Patent ID: 11914371
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 5:
6. A method for controlling an autonomous driving vehicle that provides a driverless transportation service for a user, the method comprising:
recognizing a phenomenon at a current location of the autonomous driving vehicle or on a planned travel route from the current location to a destination, the phenomenon being one or more of rain, snow, a flood, an earthquake, or a tsunami;
based on recognizing the phenomenon, determining whether to continue or halt vehicle travel control in accordance with a current travel plan; and
based on determining to halt the vehicle travel control in accordance with the current travel plan, selecting an emergency plan and controlling the autonomous driving vehicle in accordance with the selected emergency plan, wherein
a first emergency plan controls the autonomous driving vehicle to travel along a bypass route that bypasses the phenomenon to reach the destination,
a second emergency plan controls the autonomous driving vehicle to travel along an evacuation route that enables evacuation from the phenomenon,
a third emergency plan controls the autonomous driving vehicle to stop at the current location regardless of the destination and unlocks a door of the autonomous driving vehicle after the autonomous driving vehicle stops,
selecting the emergency plan comprises selecting one of the first emergency plan, the second emergency plan, or the third emergency plan as the emergency plan according to whether the recognized phenomenon is the rain, the snow, the flood, the earthquake, or the tsunami, and
the third emergency plan further includes:
obtaining concentration of surrounding buildings from surrounding situation information indicating a situation around the autonomous driving vehicle and obtained by a sensor group of the autonomous driving vehicle;
determining whether the current location of the autonomous driving vehicle is in a town based on whether the concentration of surrounding buildings is higher than a threshold;
when the current location is in a town, controlling the autonomous driving vehicle to stop at the current location without notifying the user of occurrence of the phenomenon; and
when the current location is not in a town, controlling the autonomous driving vehicle to stop at the current location after notifying the user of occurrence of the phenomenon.