A mobile robot includes a position distance calculation command transmission unit 1, a position distance calculation command transfer unit 2, a reply position distance calculation command transmission unit 3, a direction storage unit 4, a reply position distance calculation command transfer unit 5, a first head robot unit determination command transmission unit 6, a robot unit determination unit 7, a first movement unit 8, a second movement unit 9, a next head robot unit selection command transmission unit 10 and a second head robot unit determination command transmission unit 11, for example.

A control apparatus for an automatic-driving vehicle includes a fall detecting unit and a collision preventing unit. The fall detecting unit detects that a load of the automatic-driving vehicle has fallen onto a road. The collision preventing unit performs a collision prevention process that is a process to prevent another vehicle from colliding with the load when the fall detecting unit detects that the load has fallen onto the road.

Autonomous vehicles may be dynamically directed to rendezvous with autonomous vehicle trains or convoys. Current location and/or route information of the Autonomous Vehicle Train (AVT) may be received by an autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may compare its current location and/or route information to determine a rendezvous point with the AVT. The autonomous vehicle may route itself to the rendezvous point with the AVT. Once there, the autonomous vehicle may verify the identification of the AVT, such as by using sensors/cameras to verify a lead vehicle of the AVT (e.g., by verifying make/model, color, and/or license plate). The autonomous vehicle and lead vehicle may communicate to allow the autonomous vehicle to join the AVT. A minimum level of autonomous vehicle functionality may be verified prior to the autonomous vehicle being allowed to join the AVT. As a result, vehicle traffic flow and travel experience by passengers may be enhanced.

The present invention discloses an intelligent vehicle platoon lane change performance evaluation method. First, an intelligent vehicle platoon lane change performance test scenario is established; secondly, a three-degree of freedom nonlinear dynamics model is established according to motion characteristics of intelligent vehicles in a platoon lane change process; further, an improved adaptive unscented Kalman filter algorithm is utilized to perform filter estimation on state variables of positions and velocities of platoon vehicles; and finally, based on accurately recursive vehicle motion state parameters, evaluation indexes for platoon lane change performance are proposed and quantified, and an evaluation system for platoon lane change performance is constructed. According to the method proposed in the present invention, the problem of lacking platoon lane change performance quantitative evaluation at present is solved, vehicle motion state parameters can be measured in a high-precision and comprehensive manner, multi-dimensional platoon lane change performance evaluation indexes are quantified and output, and comprehensive, accurate, and reliable scientific quantitative evaluation for platoon lane change performance is achieved.

A system includes at least partially autonomous vehicles, at least partially separated interconnected roadways, and a management system. Each of the vehicles is configured to cooperate with another vehicle or an area controller. The management system is configured to receive requests to transport, which may have respective start points and respective destinations. Additionally, the management system is configured, responsive to receiving the request, to assign a vehicle to fulfill the request. The assigned vehicle is configured to transport a person from the respective start point, at least in part via the interconnected roadways, to the respective destination.

According to one embodiment, a deadlock detection device includes a combining calculator and a deadlock determiner. The combining calculator performs selecting a mobile vehicle or combined mobile vehicles from among mobile vehicles, based on a traveling path configuration graph and first state information, going forward the selected mobile vehicle to go forward on traveling path configuration graph and combining the selected mobile vehicle to another mobile vehicle or another combined mobile vehicles at a back of the other mobile vehicle or the other combined mobile vehicles, iterating a process of the selecting, the going and combining. The deadlock determiner determines that a deadlock occurs if not all the mobile vehicles have been combined by the combining calculator, and determines that no deadlock occurs if all the mobile vehicles have been combined.

Systems and methods of operating vehicles to reduce bunching of the vehicles when traveling on a roadway determine an intra arrival time for two consecutive vehicles traveling on the roadway; calculate a virtual spacing between the two consecutive vehicles based on the intra arrival time; determine a following distance threshold; compare the virtual spacing between the two consecutive vehicles with the following distance threshold; determine that the two consecutive vehicles are in a bunched condition when the virtual spacing between the two consecutive vehicles is less than the following distance threshold; and control at least one of the two consecutive vehicles until the vehicles are no longer in the bunched condition.

A system and method for mitigating or avoiding risks due to hazards encountered by platooning vehicles. The system and method involve interrogating, with one or more sensors, a space radially extending from a lead vehicle as the lead vehicle travels over the road surface, perceiving the environment within the space, ascertaining a hazard caused by an object in the space, and causing a following vehicle, operating in a platoon with the lead vehicle, to take a preemptive braking action to avoid or mitigate risks resulting from the hazard caused by the object in the space.

Embodiments are disclosed that include systems and methods performed by a processor of a designated platoon vehicle, including establishing an out-of-band vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication link with a target vehicle in response to determining a change in the quantity of vehicles included in the platoon is approved, wherein the out-of-band V2V communication link extends laterally more than a first V2V communication link with an initially-adjacent platoon vehicle, expanding the first V2V communication link for maintaining communications with the initially-adjacent platoon vehicle while changing a relative positioning between the designated platoon vehicle and the initially-adjacent platoon vehicle, establishing a second V2V communication link with the target vehicle, and ending the out-of-band V2V communication link in response to the target vehicle taking the place of the initially-adjacent platoon vehicle immediately adjacent to and either in front of or behind the designated platoon vehicle.

A control device, a vehicle, a vehicle combination, and a method, the control device being designed to provide a first control signal for the approach of the vehicle to a further vehicle in a first portion of a travel route of the vehicle, the control device being designed to provide a second control signal for the coupling of the vehicle to the further vehicle in the first portion of the travel route, in order to provide a passage between the vehicle and the further vehicle, via which a person may change over between the vehicle and the further vehicle.