SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INDUCING VEHICLE TO YIELD THE RIGHT OF WAY

A system and method for inducing vehicles to yield right of way determines whether a common vehicle is an emergency vehicle through a cloud, which transmits and receives requests and response signals between vehicles, when the common vehicle transmits a request signal showing that the common vehicle is an emergency vehicle, and informs surrounding vehicles that there is an emergency vehicle in a driving path and simultaneously provides a yielding driving guide signal, which includes a driving direction for yielding driving, a lane change direction of the emergency vehicle, whether to accelerate and decelerate, etc., to the surrounding vehicles so that yielding driving may be easily performed for specific vehicles with an emergency patient other than emergency vehicles such as an ambulance and a fire truck.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0172515, filed Dec. 6, 2021, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

Field of the Present Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for inducing vehicles to yield right of way, and more particularly, to a system and method for inducing vehicles to yield the right of way, the system and method being able to induce vehicles to yield the right of way in accordance with a yielding request signal from a vehicle in an emergency.

Description of Related Art

In general, yielding driving that adjusts the speed of a subject vehicle and moves the subject vehicle to a side so that emergency vehicles, such as an ambulance and a fire truck, can pass by after hearing a siren of the emergency vehicles and recognizing the emergency vehicles around the subject vehicle while driving is performed.

However, it is substantially difficult to definitely know the location of an emergency vehicle around a subject vehicle even though a siren of the emergency vehicle is heard, so it is difficult to rapidly yield to the emergency vehicle.

Furthermore, it is possible to easily recognize emergency vehicles such as an ambulance and a fire truck from only the external shape other than a siren, so yielding driving may be performed. However, because common vehicles with an emergency patient are not recognized as emergency vehicles, yielding driving is not performed, so that the condition of the emergency patient in common vehicles may become worse or an accident may occur due to haste of a driver while driving.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to providing a system and method for inducing vehicles to yield right of way, the system and method facilitating smooth yielding driving for emergency vehicles by informing surrounding vehicles that a specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle and providing surrounding vehicles with guide signal such as a driving direction, a lane change direction of the emergency vehicle, whether to accelerate or decelerate for yielding driving, using a cloud, etc. which is connected between vehicles and transmits and receives requests and response signals between vehicles.

To achieve the objectives, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a system for inducing vehicles to yield right of way, the system including: a communication device mounted in each of a fleet of vehicles; a cloud configured to receive an emergency state signal from the communication device of a specific vehicle of the fleet of vehicles, and thereby to determine an emergency state, and then to transmit a guide signal requesting surrounding vehicles to yield the right of way to the specific vehicle in the emergency state; and an autonomous driving controller configured, based on the guide signal, to control the surrounding vehicles at a speed and in a direction so that a driving path of the specific vehicle in the emergency state may be secured.

The cloud is configured to conclude that the specific vehicle is in the emergency state when receiving a signal proving the emergency state from an emergency center, or to determine that the specific vehicle is in the emergency state when receiving an image showing that there is an emergency patient aboard the specific vehicle.

The cloud may be configured to transmit a yielding driving guide signal, which includes location information of the specific vehicle, a driving information of the specific vehicle, a lane change direction of the specific vehicle, a forward safety direction and a safety road width of the specific vehicle, a direction and a movement width for yielding driving of a surrounding vehicle, and whether to accelerate or decelerate the surrounding vehicle, to an autonomous driving controller of the surrounding vehicle.

The autonomous driving controller may be configured to determine an available road width for the surrounding vehicle based on the forward safety direction and the safety road width of the specific vehicle, and to determine a yielding driving width for one surrounding vehicle based on the determined available road width for the surrounding vehicle.

The autonomous driving controller may be configured to control the surrounding vehicle at a speed and in a direction for securing a driving path of the predetermined direction when the yielding driving width for one surrounding vehicle is greater than a sum of a width of the surrounding vehicle and a safety width.

The system may further include a display mounted in a vehicle and configured to display information of the yielding driving guide signal.

To achieve the objectives, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for inducing vehicles to yield right of way, the method including: transmitting an emergency request signal to a cloud through a communication system of a specific vehicle; determining whether the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle by the cloud; transmitting a yielding driving guide signal to a surrounding vehicle of the specific vehicle by the cloud when the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle; and controlling the surrounding vehicle at a speed and in a direction for securing a driving path of the specific vehicle by an autonomous driving controller of the surrounding vehicle based on the yielding driving guide signal.

In the determining of whether the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle, the cloud may determine that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle when receiving a signal, which proves that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle, from an emergency center, or the cloud may determine that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle when receiving an image signal showing that there is an emergency patient in the specific vehicle.

