Patent Description:
Document <CIT> describes an Autonomous Vehicle Enhancement System (AVES) and method for monitoring and managing a virtual or existing fleet of autonomous vehicles in a transportation network and dispatching the autonomous vehicles to users. The AVES includes an AVES Central Operations Center (COC) that communicates with AVES vehicle equipment installed in the autonomous vehicles and AVES applications installed on computing devices accessible by the users. The AVES improves the operating efficiency of a transportation network by monitoring the condition of autonomous vehicles, optimizing the geographical distribution of the autonomous vehicles and optimizing assignment of the autonomous vehicles to users requesting services.

Document <CIT> describes a method in which a vehicle compares a trajectory of another vehicle driving in front to its own desired trajectory. If a similarity level of the trajectories is high enough, automated driving is used to follow the desired trajectory. If differences are high, manual driving can be used. Document <CIT> discloses a concept for determining a reference trajectory by a scout vehicle. The reference trajectory can be provided to following vehicles. A quality of the trajectory ultimately determines whether it is used by the following vehicles. Document<CIT> also describes a concept for determining a trajectory by a scout vehicle. A similarity between the environments of the scout vehicle and the following vehicles may determine whether the trajectory of the scout vehicle re-used. Document <CIT> discloses evaluation of a similarity of trajectories and a similarity of environments of scout and following vehicles. A safe drives mode may be activated in case of differences above a threshold.

Document <CIT> describes computer devices, systems, and methods for an autonomous passenger vehicle. An unexpected driving environment can be identified, such as by using one or more processors. Information based on the unexpected driving environment received from one or more sensors disposed on the vehicle can be sent to a remote operator using a remote server. A command sent by the remote operator relating to one or more vehicle systems can be received. The command can be sent to the one or more vehicle systems for execution.

Conventional concepts consider management and organization of automated vehicles. There are, however, traffic situations, which are difficult to resolve with fully automated driving algorithms. There is a demand for an improved concept for overcoming exceptional traffic situations for automated driving.

This object is achieved by methods, apparatuses and a computer program according to enclosed independent claims. Advantageous features of the present invention are defined in the corresponding dependent claims.

Embodiments are based on the finding that there are traffic situations, e.g. if an obstacle is in the regular way, which cannot be resolved by means of automated driving mechanisms. For example, if an object (parking/unloading vehicle) blocks a one-way street a way passing said vehicle may require driving a short section on the sidewalk. Driving on a side walk may, however, not be allowed in normal automated driving mode. Embodiments are based on the finding that once such an exceptional traffic situation is detected a communication with a network component can resolve the situation, for example by receiving instructions on a route section that resolves the traffic situation.

Embodiments provide a method for a vehicle to determine a route section. The method comprises operating the vehicle in an automated driving mode and determining an exceptional traffic situation. The method further comprises transmitting information related to the exceptional traffic situation to a network component using a mobile communication system. The method further comprises receiving information related to driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation from the network component. Embodiments may enable network assisted route adaptation in case of unexpected traffic situations for automated driving.

The receiving of the driving instructions may comprise tele-operating the vehicle along the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation. Embodiments may enable to switch from an automated driving mode to a tele-operated driving mode in case of an unexpected traffic situation. A tele-operator or tele-driver may then remotely steer the vehicle out of the traffic situation.

In some embodiments the receiving of the driving instructions may comprise receiving information on the route section from the network component and the method may further comprise autonomously/automatically operating the vehicle along the route section. Embodiments may enable a re-use of an already known route section, which are able to overcome an exceptional traffic situation.

The receiving of the driving instructions comprises an instruction to manually operate the vehicle out of the exceptional traffic situation. Hence, in some embodiments and depending on the respective exceptional traffic situation the network component may instruct a user of the vehicle to manually operate the vehicle. The route section is then determined by manually operating the vehicle out of the exceptional traffic situation. The method may then further comprise transmitting information related to the route section to the network component. The route section may then be determined by an actual driver of the vehicle and information related to the route section resolving the exceptional traffic situation can be transmitted and stored for later re-use (the same applies to route section determined by tele-operated driving).

