Patent ID: 12252151

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which currently preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided for thoroughness and completeness, and fully convey the scope of the disclosure to the skilled addressee. Like reference characters refer to like elements throughout.

Referring now to the drawings and toFIG.1Ain particular, there is depicted an exemplary vehicle, here illustrated as a truck100, in which a control system200(as shown inFIG.2) according to the present disclosure may be incorporated. The control system200may of course be implemented, possibly in a slightly different way, in a bus102as shown inFIG.1B, wheel loader as shown inFIG.10, a car, a bus, etc.

The vehicle may for example be one of an electric or hybrid vehicle, or possibly a gas, gasoline or diesel vehicle. The vehicle comprises an electric machine (in case of being an electric or hybrid vehicle) or an engine (such as an internal combustion engine in case of being a gas, gasoline or diesel vehicle). The vehicle may further be manually operated as well as fully or semi-autonomous.

FIG.2shows a conceptual and exemplary implementation of the control system200, comprising a control unit202, such as an electronic control unit (ECU), adapted for operating an ego vehicle, e.g. any one of the vehicles100,102,104. The ECU202implements an interface for receiving data from a plurality of sensors204,206,208, such as e.g. a radar204, a LiDAR sensor arrangement206and a camera208. The control system200further comprises a transceiver210, arranged in communication with the control unit202, where the transceiver210is adapted for wirelessly receiving data from a target vehicle302(as shown inFIG.3) in a vicinity of the ego vehicle.

For reference, the ECU202may for example be manifested as a general-purpose processor, an application specific processor, a circuit containing processing components, a group of distributed processing components, a group of distributed computers configured for processing, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc. The processor may be or include any number of hardware components for conducting data or signal processing or for executing computer code stored in memory. The memory may be one or more devices for storing data and/or computer code for completing or facilitating the various methods described in the present description. The memory may include volatile memory or non-volatile memory. The memory may include database components, object code components, script components, or any other type of information structure for supporting the various activities of the present description. According to an exemplary embodiment, any distributed or local memory device may be utilized with the systems and methods of this description. According to an exemplary embodiment the memory is communicably connected to the processor (e.g., via a circuit or any other wired, wireless, or network connection) and includes computer code for executing one or more processes described herein.

The ECU202may preferably also be arranged in communication with e.g. a radionavigation system, for example including a GPS receiver220as well as a map database222e.g. holding map navigation data relating to a road where the vehicle100,102,104is travelling.

During operation of the control system200for use in relation to the vehicle100,102,104, with further reference toFIGS.3and4, the ECU202is adapted to implement the scheme according to the present disclosure for determining a reliability level of data received by an ego vehicle (exemplified as vehicle100) from a target vehicle302being different from the ego vehicle100.

In an exemplary implementation, the transceiver210(nor explicitly shown inFIG.3) is connected to an antenna304comprised with the ego vehicle100, where the antenna304is adapted to receive wireless signals transmitted from e.g. the target vehicle302. The target vehicle302may, typically, be equipped with a corresponding antenna304and a transceiver308. The target vehicle302may typically also be equipped with an ECU310.

InFIG.3the ego vehicle100is shown as following the target vehicle302, in relation to an overall travel direction. At a front end of the ego vehicle100there are arranged the previously mentioned radar204and a camera208. As indicated above, other sensors are possible and within the scope of the present disclosure. The radar204may be adapted to continuously collect data that may be used to determine a distance between e.g. the front end of the ego vehicle100and a back end of the target vehicle302. Inherently, the data collected using the radar204must be processed by the ECU202for determining the distance between the vehicles100,302. In addition, the radar204has a response time, while still being in comparison short, that will impact the distance determination. That is, in case the target vehicle302performs a quick braking action it will take a little bit of time until such an action is identified at the ego vehicle100.

Accordingly, in line with the present disclosure the target vehicle302may be adapted to regularly or continuously transmit its momentary speed, acceleration, etc. In some embodiments the wireless transmission may be essentially instantaneously provided between the vehicles100,302, such that e.g. the ego vehicle100in a situation as discussed above with the quick braking action possibly may allowed to react quicker as compared to if the ego vehicle100was to rely solely on the data collected by the radar204arranged onboard the ego vehicle100.

However, wireless transmission of data, such as in the exemplary implementation so called vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) data may possibly be manipulated, such as by injecting erroneous data or by manipulating the transmitted data. As discussed above, the present disclosure provides means to contravene this risk and uncertainty. This is specifically achieved by adapting the ECU202to determine a reliability level of at least some of the data received at the ego vehicle100from the target vehicle302.

