A method, apparatus, and computer program product are described herein for determining pedestrian behavior profiles for road segments of a road network, from those pedestrian behavior profiles, determining the likelihood that an adverse pedestrian event will occur, and determining the action to be taken in response. Example embodiments may provide a mapping system including: a memory having map data; and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry may be configured to: receive data points associated with pedestrian movement; associate pedestrian movement with a road segment; determine, based on the data points, a pedestrian behavior profile for the road segment; and in response to the pedestrian behavior profile for the road segment indicating a likelihood for an adverse pedestrian event that satisfies a predetermined likelihood, cause at least one action in response thereto.

Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes receiving data indicative of an operating mode of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is configured to operate in a plurality of operating modes. The method includes determining one or more response characteristics of the vehicle based at least in part on the operating mode of the vehicle, each response characteristic indicating how the vehicle responds to a potential collision. The method includes controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics.

A method for signaling a driving intention of an autonomous vehicle is provided. The method includes steps of: a driving intention signaling device (a) detecting a pedestrian ahead of the autonomous vehicle using surroundings video images, and determining whether the pedestrian crosses a roadway using a virtual crosswalk; (b) if the pedestrian crosses the roadway, estimating a crosswalking trajectory, corresponding to an expected path of the pedestrian, by referring to a moving trajectory of the pedestrian, setting a driving plan of the autonomous vehicle referring to driving information and the crosswalking trajectory, and allowing the autonomous vehicle to self-drive by the driving plan; and (c) determining whether the pedestrian pays attention to the autonomous vehicle by referring to gaze patterns and, if not, allowing delivery of the driving intention to the pedestrian and/or a nearby driver, via an external display and/or an external speaker.

A recognition processing apparatus includes a video acquisition unit configured to acquire first captured image data of surroundings of a host vehicle captured by a far-infrared camera, an other vehicle detection unit configured to detect another vehicle parked or stopped in the surroundings of the host vehicle, a heat detection unit configured to detect radiated heat associated with an operation of the other vehicle based on a thermal distribution in a region corresponding to the other vehicle in the first captured image data, and a person detection unit configured to, when the radiated heat has been detected, preferentially execute person recognition in a vicinity of the other vehicle to detect a person. The recognition processing apparatus can ascertain the possibility that a person gets out of a detected vehicle and promptly detect such a person.

A vehicle control device includes a road width recognizer configured to recognize a width of a road on which a vehicle travels, a pedestrian recognizer configure to recognize pedestrians present in a vicinity of the vehicle, and a driving controller configured to cause the vehicle to travel by controlling one or both of steering and acceleration of the vehicle independently from an operation of an occupant of the vehicle, and to cause the vehicle to travel behind a pedestrian who has substantially the same proceeding direction as the vehicle and has a high priority level among the pedestrians recognized by the pedestrian recognizer when a width of the road recognized by the road width recognizer is equal to or less than a predetermined width.

A method initiates a reaction of a first vehicle to a person in the environment of a second vehicle. The person is on a road on which the first vehicle is travelling and the second vehicle is detected. Measurement data determined by at least one sensor unit are received by a control unit. The control unit carries out a classification and registers the evaluated data as a person and as a second vehicle. Motion vectors of the person are determined and the expected movement of the person is calculated. A position and width of the vehicle doors of the second vehicle are determined or estimated on the basis of the measurement data. A probability of the person opening a vehicle door is calculated. A reaction of the first vehicle is initiated by the control unit depending on the calculated probability.

A method for monitoring the environment of a vehicle includes evaluating physical measurement data obtained from the environment of the vehicle to determine whether at least one person is approaching the vehicle, how many people approach the vehicle may also be recorded. The method includes evaluating physical measurement data obtained from the environment of the vehicle to determine whether at least one person is moving away from the vehicle and, if appropriate, the number of people that are moving away from the vehicle is also recorded. The method further includes carrying out a check as to whether the number of people that have moved away from the vehicle corresponds to the number of people that have previously approached the vehicle. In response to the check resulting in a difference, it is determined that the vehicle is in an unsafe state.

A driving assistance apparatus in a vehicle includes a regulation determiner section, an assistance operator section, and a presentation operator section. The regulation determiner section determines a present traffic regulation in a running environment of the vehicle. The assistance operator section operates a driving assistance to a driver of the vehicle so as to comply with the present traffic regulation determined by the regulation determiner section. The presentation operator section operates a presentation of behavior reason information. When the assistance operator section operates the driving assistance to comply with the present traffic regulation corresponding to an attention traffic regulation stored in a regulation storage, the presentation operator section operates the presentation of behavior reason information on a reason of a behavior resulting from the operated driving assistance to comply with the present traffic regulation corresponding to the attention traffic regulation.

The technology relates to autonomous vehicles suffering a breakdown along a roadway. Onboard systems may utilize various proactive operations to alert specific vehicles or other objects on or near the roadway about the breakdown. This can be done alternatively or in addition to turning on the hazard lights or calling for remote assistance. The disabled vehicle is able to detect nearby and approaching objects. The detection may be performed in combination with a determination of the type of object or predicted behavior for that object, enables the vehicle to generate a targeted alert that can be transmitted or otherwise presented to that particular object. This approach provides the other object, such as a vehicle, bicyclist or pedestrian, sufficient time and information about the breakdown to take appropriate corrective action. Different communication options are available and may be selected based on the particular object, environmental conditions and other factors.

An automatic driving system includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured: to create a first travel plan of a vehicle based on a position of the vehicle, an environment surrounding the vehicle, and a state of the vehicle; to calculate a first reliability of the first travel plan; to create a second travel plan of the vehicle based on one or two of the position of the vehicle, the environment surrounding the vehicle, and the state of the vehicle; to calculate a second reliability of the second travel plan; and to start the automatic driving control such that the vehicle travels based on the first travel plan when the first reliability of the first travel plan is equal to or higher than the second reliability of the second travel plan.