Patent Description:
The present invention relates to vehicles, methods, computer programs, and apparatuses for resolving a deadlock traffic situation in an automatically operated vehicle, more specifically, but not exclusively, to a concept for coordinating communication traffic for vehicles queuing at a deadlock traffic situation.

Vehicular communication is a field of research and development. To enable an autonomous, automatic, or semi-autonomous driving of vehicles, vehicles are expected to use Vehicle-to-Vehicle-communication (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) communication, e.g. to coordinate driving maneuvers and/or to receive tele-operated driving instructions. This communication is generally wireless, i.e. vehicles may wirelessly communicate with other vehicles in their vicinity and/or with backend services via cellular mobile communication systems.

Tele-operated driving (ToD) is getting more and more interest. The main concept of ToD is an automated vehicle (AV) remotely driven by a control/command center (CC). CC and AV may be far away from each other. They are connected via a radio communication system (e.g. <NUM>th, <NUM>th Generation mobile communication systems (<NUM>, <NUM>)) and its backhaul. Therefore, a certain end-to-end (E2E) delay and data rate are to be expected. The CC controls the automated vehicle (AV) via remote control. In direct control the CC directly controls one or more actuators of the AV.

Tele-operated driving (ToD) might become a key technology in order to solve issues with L4/L5 (L4: highly automatic, L5: fully automatic) driven vehicles, such as interpretation issues or deadlocks (situations, which cannot be resolved by autonomous or automatic control mechanisms only). These issues occur when automatic driven vehicles (AV) are not able to interpret and to solve a situation (deadlock) due to unclear traffic conditions, e.g. an accident or a construction site. These vehicles may need external instruction from someone else to solve the situation, which can be the CC. A ToD vehicle will be driven remotely in a ToD session by a CC, an operator therein, respectively.

Document <CIT> describes methods and systems for remote support of autonomous operation of vehicles. State indicators are generated by a first state display based on state data from a portion of vehicles assigned to a respective first level control station. A second state display is generated for a second control station and displays state indicators for the state data of the vehicles. A remote support interface including the first state display and image data received from a first vehicle of the vehicles is generated. Instruction data to the first vehicle is transmitted using the remote support interface and based on an indication that the first vehicle needs remote support, the instruction data modifying the autonomous operation of the first vehicle. A workload between the first level control stations is allocated by assigning the vehicles using the state indicators of the second state display.

Document <CIT> provides a system and method that anticipates a particular coming failure in the automated vehicle industry, which is that it will not actually be fully automated, and introduces a novel computer and processor-based mechanism for economically working around this deficiency, which is to provide on-demand access to over-subscribed banks of remote human operators.

The prior art concepts describe concepts for remote control and sharing information about an environment between vehicles/operators so the individual vehicles can benefit from other sensor data. However, although improved environmental knowledge or models may also improve ToD, still in a deadlock situation, i.e. a situation that cannot be resolved by a vehicle alone, further information on the environment does not help improving a signaling or resource efficiency of an overlaying communication system or with the signaling involved in tele-operating the vehicles out of the respective situations.

There is a demand for an improved concept for ToD communication with vehicles in deadlock situations. This demand is fulfilled according to the independent claims.

Document <CIT> discloses a method for transferring control of an autonomous vehicle to a remote operator. The method includes accessing a specification for triggering manual control of autonomous vehicles; identifying a road segment, within a geographic region; exhibiting characteristics defined by the specification; and associating a location of the road segment, represented in a navigation map, with a remote operator trigger. The method also includes, at the autonomous vehicle operating within the geographic region: autonomously navigating along a route; transmitting a request for manual assistance to the remote operator in response to approaching the location associated with the remote operator trigger; transmitting sensor data to a remote operator portal associated with the remote operator; and executing a navigational command received from the remote operator via the remote operator portal; and resuming autonomous navigation along the route after passing the location.

Document <CIT> relates to a system, a vehicle, a network component, apparatuses, methods, and computer programs for a vehicle and a network component. The method for a vehicle to determine a route section 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 and receiving information related to driving instructions for the route section to overcome the exceptional traffic situation from the network component.

Embodiments are based on the finding that in most cases, an obstruction experienced by one vehicle will be also be present for further vehicles that have arrived or will arrive at the affected area. A first stopped vehicle could also become an obstruction for the following vehicles. When an AV needs support from the CC in order to resolve an event or deadlock, which is experienced by more than one AV, it is a finding that the CC will be contacted multiple times as other AVs start to arrive and face the same issue or even be blocked by another AV, which has arrived previously at the scene. Such events could lead to two situations:.