The method may comprise providing information related to an environmental model of the vehicle in addition to the information related to the exceptional traffic situation in further embodiments. Provision of information related to the environmental model may reduce the amount of other data, particularly, video data, which has to be provided to a remote operator. Embodiments may enable more efficient tele-operating of vehicles through provision of environmental data. The network component, e.g. a control center for remote driving, may be able to determine the route section based on the environmental data and possibly some other data. Such other data may comprise vehicle, sensor, or video data. In some embodiments the method may further comprise providing information related to vehicle data and video data to the network component in addition to the information related to the exceptional traffic situation. Embodiments may enable to reduce a data rate for tele-operated or remote driving of a vehicle. Sensor data of the vehicle and/or the data on the environmental model may enable a reduction of video or other data which needs to be provided from the vehicle to the tele-operator.

Embodiments further provide a method for a network component to determine a route section for a vehicle. The method comprises receiving information related to an exceptional traffic situation from the vehicle using a mobile communication system. The method further comprises obtaining information related to driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation, and transmitting the information related to the driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation to the vehicle. Embodiments enable a network component to assist an automated vehicle in overcoming an exceptional traffic situation.

The obtaining of the information related to the driving instructions may comprise retrieving previously stored information related to the route section from a storage. As outlined above, the previously determined information on a route section overcoming a specific exceptional traffic situation may be stored and re-used. Embodiments may provide a more signaling efficient solution for resolving a traffic situation by providing a resolving route to multiple vehicles, rather than re-solving the same situation multiple times for multiple vehicles. In some embodiments the obtaining of the information related to the driving instructions comprises tele-operating the vehicle out of the exceptional traffic situation. Additionally or alternatively, the method may further comprise receiving information related to an environmental model of the vehicle from the vehicle. The obtaining of the information related to the driving instructions may then comprise determining information related to the route section based on the information related to the environmental model of the vehicle. The method may further comprise storing information related to the route section in a storage. Embodiments may enable re-use of a route determined based on an environmental model of a vehicle or based on a remote or tele-operator.

The obtaining of the information related to the driving instructions comprises instructing a user of the vehicle to manually operate the vehicle out of the exceptional traffic situation. Hence, a user of the vehicle determines the route section out of the situation by hands-on-driving the vehicle. Still, the method may comprise storing information related to the route section in a storage. Embodiments may efficiently determine and re-use the route section.

Embodiments also provide an apparatus for a vehicle. The vehicle apparatus comprises one or more interfaces, which are configured to communicate in a mobile communication system. The vehicle apparatus further comprises a control module, which is configured to control the one or more interfaces. The control module is further configured to perform one of the methods described herein. Likewise, embodiments provide an apparatus for a network component, which comprises one or more interfaces configured to communicate in a mobile communication system. The network component apparatus further comprises a control module, which is configured to control the one or more interfaces. The control module is further configured to perform one of the methods described herein.

Further embodiments are a vehicle comprising an embodiment of the vehicle apparatus and a network component comprising the network component apparatus.

Embodiments further provide a computer program having a program code for performing one or more of the above described methods, when the computer program is executed on a computer, processor, or programmable hardware component. A further embodiment is a computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer, processor, or programmable hardware component, cause the computer to implement one of the methods described herein.

It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed.

It will be further understood that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes" or "including", when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components or groups thereof.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a method <NUM> a vehicle to determine a route section. The method <NUM> comprises operating <NUM> the vehicle in an autonomous/automated driving mode and determining <NUM> an exceptional traffic situation. The method <NUM> further comprises transmitting <NUM> information related to the exceptional traffic situation to a network component using a mobile communication system. The method further comprises receiving <NUM> information related to driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation from the network component.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a method <NUM> for a network component to determine a route section for a vehicle. The method <NUM> comprises receiving <NUM> information related to an exceptional traffic situation from the vehicle using a mobile communication system. The method <NUM> further comprises obtaining <NUM> information related to driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation. The method <NUM> further comprises transmitting <NUM> information related to the driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation to the vehicle. As will be explained in more detail subsequently, examples for the information related to the driving instructions are instructions to manually operate the vehicle and optionally control information from a remote-control center (tele-operated driving), information related to a stored path (determined before), which is known to overcome the unexpected traffic situation.

The mobile communication system <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>, may, for example, correspond to one of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-standardized mobile communication networks, where the term mobile communication system is used synonymously to mobile communication network. The mobile or wireless communication system <NUM> may correspond to a mobile communication system of the 5th Generation (<NUM>, or New Radio) and may use mm-Wave technology. The mobile communication system may correspond to or comprise, for example, a Long-Term Evolution (LTE), an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), a Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) or a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), an evolved-UTRAN (e-UTRAN), a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network, a GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), or mobile communication networks with different standards, for example, a Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) network IEEE <NUM> or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) IEEE <NUM>, generally an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Wideband-CDMA (WCDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, a Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA) network, etc..

Service provision may be carried out by a network component, such as a base station transceiver, a relay station or a UE, e.g. coordinating service provision in a cluster or group of multiple UEs. Here and in the following the network component may be a Control Center (CC), which controls remotely operated or tele-operated vehicles. For example, it may correspond to a computer system displaying data (e.g. video streams) obtained from a vehicle to an operator or remote driver of the vehicle. Generally such a CC may be located as close to a controlled vehicle as possible in order to keep a latency of the video data in an uplink and the control or steering data in the downlink as short as possible. In some embodiments communication may be carried out via a base station, which may be collocated with the CC or located close to base station. Signaling may be routed directly from the CC to the vehicle, i.e. on a shortest path to keep the latency and delay as short as possible.

A base station transceiver can be operable or configured to communicate with one or more active mobile transceivers/vehicles <NUM> and a base station transceiver can be located in or adjacent to a coverage area of another base station transceiver, e.g. a macro cell base station transceiver or small cell base station transceiver. Hence, embodiments may provide a mobile communication system <NUM> comprising two or more mobile transceivers/vehicles <NUM> and one or more base station transceivers, wherein the base station transceivers may establish macro cells or small cells, as e.g. pico-, metro-, or femto cells. A mobile transceiver or UE may correspond to a smartphone, a cell phone, a laptop, a notebook, a personal computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Universal Serial Bus (USB) -stick, a car, a vehicle etc. A mobile transceiver may also be referred to as User Equipment (UE) or mobile in line with the 3GPP terminology. A vehicle may correspond to any conceivable means for transportation, e.g. a car, a bike, a motorbike, a van, a truck, a bus, a ship, a boat, a plane, a train, a tram, etc..

A base station transceiver can be located in the fixed or stationary part of the network or system. A base station transceiver may be or correspond to a remote radio head, a transmission point, an access point, a macro cell, a small cell, a micro cell, a femto cell, a metro cell etc. A base station transceiver can be a wireless interface of a wired network, which enables transmission of radio signals to a UE or mobile transceiver. Such a radio signal may comply with radio signals as, for example, standardized by 3GPP or, generally, in line with one or more of the above listed systems. Thus, a base station transceiver may correspond to a NodeB, an eNodeB, a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), an access point, a remote radio head, a relay station, a transmission point etc., which may be further subdivided in a remote unit and a central unit.

A mobile transceiver <NUM> can be associated with a base station transceiver or cell. The term cell refers to a coverage area of radio services provided by a base station transceiver, e.g. a NodeB (NB), an eNodeB (eNB), a remote radio head, a transmission point, etc. A base station transceiver may operate one or more cells on one or more frequency layers, in some embodiments a cell may correspond to a sector. For example, sectors can be achieved using sector antennas, which provide a characteristic for covering an angular section around a remote unit or base station transceiver. In some embodiments, a base station transceiver may, for example, operate three or six cells covering sectors of <NUM>° (in case of three cells), <NUM>° (in case of six cells) respectively. A base station transceiver may operate multiple sectorized antennas. In the following a cell may represent an according base station transceiver generating the cell or, likewise, a base station transceiver may represent a cell the base station transceiver generates.

Mobile transceivers <NUM> may communicate directly with each other, i.e. without involving any base station transceiver, which is also referred to as Device-to-Device (D2D) communication.

An example of D2D is direct communication between vehicles, also referred to as Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication (V2V), car-to-car using <NUM>. 11p, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), respectively.

<FIG> shows an embodiment of an apparatus <NUM> for a UE or vehicle <NUM>, an embodiment of an apparatus <NUM> for a network component, and an embodiment of a system <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> for the UE/vehicle <NUM> comprises one or more interfaces <NUM> configured to communicate in the mobile communication system <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> further comprises a control module <NUM>, which is coupled to the one or more interfaces <NUM> and which is configured to control the one or more interfaces <NUM>. The control module <NUM> is further configured to perform one of the methods <NUM> as described herein.

The apparatus <NUM> for the network component <NUM> comprises one or more interfaces <NUM>, which are configured to communicate in the mobile communication system <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> further comprises a control module <NUM>, which is coupled to the one or more interfaces <NUM> and which is configured to control the one or more interfaces <NUM>. The control module <NUM> is further configured to perform one of the methods <NUM> as described herein. The apparatus <NUM> may be comprised in a CC, a base station, a NodeB, a UE, a relay station, or any service coordinating network entity in embodiments. It is to be noted that the term network component may comprise multiple sub-components, such as a base station, a server, a CC, etc. A further embodiment is a vehicle <NUM> comprising the apparatus <NUM> and/or a network component <NUM> comprising the apparatus <NUM>.

