METHOD FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE PARKING

Abstract

A method implemented in a parking management system for parking autonomous vehicles in a parking slot free manner, a method implemented in an autonomous vehicle and an autonomous vehicle adapted to perform the method. The method comprises the steps of requesting to park in a parking space. A parking position is determined based on the vehicle length and width and, based on the length and width of the vehicles forming the vehicle cluster at which the vehicle is intended to be parked. The method is a very flexible way of managing parking space for autonomous vehicles.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a parking management system for parking autonomous vehicles in a parking slot free manner, the method comprising: a) receiving a signal from an autonomous vehicle carrying information of a request to park, the autonomous vehicle having a length and a width; b) determining a parking position within a parking space based on at least the autonomous vehicle's length and width, the parking position being associated with a vehicle cluster based on length and width of each of a number of vehicles within the vehicle cluster; and c) sending the parking position to the autonomous vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising forming a temporary route by rearranging one or more vehicle clusters enabling the vehicle to reach the parking position.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein a safety distance is added to the length and the width of each vehicle, the safety distance is in the range of 2-50 cm.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the safety distance is in the range of 5-20 cm.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the vehicle cluster is further based on one or more of the following parameters: vehicle fuel level, exit time, requested parking time, paid parking time, available parking time, average vehicle cluster parking time, weight of one or more vehicles, height of one or more vehicles, one or more evacuation factors, length to width relationship, width to length relationship, or combinations thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein step b) further includes evaluating a repositioning of the vehicle cluster in the parking space in order to provide the parking position.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein step b) comprises repositioning the vehicle cluster in the parking space to provide the parking position and/or additional parking positions.

8. The method according to claim 1 further comprising redirecting or creating a vehicle path between at least two vehicle clusters by changing shape or vehicle constellation of at least one of the at least two vehicle clusters.

9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising forming a vehicle path between at least two vehicle clusters.

10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising forming a vehicle cluster based on length and width and expected exit time from the parking space of each of a number of vehicles.

11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising forming a vehicle cluster around one or more vehicles having fossil fuel as main source of power, or as only source of power.

12. The method according to claim 1 further comprising temporarily granting authority to the parking management system to displace the vehicle within the parking space.

13. A parking service computerized communication system for implementing the method according to claim 1.

14. A method implemented in an autonomous vehicle for parking in a parking slot free manner, the autonomous vehicle having a length and a width, the method comprising: a) sending a signal from the autonomous vehicle carrying information of a request to park in a parking space to a parking management system; and b) receiving a determined parking position within the parking space, the parking position being associated with a vehicle cluster based on length and width of each of a number of vehicles within the vehicle cluster.

15. An autonomous vehicle adapted to perform a method to claim 14.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0026] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a vehicle communicating with parking management system, and an illustrated view of a parking space;

[0027] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a vehicle and the functions associated with the vehicle;

[0028] FIG. 3 shows how a vehicle is assigned with a parking position;

[0029] FIGS. 4-6 show the rearrangement of two vehicle clusters to provide a route between a first and a second vehicle cluster and;

[0030] FIG. 7 shows a process scheme of a method implemented in a parking management system for parking autonomous vehicles in a parking slot free manner

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] As required, detailed embodiments are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary and that various and alternative forms may be employed. The figures are not necessarily to scale. Some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art.

[0032] FIG. 1 shows a schematic figure of a vehicle 1. The autonomous vehicle 1 has an autonomous driving function in terms of that it permits a driver to become a passenger after initiating the autonomous driving function whereby the vehicle autonomously may transfer the passenger to a selected destination. The vehicle further comprises an autonomous parking function. The vehicle may be a fully autonomous vehicle, a semi-autonomous vehicle.