Accordingly, the ECU202will as a first step receive, S1, at the ego vehicle100, the V2V data (above also denoted as a first set of operational data) using the antenna304and the transceiver210. Subsequently, the ECU202determines the reliability level for the received V2V data based on a content of the V2V data and a predetermined model indicative of an expected behavior of the V2V data. That is, in line with the present disclosure an analysis of the V2V data is performed whereby the V2V data for example may be mapped or otherwise correlated with an expectation of the data. Specifically, rather than just perform a thresholding of the V2V data, typically form removing possible extremes (such as “impossible” velocities or accelerations that are breaking general physical laws), the present disclosure takes a holistic approach whereby e.g. a trend of the content of the V2V data is mapped towards an expectation of the content of the V2V data. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the predetermined model is made dependent on a statistical and/or historical behavior of the related receive the V2V data, or the type and/or model of the target vehicle302.

Rather than just removing extremes, it may be possible to identify also erroneous trends in the V2V data received from the target vehicle302, to such an extent that also errors relating to a sensor comprised with the target vehicle302could possibly be identified. To make this possible the ECU202is equipped or is arranged to receive the predetermined model, where the predetermined model holds information being indicative of the expected behavior of the V2V data. The comparison between the received V2V data and the predetermined model may in some embodiments be performed by e.g. setting thresholds on the allowed differences between means and variances of the expected behavior and the actual behavior of the content of the V2V data.

In one implementation the predetermined model is dependent on the type of the target vehicle302. As such an embodiment it may for example be necessary for the target vehicle302to transmit some form of reliable identification data to the ego vehicle100before the ego vehicle100is starting to receive the V2V data. The identification data may then be used by the ECU202to acquire a predetermined model that corresponds to the make and/or model or the target vehicle302.

Alternatively, e.g. the camera208comprised onboard the ego vehicle100may be used to collect image data relating to the target vehicle302, whereby the image data may be used by an image processing scheme performed at the ECU202to extract information that may be used for identifying the target vehicle302. For example, the extracted information could be sent from the ego vehicle100to a remote server (not shown) where the extracted information may be mapped to a large collection of stored data for determining e.g. the make and/or model of the target vehicle302.

As understood from the above, the V2V data could in one embodiment be used in an independent form for determining its reliability level. However, in some embodiments the V2V data may be correlated with data that is collected by one of the sensors204,206,208arranged onboard the ego vehicle100(above denoted as a second set of operational data relating to the target vehicle). It could for example be possible to compare or determine a difference between the V2V data and the data from the onboard sensors, where also the result of the comparison or the difference is used in the determination of the reliability level. For example, it could be possible for the ECU202to review a trend relating to the determined difference and compare this trend with the predetermined model.

Generally, once the reliability level has been determined for the V2V data, the ego vehicle100may select to simply discard the V2V data if the reliability level is below a first threshold. Put differently, if the V2V data is determined to be less reliable than the first threshold then the V2V data will not be used by the ego vehicle100in decisions relating to the operation of the ego vehicle.

However, in an alternative embodiment it may be possible to allow the reliability level to dictate at what level (or how much weight) that should be given to the V2V data when operating the ego vehicle100. For example, if the reliability level is determined to be above 50% but below 70% then the V2V data is given a minor impact in operating the ego vehicle100. However, if the V2V data is determined highly reliable (e.g. a reliability level between 70-100%), then the V2V data may possibly be used as is in operating the ego vehicle100.

Within the scope of the present disclosure it may be possible to form the predetermined model at the ego vehicle100. The predetermined model may also or alternatively be formed at the remote server (or similar) or provided by e.g. the manufacturer of the target vehicle302to the remote server (such that the ego vehicle100may download and use the predetermined model). It is also possible, and within the scope of the present disclosure, to allow the predetermined model to be updated at the ego vehicle100. As such, it may over time be possible to allow the ego vehicle100to collect and amend the predetermined model to make the model increasingly reliable. It could also be possible to allow the updated model to be shared with other vehicles, such as by uploading the updated model to the remote server.

The present disclosure contemplates methods, devices and program products on any machine-readable media for accomplishing various operations. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented using existing computer processors, or by a special purpose computer processor for an appropriate system, incorporated for this or another purpose, or by a hardwired system. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure include program products comprising machine-readable media for carrying or having machine-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such machine-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor.

By way of example, such machine-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of machine-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a machine, the machine properly views the connection as a machine-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a machine-readable medium. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of machine-readable media. Machine-executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data that cause a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing machines to perform a certain function or group of functions.

Although the figures may show a specific order of method steps, the order of the steps may differ from what is depicted. In addition, two or more steps may be performed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Such variation will depend on the software and hardware systems chosen and on designer choice. All such variations are within the scope of the disclosure. Likewise, software implementations could be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule-based logic and other logic to accomplish the various connection steps, processing steps, comparison steps and decision steps.

Additionally, even though the disclosure has been described with reference to specific exemplifying embodiments thereof, many different alterations, modifications and the like will become apparent for those skilled in the art.

Variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by the skilled addressee in practicing the claimed disclosure, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. Furthermore, in the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality.