METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AN AT LEAST PARTIALLY AUTONOMOUSLY DRIVING EGO VEHICLE

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling an at least partially autonomously driving ego vehicle, at least the surroundings, legal driving conditions and the traffic in front of the ego vehicle in a current lane being detected by sensors. The problem addressed by the invention is that of providing an improved method. The problem is solved in that a first query relating to a possible speed is carried out, and a target acceleration is calculated when it is detected that the possible speed is greater than the current speed, and a second query is carried out as to whether there is a vehicle in an adjacent lane within an observation region, whether an acceleration at the calculated target acceleration is carried out, since no vehicle has been detected within the observation region, or whether no acceleration at the target acceleration is carried out, since a vehicle has been detected within the observation region.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an at least partially autonomously driving ego vehicle, wherein at least the surroundings, legal driving conditions and the traffic in front of the ego vehicle in a current lane are detected by sensors, wherein a. a first query is carried out about a change in a current speed of the ego vehicle to a possible speed of the ego vehicle, while maintaining the current lane and a target acceleration is calculated when it is detected that the possible speed is greater than the current speed, and b. a second query is carried out as to whether a vehicle is located on an adjacent lane within an observation region, whether either an acceleration is carried out with the calculated target acceleration because no vehicle was detected within the observation region or whether no acceleration is carried out with the target acceleration because a vehicle was detected within the observation region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the observation region extends more than 25 meters (m) laterally along the ego vehicle in the left direction of travel or in the right direction of travel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the observation region extends in the direction of travel more than 25 m obliquely to the left or right behind a rear edge of the ego vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the observation region extends more than 25 m obliquely to the left or right, in front of a leading edge of the ego vehicle in the direction of travel.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the observation region is a region which is arranged laterally to the left or right of the ego vehicle in the direction of travel, wherein a maximum extension of the observation region is dependent on the permitted, the possible speed and/or the current speed of the ego vehicle and/or the speed of the vehicle and becomes greater with increasing speed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein an extension of the observation region behind a rear edge of the ego vehicle, is dependent on the difference between, on the one hand, the speed of the vehicle and, on the other hand, the possible speed or the current speed of the ego vehicle and becomes greater as the difference increases.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a recording of the observation region laterally of the ego vehicle is made by at least one sensor.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one sensor records the observation region laterally of the ego vehicle with ultrasound, with radar, with a camera recording and/or with laser scanning.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one sensor is part of a lane change assistant, wherein the lane change assistant includes computer-executable instructions, executable by a processor to perform the first query.

10. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the first query is performed again after a certain period of time, wherein the certain period of time corresponds in particular to 100 milliseconds.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second query is performed again after a certain period of time, wherein the certain period of time corresponds in particular to 100 milliseconds.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one vehicle driving ahead in the current lane is detected and picked up by sensors and an overtaking maneuver is initiated and a target acceleration for carrying out the overtaking maneuver is calculated.

Description

[0028] The invention is further explained with reference to the non-limiting figures, wherein:

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a sketch of an ego vehicle according to the invention in road traffic in a first situation;

[0030] FIG. 2 shows a sketch of the ego vehicle according to the invention in road traffic in a second situation;

[0031] FIG. 3 shows a schematic sequence of a first embodiment of a method according to the invention; and

[0032] FIG. 4. shows a schematic sequence of a second embodiment of a method according to the invention.

[0033] FIG. 1 shows a first situation in which a method according to the invention is applied to an ego vehicle 1. Here, an ego vehicle 1 is traveling on a current lane F1 at a current speed v.sub.a. A vehicle 2 is traveling on an adjacent lane F2 at a speed w. At the moment shown, the two vehicles have the same direction of travel along the speed vectors v.sub.a and w. A line 3 is arranged between the current lane F1 and the neighboring lane F2 for demarcation. Lines 3 are also provided to delimit lanes F1, F2 from the surrounding area. The vehicle 2 moves on the adjacent lane F2 in the direction of travel to the left of the ego vehicle 1. The ego vehicle 1 has at least one sensor 4 which picks up an observation region 5 to the side of the ego vehicle 1. In the embodiment shown, the observation region 5 is located to the left of the ego vehicle 1 in the direction of travel. Here, the observation region 5 extends 25 m laterally along the ego vehicle 1 in the left direction of travel, wherein in this exemplary embodiment the extension y behind a rear edge 6 of the ego vehicle 1 is greater than the extension x in front of a front edge 7 of the ego vehicle 1. In the direction transverse to the direction of travel, the observation region 5 extends over a distance z which preferably exceeds the adjacent lane F2, i.e. in particular is 1.75 times the lane width, if the sensor 4 is arranged centrally on the ego vehicle 1. If the sensor 4 is arranged laterally on the ego vehicle 1, 1.25 times the lane width is sufficient to reliably detect whether a vehicle is in the lane F2. In an advantageous design, the observation region 5 extends in the direction of travel about 25 m to the left behind a rear edge 6 and about 5 m in front of a front edge 7 of the ego vehicle 1. In a particularly advantageous design, the observation region 5 is selected dynamically as a function of the current speed v.sub.a of the ego vehicle 1, the current speed w of the vehicle 2 and/or a difference between the current speed w of the vehicle 2 and the current speed v.sub.a of the ego vehicle 1.