[0033] A parking space 2 is schematically shown with a view from above. The parking space 2 may be indoors or outdoors. The parking space 2 may be provided with a number of parking slots 3 indicated with dashed lines, although for the purpose of the present invention, parking slots and or predefined slots are not required. The parking slots 3 are standardized in terms of that they are sized to fit substantially any kind of automobile on the market and used in traffic in Europe permitted to drive under a B driving license. A parking space management system 5 is arranged at the parking space 2. The vehicle 1 and the parking space management system are arranged to communicate via a cloud based communication service 6 over e.g., a wireless cellular network such as 4G or 5G, or a long-range or short range communication systems or networks as disclosed below. Further shown in FIG. 1 are a number of vehicle clusters: a first vehicle cluster 11; a second vehicle cluster 13; a third vehicle cluster 13; a fourth vehicle cluster 14; a fifth vehicle cluster 15; which will be discussed in greater detail below.

[0034] FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of the vehicle 1, a first and a second additional vehicle B, C, and the parking management system 20. The vehicle 1 is provided with a communication system 1a, a processing unit 1b, software and memory capacity 1c, vehicle data 1d, an autonomous driving system 1e, additional functions 1f, positioning function 1g, and a user interface 1h. The additional vehicles B and C are provided with similar or identical features.

[0035] The communication system 1a can support long-range or short range communication. Long range communications include one or more of the following, but are not limited to; UMTS, GSM, WiMAX, LTE or combinations thereof. Short range communications include one or more of the following, but are not limited to; DSRC, ITS G5, device to device mode of cellular network, Bluetooth, WiFi or combinations thereof.

[0036] The processing unit 1b is responsible for processing data, and governs the interaction between the other systems and functions. It can be an on-board computer, CPU having one or a plurality of cores or processors, accelerated processing unit (APU) also referred to as an advanced processing unit. The CPU may comprise application programming interfaces, APIs, configured to specify how software components may interact with each other.

[0037] The software/memory module 1c implements the algorithms, i.e., the autonomous parking function, and may be slightly different dependent on whether a decentralized mode or centralized mode, or combinations thereof is implemented. In a decentralized mode, the vehicle themselves communicate, organize and decide how collaborate movement of the vehicles is executed. In a centralized mode, the vehicle receives information, processes and executes data received from a central entity.

[0038] Vehicle data 1d is gathered from the vehicle systems such as steering, engine, damping, braking, sensors, radar, LIDAR, tires, Flexray, CAN, or combinations thereof.

[0039] The autonomous driving system 1e includes one or more, but is not limited to, sensors such as camera, optical sensors, LIDAR, radar, IR, or the like. The sensors are generally adapted to monitor the vehicles surroundings short range and/or long ranges surroundings. The autonomous driving system further comprises a steering and velocity control arrangement adapted to directly or indirectly, steer the vehicle. The yaw rate of the vehicle may be adjusted for example. Engine and braking control arrangement is further included herein. The system may thus control acceleration and the deceleration of the vehicle, engine braking, braking by activating the wheel brakes, and increasing or decreasing the power output from the engine.

[0040] The additional functions 1f can be systems supporting secondary systems such as sensors and communication unit interfaces such as a mobile phone interface.

[0041] The positioning system 1g can include but is not limited to one or more of the following; GPS, WiFi, magnetic strips, cameras, optical systems, IR, laser, or combinations thereof.

[0042] The user interface 1h enables a user to interact with the parking management system and can be in the form of voice recognition, gesture recognition, touch screen, motion sensors, keypad, display, cameras, face recognition, buttons, or combinations thereof.

[0043] As one skilled in the art would understand, the parking management system 5, 20 may likewise include suitable hardware and software, such as one or more processors (e.g., one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers and/or programmable digital signal processors) in communication with, or configured to communicate with, one or more storage devices or media including computer readable program instructions that are executable by the one or more processors so that the parking management system may perform particular algorithms represented by the functions and/or operations described herein. The parking management system may also, or instead, include one or more application specific integrated circuits, programmable gate arrays or programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, or digital signal processors.