When transmitting a yielding driving guide signal to a surrounding vehicle, the cloud may transmit a yielding driving guide signal, which includes location information of the specific vehicle, a driving information of the specific vehicle, a lane change direction of the specific vehicle, a forward safety direction and a safety road width of the specific vehicle, a direction and a movement width for yielding driving of a surrounding vehicle, and whether to accelerate or decelerate the surrounding vehicle, to an autonomous driving controller of the surrounding vehicle.

The autonomous driving controller may further perform: determining an available road width for the surrounding vehicle based on the forward safety direction and the safety road width of the specific vehicle; and determining a yielding driving width for one surrounding vehicle based on the determined available road width for the surrounding vehicle.

The autonomous driving controller may be configured to control the surrounding vehicle at a speed and in a direction for securing a driving path of the specific direction when the yielding driving width for one surrounding vehicle is greater than a sum of a width of the surrounding vehicle and a safety width.

The method may further include displaying information of the yielding driving guide signal on a display mounted in a vehicle.

The present disclosure provides the following effects through the objectives described above.

First, when a specific vehicle transmits a request signal showing that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle to a cloud, the cloud, which transmits and receives requests and response signals between vehicles, determines whether the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle, and then informs surrounding vehicles that there is an emergency vehicle in the driving path. Accordingly, yielding driving may be easily performed even for specific vehicles (common vehicles) with an emergency patient other than emergency vehicles such as an ambulance and a fire truck, and accordingly, it is possible to rapidly carry an emergency patient and take following measures.

Second, because the cloud provides a yielding driving guide signal, which includes a driving direction for yielding driving, a lane change direction of an emergency vehicle, whether to accelerate and decelerate, etc., yielding driving may be rapidly and smoothly performed for the emergency vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG.1is a diagram showing the configuration of a system and method for inducing vehicles to yield right of way according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Vehicles for yielding driving (particularly, autonomous vehicles) according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure are provided with a communication system110connected to the internet so that communication is possible and are also provided with an autonomous driving controller100for generally controlling autonomous driving of an autonomous vehicles.

The autonomous driving controller100, as well-known in the art, may be configured to generally control driving including the driving direction, acceleration, deceleration, etc. of a vehicle based on information provided from a camera101, a navigation system102, a Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR)103, and a Light Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)104, etc. mounted in a vehicle.

For reference the radar103is a sensor that finds out information related to objects by emitting a radio frequency signal to a target and analyzing a reflective reception wave and the LiDAR104is a sensor that locates an object by measuring the time that a laser pulse takes to hit against a target and then return.

The autonomous driving controller100mounted in vehicles, as described above, is connected to a cloud200through the communication system110so that communication is possible, and the cloud200may be a central computer of a control center connected to the communication system110of each vehicle through the internet.

Instead of the cloud200which is connected so that communication is possible between vehicles and that transmits and receives requests and response signals between vehicles, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication, etc. that can transmit and receive various items of information between vehicles may be used.

The cloud200is configured to receive an emergency request signal from the communication system110of a specific vehicle, determines whether the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle, and then transmits a yielding driving guide signal to vehicles around the specific vehicle.

The cloud200may be configured to determine the predetermined signal as an emergency signal and transmit a yielding driving guide signal to vehicles around the specific vehicle when receiving a signal proving that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle from an emergency center that has received an emergency report.

The cloud200may also be configured to determine the specific vehicle as an emergency vehicle and transmit a yielding driving guide signal to vehicles around the specific vehicle when receiving an image signal (e.g., an image taken by a passenger) that shows an emergency patient in the specific vehicle from the communication system110in the specific vehicle.

The yielding driving guide signal which is transmitted to a surrounding vehicle of a specific vehicle by the cloud200may include the location information of the specific vehicle, the driving direction of the specific vehicle, the lane change direction of the specific vehicle, a forward safety distance and a safety road width for the specific vehicle, a direction and a movement width for yielding driving of surrounding vehicles, and whether to accelerate or decelerate the surrounding vehicles, etc. The yielding driving guide signal is transmitted to the autonomous driving controllers100through the communication systems110of the surrounding vehicles.

When receiving an emergency request signal from a specific vehicle, the cloud200can determine a forward safety distance and a safety road width for the specific vehicle based on the specifications, current location, driving direction, etc. of the specific vehicle.

Accordingly, the autonomous driving controller100is configured to control the surrounding vehicle to move at a speed and in a direction for securing a driving path of the specific vehicle based on the yielding driving guide signal transmitted from the cloud200.

To the present end, the autonomous driving controller100is configured to determine an available road width D of the surrounding vehicle based on a forward safety distance L and a safety road width d for the specific vehicle of the yielding driving guide signal transmitted from the cloud200, and to determine a yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle based on the determined available road width D.

Referring toFIG.5, the forward safety distance L for a specific vehicle may be determined by multiplying the speed of the specific vehicle by a gain to exclude interference with forward obstacles, and the safety road width d for a specific vehicle may be determined as the sum of the width ‘a’ of the specific vehicle and widths b′ and ‘c’ that are left and right distances from the specific vehicle.