Embodiments provide a method for resolving a deadlock traffic situation in an automatically operated vehicle. The method comprises detecting the deadlock traffic situation and reporting the deadlock traffic situation to a control center. The method further comprises entering a tele-operated driving session in coordination with the control center and determining information on a reference location for the tele-operated driving session. The method further comprises forwarding the information on the reference location for the tele-operated driving session to other vehicles and resolving the deadlock traffic situation in the tele-operated driving session. The information on the reference location for the ToD session enables the other vehicles to discover or detect the ongoing ToD session and also figure out their position in the queue. Traffic overload at the CC is reduced as vehicles in the queue can refrain from generating any communication traffic with the CC until they have moved to the front of the queue.

For example, the method may comprise broadcasting the information on the reference location for the tele-operated driving session multiple times. Vehicles arriving at the scene can be informed about the situation by receiving said broadcast message. Broadcast messages may enable an efficient way of communicating the information.

Moreover, status information on the tele-operated driving session may be broadcasted as well. Other vehicles can thereby be made aware of the ToD session and its status so they can efficiently time their communication with a CC.

In some embodiments the method may comprise broadcasting information indicating an end of the tele-operated driving session. The other vehicles may then determine when their time for entering a ToD session has come.

In further embodiments information on a time stamp of the tele-operated driving session may be broadcasted. Time stamp information can be used to identify a progress of an ongoing ToD session.

Embodiments provide another method for resolving a deadlock traffic situation in an automatically operated vehicle. The method comprises receiving information on a tele-operated driving session for resolving the deadlock traffic situation from another vehicle. The information on the tele-operated driving session comprises information on a reference location for the tele-operated driving session. The method further comprises determining a queuing position based on the information on the tele-operated driving session for resolving the deadlock traffic situation from the other vehicle. The method further comprises communicating with a control center for resolving the deadlock traffic situation for the automatically operated vehicle based on the queuing position. Determining the queuing position enables the vehicle to determine when to communicate with the CC and thereby avoid communication overhead through early communication.

The determining of the queuing position may comprise comparing a location of the automatically operated vehicle with the information on the reference location for the tele-operated driving session. A vehicle may conclude from its own location in relation to the location of the ToD session its position in the queue.

For example, the method may further comprise transferring into a queuing mode based on the queuing position and further comprising broadcasting information on the queuing mode to further vehicles. Entering a queuing mode and informing other vehicles thereon may contribute to an efficient coordination of the vehicles in the queue.

The information on the queuing mode may comprise information indicating the queuing position and/or a queuing time of the automatically operated vehicle. Such information may further contribute to coordination and organization of the queue, e.g. the determination of queuing positions for all vehicles in the queue.

In some embodiments the method may further comprise receiving broadcast messages from one or more other vehicles indicating that the one or more other vehicles are in a queuing mode and the determining of the queuing position is further based on the queuing mode of the one or more other vehicles. Evaluating messages on queuing modes of other vehicles may enable an efficient determination of a queuing position, e.g. a sequential queuing of the vehicles in at least one line (potentially also in multiple parallel queuing lines).

The method may further comprise engaging into a tele-operated driving session if the queuing position indicates that the automatically operated vehicle is next in the queue to be tele-operated. Once a vehicle reaches the beginning or the front of the queue it may engage in a ToD session. Utilization of communication resources may be delayed until this point and communication peaks may be avoided.

Moreover, the engaging into a tele-operated driving session may be carried out if information is received, which indicates an end of a tele-operated driving session of a vehicle queuing directly in front of the automatically operated vehicle. Delaying the engagement process until a vehicle in front is done with its ToD session may further contribute to achieving a time distribution of the communication.

Another embodiment is an apparatus for resolving a deadlock traffic situation of a vehicle. The apparatus comprises one or more interfaces configured to communicate in a communication network and a control module configured to control the one or more interfaces. The control module is further configured to perform one of the methods described herein. Yet another embodiment is a vehicle comprising the apparatus.