In embodiments the one or more interfaces <NUM>, <NUM> may correspond to any means for obtaining, receiving, transmitting or providing analog or digital signals or information, e.g. any connector, contact, pin, register, input port, output port, conductor, lane, etc. which allows providing or obtaining a signal or information. An interface may be wireless or wireline and it may be configured to communicate, i.e. transmit or receive signals, information with further internal or external components. The one or more interfaces <NUM>, <NUM> may comprise further components to enable according communication in the mobile communication system <NUM>, such components may include transceiver (transmitter and/or receiver) components, such as one or more Low-Noise Amplifiers (LNAs), one or more Power-Amplifiers (PAs), one or more duplexers, one or more diplexers, one or more filters or filter circuitry, one or more converters, one or more mixers, accordingly adapted radio frequency components, etc. The one or more interfaces <NUM>, <NUM> may be coupled to one or more antennas, which may correspond to any transmit and/or receive antennas, such as horn antennas, dipole antennas, patch antennas, sector antennas etc. The antennas may be arranged in a defined geometrical setting, such as a uniform array, a linear array, a circular array, a triangular array, a uniform field antenna, a field array, combinations thereof, etc. In some examples the one or more interfaces <NUM>, <NUM> may serve the purpose of transmitting or receiving or both, transmitting and receiving, information, such as information related to capabilities, application requirements, trigger indications, requests, message interface configurations, feedback, information related to control commands, QoS requirements, QoS time courses, QoS maps, etc..

As shown in <FIG> the respective one or more interfaces <NUM>, <NUM> are coupled to the respective control modules <NUM>, <NUM> at the apparatuses <NUM>, <NUM>. In embodiments the control modules <NUM>, <NUM> may be implemented using one or more processing units, one or more processing devices, any means for processing, such as a processor, a computer or a programmable hardware component being operable with accordingly adapted software. In other words, the described functions of the control modules <NUM>, <NUM> may as well be implemented in software, which is then executed on one or more programmable hardware components. Such hardware components may comprise a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a microcontroller, etc..

<FIG> also shows an embodiment of a system <NUM> comprising embodiments of UE/vehicle <NUM>, and a network component/base station <NUM> comprising the apparatus <NUM>. In embodiments, communication, i.e. transmission, reception or both, may take place among mobile transceivers/vehicles <NUM> directly and/or between mobile transceivers/vehicles <NUM> and a network component <NUM> (infrastructure or mobile transceiver, e.g. a base station, a network server, a backend server, etc.). Such communication may make use of a mobile communication system <NUM>. Such communication may be carried out directly, e.g. by means of Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, which may also comprise Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) or car-to-car communication in case of vehicles <NUM>. Such communication may be carried out using the specifications of a mobile communication system <NUM>.

In embodiments the one or more interfaces <NUM>, <NUM> can be configured to wirelessly communicate in the mobile communication system <NUM>. In order to do so radio resources are used, e.g. frequency, time, code, and/or spatial resources, which may be used for wireless communication with a base station transceiver as well as for direct communication. The assignment of the radio resources may be controlled by a base station transceiver, i.e. the determination which resources are used for D2D and which are not. Here and in the following radio resources of the respective components may correspond to any radio resources conceivable on radio carriers and they may use the same or different granularities on the respective carriers. The radio resources may correspond to a Resource Block (RB as in LTE/LTE-A/LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U)), one or more carriers, sub-carriers, one or more radio frames, radio sub-frames, radio slots, one or more code sequences potentially with a respective spreading factor, one or more spatial resources, such as spatial sub-channels, spatial precoding vectors, any combination thereof, etc..

For example, in direct Cellular Vehicle-to-Anything (C-V2X), where V2X includes at least V2V, V2-Infrastructure (V2I), etc., transmission according to 3GPP Release <NUM> onward can be managed by infrastructure (so-called mode <NUM>) or run in a UE.