The available road width D for a surrounding vehicle may be determined as a value obtained by subtracting the safety road width d of a specific vehicle from the entire road width A, and the yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle may be determined as a value obtained by dividing the available road width D for one surrounding vehicle by the number of lanes.

Accordingly, the autonomous driving controller100may be configured to control a surrounding vehicle at a speed and in a direction for securing a driving path of a specific vehicle when the yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle is greater than the sum of the width C of the surrounding vehicle and safety widths (spare widths at the left and right sides for preventing interference of a surrounding vehicle).

However, when the yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle is smaller than the sum of the width C of the surrounding vehicle and safety widths (spare width at the left and right sides for preventing interference of a surrounding vehicle), a problem may occur with safe driving of the surrounding vehicle, a specific vehicle keeps the driving path while decelerating.

When the communication system110of a surrounding vehicle receives a yielding driving guide signal from the cloud200, information of the yielding driving guide signal is displayed on a display120mounted on the surrounding vehicle.

Accordingly, when it is a non-autonomous vehicle without an autonomous driving controller100, a driver can see information of a yielding driving guide signal displayed on the display120and can manually control the subject vehicle in direction at the speed for yielding driving.

A method for inducing vehicles to yield right of way of the present disclosure including the above configuration is sequentially described hereafter.

FIG.2is a flowchart showing a method for inducing vehicles to yield right of way according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure andFIG.4is a schematic diagram showing an example in which a specific vehicle transmits an emergency request to a cloud and then the cloud transmits a yielding driving guide signal to surrounding vehicles.

First, a specific vehicle transmits an emergency request signal to the cloud200through the communication system110(S101).

For example, a specific vehicle which is being driven on a road can transmit an emergency request signal to the cloud200in an emergency.

Next, the cloud200determines whether the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle (S102).

Because the specific vehicle may be an emergency vehicle which may be recognized through a siren or the external shape such as an ambulance and a fire truck or may be a common vehicle with an emergency patient, when the specific vehicle is common vehicle, whether the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle has to be determined.

To the present end, when determining whether the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle, the cloud200can determine that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle when receiving a signal proving that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle from an emergency center.

That is, the cloud200can determine that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle when receiving a signal proving that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle from an emergency center that has received an emergency report.

Furthermore, when determining whether the specific vehicle is a true emergency vehicle, the cloud200can determine that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle when receiving an image signal that shows an emergency patient in the specific vehicle.

That is, when a guardian of an emergency patient in the specific vehicle, or the like transmits an image signal or an image of the emergency patient to the cloud200through the communication system110, the cloud200can determine that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle.

Next, the cloud transmits a yielding driving guide signal together to surrounding vehicles of the specific vehicle while informing the surrounding vehicles that there is an emergency vehicle in the driving pat (S103).

For example, as shown inFIG.4, the cloud200can transmit a yielding driving guide signal to surrounding vehicles included in the driving area of the specific vehicle determined as an emergency vehicle.

The yielding driving guide signal transmitted to surrounding vehicles of the specific vehicle by the cloud200may be received by the autonomous driving controllers100through the communication systems110of the surrounding vehicles.

In detail, when the cloud200transmits a yielding driving guide signal to surrounding vehicles of a specific vehicle, a yielding driving guide signal, which includes the location information of the specific vehicle, the driving direction of the specific vehicle, the lane change direction of the specific vehicle, a forward safety distance and a safety road width for the specific vehicle, and a direction and a movement width for yielding driving of the surrounding vehicles, and whether to accelerate or decelerate the surrounding vehicles, etc., may be received by the autonomous driving controllers100through the communication systems110of the surrounding vehicles.

Next, the autonomous driving controllers100control the surrounding vehicles to move at speeds in directions for securing a driving path of the specific vehicle based on the yielding driving guide signal transmitted from the cloud200(S104).

In other words, the autonomous driving controllers100control the speeds and directions of the surrounding vehicles for yielding driving based on the yielding driving guide signal transmitted from the cloud200.

An example of controlling the speed and the direction of a surrounding vehicle is described hereafter.

FIG.3is a flowchart showing an example of controlling the direction and the speed of a surrounding vehicle for yielding driving andFIGS.5to10are schematic diagrams showing various examples in which yielding driving is performed by surrounding vehicles for an emergency vehicle based on the system and method for inducing vehicles to yield right of way according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

First, the cloud200finds out the driving path (the location and the driving direction) of a specific vehicle determined as an emergency vehicle (S201).

The driving path (the location and the driving direction) of a specific vehicle may be found out from navigation and Global Positioning System (GPS) information, etc. when the cloud200receives an emergency request signal from the specific vehicle.

Next, the cloud200finds out a forward safety distance and a safety road width for the specific vehicle which is an emergency vehicle (S202).