Embodiments further provide a computer program having a program code for performing one or more of the 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 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> for resolving a deadlock traffic situation in an automatically operated vehicle. The method <NUM> comprises detecting, sensing or determining <NUM> the deadlock traffic situation and reporting <NUM> the deadlock traffic situation to a control center. The reporting <NUM> may comprise transmitting an according message to the control center using wireless communication, e.g. by means of a message defined for a mobile communication system. The control center can be implemented as a computer or server with an interface to communicate in a network, e.g. the internet or the mobile communication system to enable communication with vehicles. The method <NUM> further comprises entering <NUM> a tele-operated driving session in coordination with the control center. The entering <NUM> may comprise setting up a ToD session or establishing a protocol context with the CC that allows the CC operator to remote control the vehicle. The method <NUM> further comprises determining <NUM> information on a reference location for the tele-operated driving session. The information on the reference location may comprise relative or absolute location information that allows locating the ToD session or a starting point of the ToD session, e.g. based on a map, road meters on a road, etc. The method <NUM> further comprises forwarding <NUM> the information on the reference location for the tele-operated driving session to other vehicles. The forwarding may comprise transmitting according information to the other vehicles, e.g. using wireless communication. The method <NUM> comprises resolving <NUM> the deadlock traffic situation in the tele-operated driving session, e.g. determining a way or path to pass or overcome the deadlock traffic situation.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of another method <NUM> for resolving a deadlock traffic situation in an automatically operated vehicle. The method <NUM> comprises receiving <NUM> information on a tele-operated driving session for resolving the deadlock traffic situation from another vehicle. The receiving <NUM> may comprise receiving an according message in a mobile communication system. The information on the tele-operated driving session comprises information on a reference location for the tele-operated driving session. The reference location is reproducible and allows determining a relative position or location of a receiver of said information to the reference location. The method <NUM> further comprises determining <NUM> a queuing position based on the information on the tele-operated driving session for resolving the deadlock traffic situation from the other vehicle. The queuing position may, for example, determine a position within a line or sequence of vehicles queuing up. In some embodiments there may be parallel lines and the queuing position may also indicate or determine the line a vehicle is in. The method <NUM> further comprises communicating <NUM> with a control center for resolving the deadlock traffic situation for the automatically operated vehicle based on the queuing position. As outlined above such communication may be carried out by means of wireless communication in a mobile communication system.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of an apparatus <NUM> for resolving a deadlock traffic situation of a vehicle <NUM> and an embodiment of a vehicle <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> comprises one or more interfaces <NUM> configured to communicate in a communication network and a control module <NUM>, which is coupled to the one or more interfaces <NUM>. The control module <NUM> is configured to control the one or more interfaces <NUM>. The control module <NUM> is further configured to perform one of the methods <NUM>, <NUM> as described herein. <FIG> further shows an embodiment of a vehicle <NUM> comprising an embodiment of the apparatus <NUM>. The vehicle <NUM> is shown in broken lines as it is optional form the perspective of the apparatus <NUM>. <FIG> also depicts another vehicle <NUM> comprising an embodiment of the apparatus <NUM>. For example, vehicle <NUM> is carries out one of the methods <NUM> as described herein and vehicle <NUM> carries out on of the methods <NUM> as described herein. In general, vehicles may be configured to carry out both method <NUM>, <NUM> in embodiments depending on whether they are first or subsequent at a deadlock traffic situation.

Embodiments may provide a method to reduce communication overhead when tele-operating vehicles out of deadlock situations. Tele-operating the vehicle is to be understood as a remote operation of the vehicle. For example, a remote operator or tele-operator located at a control center (CC) takes over control of the vehicle by means of control commands (e.g. acceleration/deceleration commands, steering commands, etc.).

Such a deadlock situation may be detected by the vehicle <NUM> using onboard sensor systems. Such sensor information may also be used to develop an environmental model for the vehicle <NUM>. There are multiple options on determining the environmental information in embodiments. For example, information related to the environment may be obtained by means of sensor data of the vehicle itself (video, radar, lidar, etc.) or through communication with other vehicles, e.g. Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V, Car-to-Car) communication. Information related to the environment may comprise determining the information related to the environment based on sensor data shared among vehicles in the environment of the vehicle (data from sensors of other vehicles).