[0034] In FIG. 1, the vehicle 2 is outside the observation region 5. In contrast, FIG. 2 shows a second situation in which the vehicle 2 is inside the observation region 5. This means that the sensor 4 of the ego vehicle 1 perceives the vehicle 2. In the first situation according to FIG. 1, the vehicle 2 is also in a position with respect to the ego vehicle 1, in which the ego vehicle 1 can determine the position and speed w of the vehicle 2, although the vehicle 2 is outside the observation region 5 according to the invention. This is carried out by the sensor 4 or another sensor of the ego vehicle 1.

[0035] In particular, the two situations in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 represent successive situations. Here, the speed of the vehicle 2 is greater than the speed of the ego vehicle 1, so that the vehicle 2, coming from behind, catches up with the ego vehicle 1 and thus drives into the observation region 5.

[0036] Alternatively, two situations may arise in which the spatial distance in the direction of travel between the vehicle 2 and the ego vehicle 1 remains unchanged, but the speed of one of the vehicles or of both vehicles changes in such a way that the observation region 5 of the method according to the invention extends so much more to the rear in the second situation that the vehicle 2 is now within the observation region 5. In particular, the difference between the current speed w of the vehicle 2 and the current speed v.sub.a of the ego vehicle 1 or the difference between the current speed w of the vehicle 2 and the determined possible speed v.sub.m of the ego vehicle 1 can be used here to determine the observation region 5. In both cases, the observation region 5 is determined according to the invention in such a way that an overtaking process of the vehicle 2 is detected at the ego vehicle 1 and the vehicle 2 is located within the observation region 5, in particular within the extension y behind a rear edge 6 of the ego vehicle 1. The overtaking process still takes place if the vehicle 2 is located next to the ego vehicle 1 or in the extension x in front of a front edge 7 of the ego vehicle 1, so that the observation region 5 is selected according to the invention so that the vehicle 2 is located within the observation region 5 during the overtaking process. Thus, if no vehicle 2 is located within the observation region 5, no overtaking process is currently taking place. Thus, according to the invention, the observation region 5 can be selected on the one hand statically with, for example, 25 m behind a rear edge 6 and 5 m in front of a front edge 7 of the ego vehicle 1 or, on the other hand, dynamically as a function of the current speed v.sub.a of the ego vehicle 1, the current speed w of the vehicle 2 and/or a difference between the current speed w of the vehicle 2 and the current speed v.sub.a of the ego vehicle 1.

[0037] FIG. 3 shows a schematic process flow. Here, S indicates the start of the method according to the invention. From the recordings of the sensors of the ego vehicle 1, knowledge about the surroundings of the ego vehicle 1, in particular the road conditions, the legally permitted maximum speed and the course of the road, the position and the speed w of the vehicle 2, as well as the current speed v.sub.a of the ego vehicle 1 is stored in the memory. Thus, current restrictions and prohibitions as well as the positions and speeds of the vehicle 2 and the ego vehicle 1 are stored and can be retrieved for the method.

[0038] The method starts with a first query A1. For this purpose, a possible speed v.sub.m is determined. The possible speed v.sub.m depends on the road conditions, the legal possibilities, the traffic in front of the ego vehicle 1 and possibly the driver's wish. After determining the possible speed v.sub.m, a first decision E1 is made as to whether the possible speed v.sub.m is greater or less than the current speed v.sub.a. If the current speed v.sub.a is less, a target acceleration is determined with the determined possible speed v.sub.m and the method is continued with a second query A2.

[0039] When the actual speed v.sub.a is greater than the determined possible speed v.sub.m an end E of the method is reached.

[0040] In the second query A2, it is determined whether a vehicle 2 is present in an adjacent lane F2 within the observation region 5. A decision E2 is made about it and an acceleration B with the calculated target acceleration is performed if no vehicle 2 is detected within the observation region 5 and no acceleration B with the target acceleration is performed if a vehicle 2 is detected within the observation region 5. In that case, the speed in step G is kept constant.

[0041] In contrast to this, in FIG. 4 the method is continued again with the first query A1 or with the second query A2 after a certain period of time.