As shown inFIG.5, the forward safety distance L and the safety road width d of a specific vehicle may be determined based on the specifications, the current location, the driving direction, etc. of the specific vehicle to set a driving area in which the specific vehicle may be driven without interference with obstacles.

The forward safety distance and the safety road width d of a specific vehicle are a portion of a yielding driving guide signal which is transmitted to the autonomous driving controllers100through communication systems110of surrounding vehicles from the cloud200. Accordingly, a yielding driving guide signal, which includes the location information of a specific vehicle, the driving direction of the specific vehicle, the lane change direction of the specific vehicle, a direction and a movement width for yielding driving of surrounding vehicles, and whether to accelerate or decelerate the surrounding vehicles, etc., may be transmitted to the autonomous driving controllers100through communication systems110.

Next, the cloud200checks whether there is a surrounding vehicle in the driving area including the forward safety distance and the safety road width of the specific vehicle which is an emergency vehicle (S203).

As the result of checking, if there is no surrounding vehicle in the driving area of the specific vehicle, the specific vehicle keep going, and if there is a surrounding vehicle in the driving area of the specific vehicle, the surrounding vehicle receives the yielding driving guide signal from the cloud200and can perform yielding driving.

To the present end, the autonomous driving controller100of the surrounding vehicle determines an available road width D for the surrounding vehicle based on the forward safety distance L and the safety road width d for the specific vehicle (S204).

The available road width D for the surrounding vehicle, as shown inFIG.5, may be determined as a value obtained by subtracting the safety road width d for the specific vehicle from the entire road width A.

Next, the autonomous driving controller100of the surrounding vehicle determines a yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle based on the available road width D for the surrounding vehicle (S205).

The yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle, as shown inFIG.5, may be determined as a value obtained by dividing the available road width D for the surrounding vehicle by the number or lanes.

Next, the autonomous driving controller100compares the yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle with the sum of the width C of one surrounding vehicle and a safety width (spare widths at the left and right sides for preventing interference of a surrounding vehicle) (S206).

As the result of comparison, when the yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle is greater than the sum of the width C of one surrounding vehicle and the safety width, the direction and speed of the surrounding vehicle is controlled by the autonomous driving controller100so that a driving path of the specific vehicle is secured (S207).

For example, as shown inFIG.5, when the specific vehicle is driven straight, the direction for yielding driving of surrounding vehicles may be determined as the left by the autonomous driving controllers100to secure a driving path of the specific vehicle.

Furthermore, as shown inFIG.6, a surrounding vehicle out of the driving area including the forward safety distance and the safety road width for the specific vehicle may be controlled to return to the previous driving position by the autonomous driving controller100.

Furthermore, as shown inFIG.7, when the specific vehicle is driven straight, the direction for yielding driving of surrounding vehicles may be determined as the left and the right by the autonomous driving controllers100to secure a driving path of the specific vehicle.

Furthermore, as shown inFIG.8, when the specific vehicle intends to turn left, the direction for yielding driving of surrounding vehicles may be determined as the right by the autonomous driving controllers100to secure a driving path of the specific vehicle.

Furthermore, as shown inFIG.9, when the specific vehicle intends to turn right, the direction for yielding driving of surrounding vehicles may be determined as the left by the autonomous driving controllers100to secure a driving path of the specific vehicle.

Furthermore, as shown inFIG.10, when the specific vehicle changes the lane, the vehicles, which are positioned behind the specific vehicle, of surrounding vehicles may be controlled to decelerate by the autonomous driving controllers100to secure a driving path of the specific vehicle.

However, as the result of comparison in step S206, when the yielding driving width B for one surrounding vehicle is smaller than the sum of the width C of the surrounding vehicle and safety widths (spare width at the left and right sides for preventing interference of a surrounding vehicle), because a problem may occur with safe driving of the surrounding vehicle, the specific vehicle stands by while decelerating in the driving path until yielding driving may be performed by repetition of steps S201to S206(S208).

When the communication system110of a surrounding vehicle receives a yielding driving guide signal from the cloud200, information of the yielding driving guide signal is displayed on a display120mounted on the surrounding vehicle.

Accordingly, when it is a non-autonomous vehicle without an autonomous driving controller100, a driver can see information of a yielding driving guide signal displayed on the display120and can manually control the subject vehicle in direction at the speed for yielding driving.

As described above, when a specific vehicle transmits a request signal showing that the specific vehicle is an emergency vehicle to a cloud, the cloud determines whether the specific vehicle is a true emergency vehicle, and then informs surrounding vehicles that there is an emergency vehicle in the driving path. Accordingly, yielding driving may be easily performed even for specific vehicles with an emergency patient other than emergency vehicles such as an ambulance and a fire truck, and accordingly, it is possible to rapidly carry an emergency patient and take following measures.