An autonomous vehicle is equipped with a beacon, preferably including a transmitter and receiver, or a transceiver, for bi-directional communication, which is programmed to interact with other beacons for the exchange of contextual travel information to assist in autonomous operation of the vehicle. Beacons may be stationary and positioned along a roadway such that a signal transmitted by such a stationary beacon can be received by a passing beacon-equipped vehicle, the operation of which can be adjusted depending on instructions received from the stationary beacon. The vehicle can also transmit information to the stationary beacon, which information can be used to assess traffic conditions to thereafter adjust information and alerts sent to other beacon-equipped vehicles. Beacons located within multiple vehicles may also interact to share information that may be used by individual vehicles to adjust or maintain the autonomous operation of the vehicle.

A surrounding information obtaining unit determines whether a first vehicle has traveled on a different road than a road on which a host vehicle travels, on the basis of information indicating roads and a facility present around the host vehicle and a travel state of the first vehicle. A difference checking unit checks whether a target road determined to have been traveled by the first vehicle is included in host vehicle map information. A wireless communication unit inquires whether an unknown target road confirmed not to be included in the host vehicle map information is included in master map information in a server device. When the unknown target road is included in the master map information, the wireless communication unit receives updating map information including the unknown target road from the server device. A map updating unit updates the host vehicle map information using the updating map information.

A method is provided for supporting a robot in response to a contingency event. The method includes detecting the contingency event during travel of the robot on a route to a destination. In response, the method includes determining a position of the robot, and accessing information about alternate destinations associated with the route. The method includes selecting an alternate destination from the alternate destinations based on a time to travel from the position of the robot to the alternate destination, and the information. And the method includes outputting an indication of the alternate destination for use in at least one of guidance, navigation or control of the robot to the alternate destination.

Systems and methods described herein relate to simulating edge-computing deployment in diverse terrains. One embodiment receives a layer-selection input specifying which layers among a plurality of layers in a simulation model of an edge-computing deployment are to be included in a simulation experiment; receives a set of input parameters for each of the layers specified by the layer-selection input, the set of input parameters for one of the layers specified by the layer-selection input including selection of a vehicular application whose performance in the edge-computing deployment is to be evaluated via the simulation experiment; executes the simulation experiment in accordance with the layer-selection input and the set of input parameters for each of the layers specified by the layer-selection input; and outputs, from the simulation experiment, performance data for the selected vehicular application in the edge-computing deployment.

Embodiments include a method for providing navigation guidance to a vehicle using roadside infrastructure communicatively coupled to a wireless network, the method comprising receiving, from a first vehicle, a request for navigation guidance to a destination; determining a first maneuver for navigating towards the destination from an initial location; and transmitting the first maneuver to the first vehicle. Embodiments also include a vehicle comprising a wireless transceiver for communicating with roadside infrastructure forming a wireless network, and a processor configured to: select a first unit included in the roadside infrastructure based on proximity to an initial location of the vehicle; send, to the first unit, a user-entered request for navigation guidance to a destination; and receive, from the first unit, a first maneuver for navigating towards the destination from the initial location.

At least one processor of a vehicle is configured to execute at least one program to: generate a speed plan for a first travel route from a blind spot elimination position to a position specified by a control standby condition, the speed plan specifying a speed of the vehicle for a position on the first travel route so as to meet a requirement that the vehicle be decelerated at a predetermined allowable deceleration or less for a predetermined time from the blind spot elimination position to satisfy the control standby condition; and instruct, for a second travel route from a current position of the vehicle to the blind spot elimination position, the vehicle to travel along the second travel route by autonomous driving so as to cause the vehicle to reach a speed specified by the speed plan at the blind spot elimination position.

A system including: a parking lot having a plurality of parking spaces; at least one device positioned in the parking lot to identify occupancy statuses of the parking spaces; a plurality of display devices positioned next to and facing the parking spaces respectively; and a server computer storing parking space reservations that include identification information of vehicles for which the reservations are made. The server computer is further configured to generate and present navigational guidance on the display devices based on identification information of vehicles in the vicinity of the parking spaces and reservations.

The disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for using vehicles to detect and remediate air pollution. In an example implementation, a server computer transmits a directive to a vehicle controller of a vehicle, to measure an air pollution level around the vehicle at a first location. The vehicle controller executes an air pollution measurement and transmits measurement data to the server computer. The server computer evaluates the measurement data and directs the vehicle controller to perform a remedial action for reducing the air pollution level at the first location. The remedial action can involve, for example, the vehicle controller moving the vehicle from the first location to a second location. The server computer may also determine whether the first location is a transient pollution location or a persistent pollution by directing the vehicle controller to carry out measurements at two different times and/or by employing two different sampling rates.

An autonomous vehicle is equipped with a beacon, preferably including a transmitter and receiver, or a transceiver, for bi-directional communication, which is programmed to interact with other beacons for the exchange of contextual travel information to assist in autonomous operation of the vehicle. Beacons may be stationary and positioned along a roadway such that a signal transmitted by such a stationary beacon can be received by a passing beacon-equipped vehicle, the operation of which can be adjusted depending on instructions received from the stationary beacon. The vehicle can also transmit information to the stationary beacon, which information can be used to assess traffic conditions to thereafter adjust information and alerts sent to other beacon-equipped vehicles. Beacons located within multiple vehicles may also interact to share information that may be used by individual vehicles to adjust or maintain the autonomous operation of the vehicle.

Movement guidance information for performing traveling guidance for a vehicle is requested to a guidance information delivering server device based on an area update table and an area identification table for managing an update state of map information in a communication terminal, and traveling guidance for the vehicle is performed based on the movement guidance information delivered from the guidance information delivering server device in response to the request.