The ToD performance is related to the communication link performance. The communication link may comprise a wireless part and wired part and a Quality of Service (QoS) may relate at least to the wireless part in some embodiments. For example, the communication link comprises the air interface (Uu link in 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), wireless part of the communication link) between the vehicle and the base station (access node) and then the connection through the operator backbone (core network, wired part). Depending on the quality of the link, the control of the vehicle will be adapted in embodiments: the vehicle will be controlled directly (joystick-like) or indirectly (waypoints, or environmental model editions). The environment may be characterized by the type of road, e.g. highway, country road, city road, residential area road, number of lanes, traffic density, traffic dynamics, etc. Moreover, the time of day, the day of week, the weather, current traffic condition/density; and other factors may be comprised in the information related to the environment of the tele-operated vehicle. Communicating all this information may consume significant bandwidth and radio capacity, which may be used more effectively in embodiments.

In embodiments, the information on the reference location of a ToD session may enable to identify the same deadlock situation or ToD session for another vehicle. Identifying the same ToD may enable to determine a queuing position an appropriate time to start communicating with a CC. For example, the information on the reference location be an identifier number, which identifies a certain road section in a lane of a road.

For example, multiple vehicles arrive subsequently at the same deadlock situation, e.g. an accident or a road construction. If all vehicles enter a ToD session once they arrive at the deadlock situation a significant communication overhead occurs as all vehicles communicate the same information to their CCs. The later arriving vehicles are then moved out of the deadlock situation one by one in subsequent independent ToD sessions.

In embodiments, the forwarding of the information on the reference location allows subsequent vehicles to make reference to the ToD session and also picture or figure out queuing settings in the deadlock situation. Moreover, this reference may allow a CC to identify the ToD session and make reuse of former information regarding the deadlock situation itself (accident, construction, blocking vehicle, pedestrian on the street, etc.) and information for resolving the deadlock situation, e.g. trajectory, alternative routes, waypoints, etc..

In embodiments the information on the reference location of the ToD session may comprise information of a location, which relates to the deadlock traffic situation and which is reproducible by a subsequent vehicle approaching the deadlock traffic situation. For example, such information may be the above identifier. In another embodiment the information on the reference location comprises geographical coordinates identifying the ToD session. Geographical coordinates can also be reproducible, e.g. a point at which any automated vehicle, is able to identify the deadlock traffic situation.

The apparatus <NUM> and the vehicle <NUM> or control center may communicate at least partly through a mobile communication system. The mobile communication system, 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 messages (input data, control information) may hence be communicated through multiple network nodes (e.g. internet, router, switches, etc.) and the mobile communication system, which generates the delay or latencies considered in embodiments. For example, the uplink direction refers to the direction from a vehicle to the command center and the downlink direction refers from the command center to the vehicle.

The mobile or wireless communication system 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/vehicles. A base station transceiver can be operable or configured to communicate with one or more active mobile transceivers/vehicles 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 comprising two or more mobile transceivers/vehicles 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, a road participant, a traffic entity, traffic infrastructure 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 gNodeB, 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 or vehicle 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 gNodeB, 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. 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.

The apparatus <NUM> may be comprised in a control center, a server, a base station, a NodeB, a UE, a vehicle, a network component, a relay station, or any service coordinating network entity in embodiments. It is to be noted that the term network component may comprise multiple subcomponents, such as a base station, a server, etc..

In embodiments the one or more interfaces <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> may comprise further components to enable according communication in the (mobile) communication system, 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> 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. In some examples the one or more interfaces <NUM> may serve the purpose of transmitting or receiving or both, transmitting and receiving, information, such as information, input data, control information, further information messages, etc..

As shown in <FIG> the respective one or more interfaces <NUM> are coupled to the respective control module <NUM> at the apparatus <NUM>. In embodiments the control module <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 module <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 micro-controller, etc..

In embodiments, communication, i.e. transmission, reception or both, may take place among mobile transceivers/vehicles directly, e.g. forwarding input data or control information to/from a control center. Such communication may make use of a mobile communication system. Such communication may be carried out directly, e.g. by means of Device-to-Device (D2D) communication. Such communication may be carried out using the specifications of a mobile communication system. An example of D2D is direct communication between vehicles, also referred to as Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication (V2V), car-to-car, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), respectively. Technologies enabling such D2D-communication include <NUM>. 11p, 3GPP systems (<NUM>, <NUM>, NR and beyond), etc..

In embodiments, the one or more interfaces <NUM> can be configured to wirelessly communicate in the mobile communication system, e.g. between the apparatus <NUM> and the control center. 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 (socalled mode <NUM>) or run in a UE.

For example, a first automated vehicle (AV) is in a deadlock situation. Multiple AVs were following it and are also stopping. If each AV detects its own deadlock situation, a cascade of ToD session requests is created, which would lead to an overload of the CC support system. The AVs are then in a queue or arrive at subsequent time instances and solve the deadlock situation. That way, an overload may occur, for example, as multiple parallel requests may be transmitted to a CC.

Embodiments may enable a ToD vehicle queueing assignment by creating methods to serve multiple AVs in an efficient way without overloading the CC and determining how to create a queue in a deadlock traffic situation.

At least for some embodiments it can be envisioned that four elements are key for the AVs to generate a self-organized queue, which are:.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a deadlock traffic scenario in an embodiment. <FIG> shows an example of an exceptional situation where autonomously or automatically driving vehicles start queueing to receive tele-operating driving assistance in one single lane. <FIG> shows a two-lane road on which a truck <NUM> has broken down. A first automated vehicle AV1 has already engaged in a ToD session with control center <NUM> and is remote-controlled by an operator to pass the truck <NUM> using the free lane of the oncoming traffic. Vehicle AV2 is queuing behind a reference position <NUM>, which also marks the beginning of a "next in line zone" <NUM>, which, for example, is <NUM> wide (may be <NUM>, <NUM>, etc. in other embodiments). Behind vehicle AV2 vehicles AV3 and AV4 queue up and so on (. , AVn), outside the "next in line zone" <NUM>.

Vehicle AV1 transmits a message informing that vehicle AV1 is in an active ToD session. The message includes a start reference position <NUM> of the ToD session and a time when it started the event. In the one lane scenario as depicted by <FIG> the AV closest to the "next in line zone" <NUM> could call the CC when AV1 ends the ToD session or no more information is received from AV1 at AV2.

<FIG> illustrates another example of a deadlock traffic scenario in an embodiment. <FIG> shows an example of an exceptional situation where autonomously or automatically driving vehicles start queueing to receive tele-operating driving assistance in multiple lanes. <FIG> illustrates a similar scenario as <FIG>. <FIG> shows a two-lane road on which a truck <NUM> has broken down. A first automated vehicle AV1 has already engaged in a ToD session with control center <NUM> and is remote-controlled by an operator to pass the truck <NUM> using the free lane, but in this scenario it is a one way road with two lanes. The truck <NUM> blocks the right lane (from AVs perspective, so AVs need to use the left lane to pass the truck <NUM>). Vehicle AV2 is queuing on the left lane behind the reference position <NUM>, which also marks the beginning of the "next in line zone" <NUM>. Behind vehicle AV2 vehicles AV4 and AV6 queue up. In the right lane AV3 is queuing behind the reference position <NUM> and a non-automated vehicle V5 is queuing behind AV3. AV2 and AV3 are in front of the queue and have already assigned arrival times based on which they determine the start times for their oncoming ToD sessions. AV4 and AV6 are outside the zone <NUM> and have also determined their starting times based on later arrival times. As outlined above, vehicle AV1 transmits a message informing that vehicle AV1 is in an active ToD session. The message includes a start reference position of the ToD session (defining <NUM> and <NUM>) and a time when it started the event.

In these embodiments, the above method <NUM> is carried out by the first vehicle and the method <NUM> is carried out by the subsequent vehicles. The message of AV1 in both scenarios (<FIG> and <FIG>) informs the other vehicles about.

The message is transmitted by the first AV in the event (AV1 in <FIG> and <FIG>) and a queueing AV will make use of the data in the following manner.

With the usage of the first element, an AV arriving at the scene will identify that in the area an "active" ToD session is taking place, from which it will set itself into a queueing mode and records/stores the specific time at which knowledge about the ToD session became known for it. For example, the determining <NUM> of the queuing position comprises comparing a location of the automatically operated vehicle with the information on the reference location for the tele-operated driving session. This action triggers subsequently the transmission of its own state to other AVs informing that a queue has started to conform. The method <NUM> then comprises transferring into a queuing mode based on the queuing position and further comprises transmitting/broadcasting information on the queuing mode to further vehicles. The information on the queuing mode may comprise information indicating the queuing position and/or a queuing time of the automatically operated vehicle. Likewise, the method <NUM> may comprise receiving broadcast messages from one or more other vehicles indicating that the one or more other vehicles are in a queuing mode and the determining <NUM> of the queuing position is further based on the queuing mode of the one or more other vehicles. The queuing mode may be defined as a state of being in a queue, waiting to move ahead in the queue up to a point at which a ToD session is started. While being in the queue, a vehicle monitors its own progress in the queue, e.g. based on messages from vehicles ahead in the queue, and provides message to other vehicles, so they can determine their position and progress in the queue.

With the usage of the second element (the starting reference point) the second AV calculates how far it is away from the reference location <NUM>. It may determine if it is close enough to the starting line <NUM> to reach out to the CC. This helps to identify and check if it is possible to initiate a call to the CC (next in queue position) or hold this procedure. This activity could be seen as the generation of a virtual barrier area <NUM>, <NUM> to all queueing AVs arriving to the scene. Therewith, the situation of overload the CC with incoming calls of AVs that are queueing but far from the point in which could be supported can be relaxed. This barrier <NUM>, <NUM> is drawn using the starting reference point to set a division line perpendicular to the street direction and add one meter of separation, cf.

With an increasing number of AVs queueing at the deadlock situation, the previous process using the knowledge that an active ToD session is available and determining a distance of the vehicles against the starting reference point is enough to organize and restrain the AVs from making unnecessary calls to the CC.

However, on streets with multiple lanes the scenario gets more complicated. In these cases the above third element (time) is used to identify which vehicle in the virtual barrier area <NUM> is the next to call the CC, cf. While in a single line no other AV could occupy the physical space of another vehicle, being AV or not, in a multiple lane case the use of the proximity to the line <NUM> is not enough. In these situations, the time stamps used by the individual AVs to announce their queuing mode with their individual message transmissions can be used for comparison.

In this case, not only the AV that is closest to the starting reference point <NUM> but also the earliest in the scene can be identified as the one to have the right to call the CC next - once all the queueing AV vehicles detect that the first AV has ended the ToD session. This can be achieved through further broadcast messages by the first AV, the AV currently in the ToD session respectively. The method <NUM> may then further comprise broadcasting the information on the reference location for the tele-operated driving session multiple times, so later arriving vehicles can be made aware of it. Moreover, status information on the tele-operated driving session may be broadcasted (e.g. "ToD is active", progress "x% completed", remaining time to completion, etc.). The method <NUM> may further comprise broadcasting information indicating an end of the tele-operated driving session, which would allow the next AV in line to start the engagement process with the CC.

The queueing vehicles will be able to see if they should remain queueing (distance to reference point) or initiate the process to contact the CC (e.g. when an AV is inside of the virtual barrier area <NUM> and is the one which has arrived earliest at the scene). For example, the method <NUM> may comprise engaging into a tele-operated driving session if the queuing position indicates that the automatically operated vehicle is next in the queue to be tele-operated (e.g. it is in front, and has longest waiting time). In some embodiments, engagement into a tele-operated driving session is performed at an automatically operated vehicle if information is received, which indicates an end of a tele-operated driving session of a vehicle queuing directly in front of the automatically operated vehicle.

<FIG> depicts a truck <NUM> blocking AVs on a single lane road.

<FIG> depicts a truck <NUM> blocking AVs on a two or more lanes road.

Steps <NUM> to <NUM> previously described for the scenario of <FIG> are executed, however as in this use case two AVs are inside of the virtual barrier zone <NUM>, a further step is considered. The additional step incurs in the comparison of the time stamps provided of all AVs queueing. The AV unit which knows is in the zone <NUM> and has the earliest time is the one that has the right to call the CC, cf. <NUM> for <FIG>.

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 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.

Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment(s) as mentioned above, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention, which is defined by the claims.

Claim 1:
A method (<NUM>) for resolving a deadlock traffic situation in an automatically operated vehicle (<NUM>; AV1), the method (<NUM>) comprising
detecting (<NUM>) the deadlock traffic situation;
reporting (<NUM>) the deadlock traffic situation to a control center;
entering (<NUM>) a tele-operated driving session in coordination with the control center;
determining (<NUM>) information on a reference location for the tele-operated driving session;
forwarding (<NUM>) the information on the reference location for the tele-operated driving session to other vehicles queuing at the deadlock traffic situation; and
resolving (<NUM>) the deadlock traffic situation in the tele-operated driving session,
wherein the information on the reference location comprises relative or absolute location information that allows locating the ToD session or a starting point of the ToD session and
reduce traffic overload at the control center by enabling the other vehicles to determine their position in the queue and
refrain from generating any communication traffic with the control center until they have moved to the front of the queue.