[0044] Turning back to FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 or a user of the vehicle 1, issues a command for parking in the parking space 2. The parking management system receives a signal from the vehicle 1 carrying information of a request to park. The parking management system determines a suitable parking position within the parking space 2 based on the vehicle's length and width, in this case the suitable parking position is determined to be at the position referred to as 1′ in the fourth vehicle cluster 14. The vehicle length and width, and optionally additional vehicle data may be transmitted by the vehicle 1 to the parking management system, or be retrieved from a cloud based data storage facility. The position is determined by a number of vehicles within a vehicle cluster, in which cluster the number of vehicles have been positioned based on their length and width. The determined position is forwarded to the vehicle 1.

[0045] The parking management system may further need to determine a suitable route within the parking space 2 to the determined position, and inform the vehicle 1 of the determined route. The route, indicated by the dashed arrow, may be temporarily created by relocating one or more vehicles already parked within the parking space 2 for example. The route may be forwarded to the vehicle 1 in advance or be forwarded to the vehicle 1 when the vehicle 1 enters the parking space 2, or is in the proximity of the parking space 2. In FIG. 1, a suitable route has been created between two clusters of vehicles namely the first cluster 11 and the second cluster 12. It has been determined that the available space between the first cluster 11 and the third cluster 13 is going to be used for other vehicles within short and the arrival time of the vehicle 1 may be coinciding with the displacement of those vehicles.

[0046] When the vehicle 1 enters the parking space 1, the vehicle 1 may navigate to the determined position via the vehicles own systems, and/or via a navigation system arranged in the parking space 2. The parking management system may optionally or additionally provide the vehicle 1 with a digital map over the parking space 2. The digital map may be a digital map over the current status of the vehicle within the parking space 2, or a predicted map in which future displacements, additions or removals of vehicles within the parking space has been taken into account. Hence, in general terms, the method may include a step in which the vehicle is provided with a digital map over the parking space and the position of the vehicles currently parked within the parking space, and/or a prediction of the positions of the parked vehicles at the time when the requesting vehicle arrives at the parking space.

[0047] When arriving to the near proximity of the determined parking space, the vehicle 1 initiates autonomous parking to park at the determined parking position 1′. After being parked, the vehicle 1 confirms to the parking management system that a successful parking has been performed and the parking management system updates the data base.

[0048] With reference to FIGS. 3-6, the vehicle 1 has substantially reached the proximity of the determined parking position 1′ and is autonomously driving along the determined route R1. Following the data received from the vehicle 1, the parking management system has detected that the vehicle 1 can be parked at the position indicated with reference 1′. The route to the parking position has been determined based on the vehicles 1 predicted turning surface.

[0049] A predicted turning surface (PTS) of the vehicle 1 can be derived from the formulas:

PTS=(L,W,Sd,Tr,Of,Ob)

and

Tr=(steering angle)

[0050] Wherein L=Length of the vehicle, W=width of the vehicle, Sd=preset safety distance, Tr=turning radius, Of=Overhang front, Ob=overhang back.

[0051] Based on the prediction, the parking management system can determine that the vehicle 1 may be able to turn to the parking position 1′ to reach the first vehicle cluster 11. The vehicle 1 subsequently performs an autonomous parking at the parking position 1′ and joins the first vehicle cluster 11 based on at least the vehicle's 1 length and width.

[0052] FIGS. 4-6 illustrates the creation of a second route R2. The parking management system acknowledges that a second route R2 can be created by displacing a number of vehicles 1, B, C. The three vehicles 1, B, C are regrouped with the second vehicle cluster 12. The second vehicle cluster 12 are clustered based on each vehicle's length and width, but also on the vehicle's indicated exit time, i.e., the time at which the vehicle is predicted to exit the parking space. The predicted exit time can be based on the paid parking time, indicated parking time, available parking time just as a matter of example.