<FIG> also illustrates the methods <NUM> and <NUM> as described above. The apparatus <NUM> of the vehicle <NUM> operated the vehicle <NUM> in automated mode <NUM> if an exceptional traffic situation is determined <NUM>. Such an exceptional situation may be any traffic situation that is unexpected or differs from an expectation according to routing information or map information available in the vehicle <NUM>. For example, the road may be blocked by another vehicle, a construction side, an accident, flooding etc. Other exceptions may be a closed road, a closed tunnel, unexpected road conditions etc. The vehicle itself may operate multiple sensor systems capturing data of the vehicle's environment. Such data may comprise video data, imaging data, radar data, lidar data (light detection and ranging), temperature data, air pressure data, radio environment data, information received from other vehicles, etc. Based on this data a matching can be carried out between the assigned route for automated driving and the sensor data. In some embodiments, as will be detailed in the sequel, the captured data is used to generate an environmental model of the vehicle. This model may be a digital representation of the environment of the vehicle possibly including other vehicles, objects, roadside infrastructure, traffic signs, pedestrians, etc. Based on this model an unexpected situation can be detected, e.g. an obstacle is detected in the way and passing the obstacle would require to pass through a forbidden area, e.g. sidewalk, opposite lane, etc. In some embodiments the exceptional situation may as well be determined by receiving a traffic message, e.g. a broadcast message from another vehicle.

As further shown in <FIG> the vehicle <NUM> then transmits information related to the exceptional traffic situation to the network component <NUM> using a mobile communication system <NUM>. From the perspective of the network component <NUM> the information related to the exceptional traffic situation is received <NUM> from the vehicle <NUM>. At the network component <NUM> information related to driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation can be obtained <NUM>. Finally, information related to the instructions can be transmitted <NUM> back to the vehicle <NUM>, received <NUM> at the vehicle <NUM>, respectively.

Embodiments may provide a concept for tele-operated driving based on a slim uplink and a locally proposed path. Tele-operated Driving (TD) is getting more and more interest. The main concept of TD is a vehicle remotely driven by a control center (CC). Between CC and vehicle may be a large distance. They are connected via a radio communication system (e.g. <NUM>, <NUM>. ) and their backhaul. In an embodiment a fully automatically driving vehicle gets stopped (also referred to as SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) level <NUM> (L5) vehicle). For example, the automated vehicle is not able to continue its planed route because it is not able to interpret the situation. <FIG> illustrates an exceptional traffic scenario in an embodiment, where a truck (obstacle <NUM>) is blocking a one-way road.

It is assumed that vehicles <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are automated vehicles (L5). They would need to drive on the sidewalk in order to continue their planed route. In some embodiments TD provides a solution for this scenario.

Vehicles controlled via remote control are uploading high data streams in the uplink (UL) to the CC. In <FIG> it is assumed that the network component <NUM> comprises a base station (BS), the CC and some server/memory. As has been outlined above, in other embodiments these components might not be collocated but located at different locations. In this description the term network component <NUM> shall summarize these components as one functional entity although they may be implemented as multiple physical entities. The distance between CC and the vehicle <NUM> may contribute to the latency of any driving instructions before reaching the vehicle and any data (video, sensor, etc.) being transmitted from the vehicle to the CC.

The data streams provided by a remotely or tele-operated vehicle may comprise radar images, LIDAR and camera data. Close by driving cars are "seeing" the same environment around them. This redundant data is occupying a considerable amount of bandwidth in the UL. For current technologies such as <NUM>, the UL is expected to be a bottleneck as the network was designed to support high downlink (DL) and low UL data rates. For TD it is vice versa: high UL (sensor data) and low DL (control data). Latency is also an issue here. Furthermore, each car needs to be driven manually via remote control. This implies that many drivers and CCs are needed. In such an embodiment the receiving <NUM> of the driving instructions comprises tele-operating the vehicle along the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation. Moreover, information related to an environmental model of the vehicle may be provided to the network component in addition to the information related to the exceptional traffic situation. The information on the environmental model may allow decreasing a subsequent video data rate on the uplink. High data rates usually needed in the UL for teleoperated driving may be decreased in embodiments. In embodiments information related to vehicle data and video data (e.g. with reduced data rate) may be provided to the network component in addition to the information related to the exceptional traffic situation.

Each vehicle may be controlled by one driver in the CC. Embodiments are further based on the finding that a path driven remotely by the CC might be highly redundant with the path from a car remotely driven before. At least some embodiments therefore store information related to a route information or information related to driving instructions solving an unexpected traffic situation, such that the information can be re-used later on to solve the situation for other vehicles as well. In embodiments the storage or memory for storing information related to a path or a route may be any device capable of storing such information, examples are a hard drive, a flash drive, an optical storage medium, a magnetic storage medium, a solid state memory, any mass storage device, etc..

