit to not emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle.

12. The lamp according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the at least one light emitting unit based on the ambient illumination information by changing an amount of a light to be emitted into the space outside the autonomous vehicle.

13. The lamp according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the at least one light emitting unit based on the information regarding the object detection sensor being used by the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving state.

14. The lamp according to claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
based on detecting that the object detection sensor being used by the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving state is a camera, control the at least one light emitting unit to emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle, and
based on detecting that the object detection sensor being used by the autonomous vehicle in the autonomous driving state is not a camera, control the at least one light emitting unit to not emit a light into the space outside the autonomous vehicle.

15. The lamp according to claim 4 , wherein the information regarding the object comprises information regarding at least one of a pedestrian, a two-wheeled vehicle, or a traffic sign plate, and
wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the at least one light emitting unit to emit a light of a predetermined range toward the at least one of the pedestrian, the two-wheeled vehicle, or the traffic sign plate.

16. The lamp according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one light emitting unit comprises:
a first light emitting unit configured to implement a headlamp; and
a second light emitting unit configured to implement rear combination lamps,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
based on a determination that the autonomous vehicle is travelling amongst a group of nearby vehicles, control the at least one light emitting unit based on a position of the autonomous vehicle relative to other vehicles within the group.

17. The lamp according to claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
based on the autonomous vehicle being a lead vehicle in the group, control the first light emitting unit to emit a light toward a space in a forward direction from the autonomous vehicle.

18. The lamp according to claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
based on the autonomous vehicle being a rearmost vehicle in the group, control the second light emitting unit to emit a light toward a space in a rearward direction of the autonomous vehicle.

19. The lamp according to claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
based on the autonomous vehicle neither being a lead vehicle nor a rearmost vehicle in the group, control the light emitting unit to not emit a light into the space outs

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kim Cheolmun
• Lee Sanghyuk
• Han Kihoon

Classifications

• B60Q1/143 Primary

  combined with another condition, e.g. using vehicle recognition from camera images or activation of wipers · CPC title

• B60Q1/085 Primary

  due to special conditions, e.g. adverse weather, type of road, badly illuminated road signs or potential dangers (B60Q1/10, B60Q1/12, B60Q1/1423 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60Q2400/50

  Projected symbol or information, e.g. onto the road or car body · CPC title

• B60Q2300/42

  oncoming vehicle · CPC title

• B60Q2300/314

  Ambient light · CPC title