[0053] As can be gleaned, the exit time of some of the vehicles of the first and the second cluster are noted on respective vehicles. The first vehicle cluster 11 is visualized by the dashed line. As can be noticed, the vehicles 1, B, C have an exit time more corresponding to the second vehicle cluster 12. As a new route R2 is to be created, the vehicles are regrouped with the second vehicle cluster 12 based on their length and width but also on the basis of the exit time. The average exit time of the first vehicle cluster 11 is a few hours earlier than the average exit time of the second cluster 12. The vehicle 1, which was designated with the parking position 1′ is now reassigned a new parking position 1″ clustering the vehicle 1 with the second cluster 12.

[0054] The second vehicle cluster 12 is still using the vehicles length and width in order to designate a parking position for the vehicles 1, B, C. Following the FIGS. 5 and 6, the vehicles 1, B, C are autonomously moved to the second cluster 12. A fourth vehicle D has now been given an exit route R2. The three vehicles 1, B, C are superimposed with the condition that they can be clustered with the second vehicle cluster 12 only if none of the vehicles is longer than the set vehicle length, indicated with the arrow in FIG. 6. The width of the vehicles 1, B, C are further considered and is set not to exceed a preset width, as the route R2 would not be sufficiently large for the fourth vehicle D to exit.

[0055] In view of the above, the vehicle clusters may be based on exit time of a selected number of vehicles in addition to the vehicles length and width. The exit time may be an average exit time of a number of vehicles.

[0056] FIG. 7 shows a schematic process illustrating the method. The dashed square indicated that the parking management system is activated. At step 100; a vehicle sends a requests to park within the parking space. At step 110 the dimensions of the vehicle and the predicted exit time is registered. At least the length and the width of the vehicle are registered. The length and the width of the vehicle may be forwarded by the vehicle itself, or be retrieved form a data base on the basis of the vehicle identification such as the license plate number of the vehicle. Additional parameters may be registered. Such additional parameters may be vehicle weight, height and/or vehicle accessories such as if the vehicle is provided with a tow bar for example.

[0057] At step 120 the parking management system evaluates if the vehicle can be clustered with existing vehicle clusters based on at least the vehicles length and width or if the vehicle can form the basis of a new vehicle cluster.

[0058] At step 130 if the result of the evaluation is that a parking position can be assigned to the requesting vehicle, the suitable parking position is forwarded to the vehicle. Preferably the vehicle is assigned to a vehicle cluster e.g., defined by the predicted exit time of the vehicle. Other parameters defining a vehicle cluster can be the vehicles weight for example. It may be desirable to impose weight conditions of a vehicle cluster e.g., so that the vehicle cluster is not exceeding a predetermined weight unit/area unit ratio. If no position is available, it may be needed to rearrange the vehicles in order to provide a parking position.

[0059] At step 140 the parking management system guides the vehicle to the designated parking position and/or the vehicle performs an autonomous parking.

[0060] At step 150 the data base is updated with the newly arrived vehicle.

[0061] At step 200 if the vehicle cannot be assigned to an existing vehicle cluster, form a new cluster, or reassign any vehicles to form new vehicle clusters, i.e., to form modified vehicle clusters, the request for parking is rejected. The vehicle is informed that the parking space is full. The parking management system is thereafter inactivated and awaiting a new request for parking. As an option, the parking management system may check if there is a free parking slot if the parking space has regular parking slots. If no parking slot is free, the request is rejected and the vehicle is informed that the parking space is full. The parking management system is inactivated and awaiting a new request.

[0062] At step 210 the parking management system evaluates if one or more clusters, or vehicles, can be displaced to create new vehicle clusters in order to provide a parking position for the requesting vehicle. If it is not possible, the request is rejected. If it is possible, the parking management system guides the vehicle to the designated parking position and/or the vehicle performs an autonomous parking.

[0063] At step 300 the parking process can be terminated by the vehicle or by the parking management system at any time whereby the parking management system is inactivated.

[0064] While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms according to the disclosure. In that regard, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments according to the disclosure.