As has been described above, different options are conceivable in embodiments to determine the route section leading out of the exceptional traffic situation. For example, the CC proposes a path (route section) based on the received environmental model, vehicle data and video data. The proposed path is stored on a server close to the geographical location of the path and might be used by other vehicles <NUM>, <NUM> after internal verification (plausibility check).

Instead of transmitting all sensor data to the CC, the vehicle may upload its environmental model plus some video data in some embodiments. The proposed path may be drawn (maybe just a few points) at the CC or slowly driven by CC.

The procedure/method may be implemented as following in a further embodiment:.

The automated vehicle <NUM> gets a proposed path, this means it can accept it after internal evaluation or it might reject it. The CC draws this path based on the environmental model and the video data (slim uplink) or creates it when driving the path with the first car <NUM> remotely. For example, vehicle <NUM> may provide the following content or conditions to the network component <NUM>:.

Embodiments may enable a slim uplink, i.e. reduced uplink data for remote or tele-operated driving. This may be achieved by transmitting the environmental model (UMF), vehicle data (e.g. height, width, weight,. ) and video data in the uplink instead of transmitting more data like radar, lidar and other sensor data. In embodiments a tele-operated driving server (TD server) may be used and the CC may store a proposed path. The server may be located close to the geographical position of the proposed path in order to reduce latency. The TD server could also be located at a car or in infrastructure like traffic lights and shared via side-link.

<FIG> shows another exceptional traffic scenario in an embodiment. <FIG> shows a highway scenario with a construction site <NUM>. Vehicle hV1 (highway vehicle <NUM>) <NUM> has determined a path around the obstacle <NUM>, which is locally stored at the network component <NUM> (e.g. base station, local server, road side unit, CC, etc.). For example, the stored path has been determined by means of tele-operated driving or manually driving the vehicle <NUM> through the construction side <NUM>. The following vehicles hV2, hV3 <NUM>, <NUM> can then use the proposed stored path. Embodiments may provide an efficient concept for guiding a plurality of vehicles around an obstacle <NUM> by re-using a path determined by a first vehicle <NUM> for other vehicles <NUM>, <NUM> subsequently passing the same obstacle <NUM>.

In the embodiment illustrated by <FIG> the automated vehicle hV1 <NUM> had troubles to drive through the construction site <NUM>. Therefore, it was helped by the control center (CC) <NUM> via remote control. The driven path and more collected data (sensor data) from hV1 <NUM> are sent via the radio channel and stored locally at a server at BS/RSU <NUM> in form of a proposed path. hV2 and hV3 <NUM>, <NUM> are approaching this area and may use the proposed path from the server. When/if they can use this proposed path, they do not need to call the CC and tele-operated driving becomes scalable for more users. The locally stored proposed path may be stored in server/memory. Storing locally the proposed path may solve a scalability problem and reduce communication traffic. If more cars need to be driven through this critical area just the first one is controlled by the CC and the following may use the locally stored proposed path. It may be stored at the BS, RSU or even at another vehicle and shared via sidelink. In the later scenario the network component <NUM> can be in a vehicle, e.g. vehicle <NUM>, sharing the information on the route section with other vehicles <NUM>, <NUM> via direct communication, e.g. PC5 or 3GPP sidelink.

As already mentioned, in embodiments the respective methods may be implemented as computer programs or codes, which can be executed on a respective hardware. Hence, another embodiment is a computer program having a program code for performing at least one of the above methods, when the computer program is executed on a computer, a processor, or a programmable hardware component. A further embodiment is a (non-transitory) computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer, processor, or programmable hardware component, cause the computer to implement one of the methods described herein.

The description and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention and are included within its scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions.

Claim 1:
A method (<NUM>) for a vehicle (<NUM>) to determine a route section, wherein the route section is a vehicle path, the method (<NUM>) comprising
operating (<NUM>) the vehicle (<NUM>) in an automated driving mode;
determining (<NUM>) an exceptional traffic situation;
transmitting (<NUM>) information related to the exceptional traffic situation to a network component (<NUM>) using a mobile communication system (<NUM>); and
receiving (<NUM>) information related to driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation from the network component (<NUM>),
wherein the receiving (<NUM>) of the driving instructions comprises an instruction to manually operate the vehicle (<NUM>) out of the exceptional traffic situation, wherein the route section is determined by manually operating the vehicle (<NUM>) out of the exceptional traffic situation by an actual driver of the vehicle, characterised in that the method (<NUM>) further comprises transmitting the manually driven vehicle path to the network component (<NUM>) for later re-use to solve the exceptional traffic situation for other vehicles.