Operation of a vehicle by classifying a preceding vehicle lane

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9981660-B2
Application number	US-201615251623-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2016
Priority date	Aug 30, 2016
Publication date	May 29, 2018
Grant date	May 29, 2018

Abstract

Operating a host vehicle is described as including identifying remote vehicle information indicating at least a geospatial state for a remote vehicle and identifying host vehicle information indicating at least a geospatial state for the host vehicle. For a sequence of sampling points, a distance between the remote vehicle and the host vehicle within a transportation network is determined based on the remote vehicle information and the host vehicle information, an angle from a centerline extending from the host vehicle for the distance is calculated, the angle varying as a function of the distance, and a conically-shaped zone is determined using the angle. Responsive to the remote vehicle being located within the conically-shaped zone, the host vehicle is operated based on the remote vehicle being in a lane in which the host vehicle is traveling. The host vehicle is behind the remote vehicle in a direction of travel. A method, vehicle, and apparatus are described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a host vehicle, comprising:
identifying remote vehicle information indicating at least a geospatial state for a remote vehicle;
identifying host vehicle information indicating at least a geospatial state for the host vehicle;
for a sequence of sampling points:
determining a distance between the remote vehicle and the host vehicle within a transportation network based on the remote vehicle information and the host vehicle information, the host vehicle behind the remote vehicle in a direction of travel;
calculating an angle from a centerline extending from the host vehicle for the distance, the angle varying as a function of the distance; and
determining a conically-shaped zone using the angle, wherein the conically-shaped zone diverges from the host vehicle; and

responsive to the remote vehicle being located within the conically-shaped zone, operating the host vehicle based on the remote vehicle being in a lane in which the host vehicle is traveling.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the function is a step-wise function of the distance such that a range of values for the distance is associated with a single value for the angle.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the function comprises a step-wise function formed of a catenation of terms including respective ranges of values for the distance as inputs.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the function further comprises a term including a trigonometric function arctan(2/x) for a first range of values between zero and a first distance value, wherein x is the distance.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the respective ranges of values are determined so as to maintain an outer range of the conically-shaped zone within a defined range of values based on a width of the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to the remote vehicle being located outside the conically-shaped zone, concluding that the remote vehicle is not in the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
inputting a signal to a vehicle control system identifying the remote vehicle as being in the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to determining a first conically-shaped zone using a first angle calculated using a first distance, using the first angle for determining the conically-shaped zone until one or more angles smaller than the first angle are calculated for a defined number of contiguous sampling points of the sequence.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the function is a step-wise function of the distance such that a range of values for the distance has a single output value for the angle, the method further comprising:
responsive to the one or more angles smaller than the first angle being calculated for the defined number of contiguous sampling points of the sequence, using a second angle to determine the conically-shaped zone, the second angle being the single output value of the step-wise function that is adjacent to and smaller than the first angle.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to the remote vehicle being located within a first conically-shaped zone determined using a first angle calculated using a first distance, using a second angle calculated for a next sampling point in the sequence only if the second angle is larger than the first angle.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the remote vehicle is located within the conically-shaped zone using the remote vehicle information.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining whether the remote vehicle is located within the conically-shaped zone comprises comparing an angle between the centerline and a position of the remote vehicle and the angle used to determine the conically-shaped zone.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
ending the sequence of sampling points responsive to the distance having a maximum value.

14. A host vehicle, comprising:
a powertrain;
a sensor; and
an operation system to operate the host vehicle, the operation system configured to:
identify remote vehicle information indicating at least a geospatial state for a remote vehicle;
identify, using at least the sensor, host vehicle information indicating at least a geospatial state for the host vehicle;
for a sequence of sampling points:
determine a distance between the remote vehicle and the host vehicle within a transportation network based on the remote vehicle information and the host vehicle information, the host vehicle behind the remote vehicle in a direction of travel; and
calculate an angle from a centerline extending from the host vehicle for the distance, the angle varying as a function of the distance;

responsive to the remote vehicle being located within a first conically-shaped zone determined by a first angle calculated at a first sampling point of the sequence, operate the host vehicle based on the remote vehicle being in a lane in which the host vehicle is traveling;
responsive to calculating a second angle larger than the first angle at a second sampling point of the sequence:
determine whether the remote vehicle remains in the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling by determining whether the remote vehicle is located within a second conically-shaped zone determined by the second angle; and

responsive to calculating a third angle smaller than the first angle at the second sampling point of the sequence:
determine whether the remote vehicle remains in the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling by determining whether the remote vehicle is located within the first conically-shaped zone determined by the first angle.

15. The vehicle of claim 14 , wherein the operation system is configured to operate the host vehicle based on the remote vehicle being in the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling by generating a converging path for the remote vehicle and the host vehicle and transmitting a control signal to the powertrain.

16. The vehicle of claim 14 , wherein the function is a step-wise function of the distance such that a range of values for the distance has a single output value for the angle.

17. An apparatus for controlling a host vehicle, comprising:
a processor; and
memory storing instructions that cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
identifying remote vehicle information indicating at least a geospatial state for a remote vehicle;
identifying host vehicle information indicating at least a geospatial state for the host vehicle;
for a sequence of sampling points:
determining a distance between the remote vehicle and the host vehicle within a transportation network based on the remote vehicle information and the host vehicle information, the host vehicle behind the remote vehicle in a direction of travel;
calculating an angle from a centerline extending from the host vehicle for the distance, the angle varying as a function of the distance; and
determining a conically-shaped zone using the angle, wherein the conically-shaped zone diverges from the host vehicle; and
operating the host vehicle based on the remote vehicle being in a lane in which the host vehicle is traveling as long as the remote vehicle remains within the conically-shaped zone.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the function comprises a catenation of terms including:
a first term comprising a trigonometric function arctan(y/x) for a first range of value

Assignees

• Nissan North America Inc

Inventors

• Damiani Andrew
• Goudy Roy
• Probert Neal

Classifications

• B60W2754/10

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• B60W2554/801

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• G01S2013/9324

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• G01S2013/9323

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• G01S2013/9321

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