EP3011546A1

EP3011546A1 - Method for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle

Info

Publication number: EP3011546A1
Application number: EP14726919.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Christian Heigele; Holger Mielenz
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 2013-06-17
Filing date: 2014-05-16
Publication date: 2016-04-27
Also published as: WO2014202295A1; DE102013211275A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle (10), comprising the steps: reception of a cell (3), preferably a grid tile, emitted by a transmitting station (13), by the motor vehicle (10), wherein the cell (3) constitutes an electronic memory representation of at least a part of the surroundings of the motor vehicle (10), storage of the received cell (3) in the motor vehicle (10), and integration of the stored cell (3) in a stored surroundings model (1) of the motor vehicle (10). Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle (10), comprising the steps: detection of a motor vehicle (10) to which at least one cell (3), preferably a grid tile, can be transmitted, wherein the cell (3) constitutes an electronic memory representation of at least a part of the surroundings of the motor vehicle (10), and emission of the cell (3) by a transmitter station (13).

Description

description

title

A method of assisting a driver of a motor vehicle prior art

The present invention relates to a method for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle. Furthermore, the invention relates to a control device for a motor vehicle, which supports the driver of the motor vehicle, as well as a

Motor vehicle with the control unit.

Modern driver assistance systems often have a high

Level of automation with which these driving processes can support independently. On the one hand, this contributes to greater driver comfort and, on the other hand, to greater safety for the road users.

Very often driver assistance systems are used, which allow independent guidance of the vehicle. However, these are highly accurate

Information needed to help the vehicle navigate in its environment. Therefore, fully automatic systems map their environment very accurately, but this is very memory intensive. However, only in this way is it possible to meet the requirements of the systems for localization and timetable planning. It is also known that vehicles can independently exchange information. This may include, for example, information about speeds, ground conditions, cornering or other information. Such environment information can then be used in navigation systems and provide meta-information that is useful for route planning and driver information, for local scheduling, and

Vehicle control, however, are not sufficient. For example, in conventional systems, road profiles become less detailed than graphene represented and 3D information from existing environment objects not considered. This is for the reason that a data reduction is achieved, whereby the transmission can be optimized. However, this inevitably causes a transmission of high-resolution

Environment models is not possible.

High-resolution environment models that are automated

Driver assistance systems for guiding the vehicle are required, for example, as occupancy grids realized. These divide the surroundings of a vehicle into a uniform grid, wherein each of the cells of this grid contains a certain occupancy information. In the simplest case, this is a pure probability of likelihood, but also more complex methods are known. Furthermore, it is known from the prior art that an environment of a

Vehicle is represented by GridTiles, which can be iteratively strung together. Thus, an unknown environment model can be iteratively built by gradually adding new tiles as needed.

Disclosure of the invention

The method according to the invention for supporting a driver of a motor vehicle comprises the following steps

Transmitting station received a sent cell. The emitted cell is preferably a GridTile. Receiving is done by the motor vehicle, wherein the cell is an electronic memory image of at least a portion of an environment of the motor vehicle. Subsequently, the

stored cell integrated into a stored environment model of the motor vehicle. Thus, it is possible to store highly accurate information about the environment of the vehicle on the one hand, on the other hand to receive from a transmitting station. Therefore, the method according to the invention can also be used to transmit a highly complex environmental model by sending it to the vehicle through its individual components, that is, through the individual cells. The preferred use of GridTiles makes it possible to provide a high degree of detail of the information. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle, comprising the following steps: First, a vehicle is recognized, to which at least one cell is to be transmitted.

Preferably, the cell is a GridTile. Again, the cell is an electronic memory image of at least a portion of an environment of the

Motor vehicle. Subsequently, the cell is passed through a transmitting station

sent. As already described above, an advantage of the method according to the invention is that highly complex environment models can be transferred stepwise. By using individual units, the cells, it is possible to have a subset of highly complex

Environment model to send to the motor vehicle, the motor vehicle can already use this sub-area for navigation. The selection of the cells to be transmitted, preferably GridTiles, can preferably be determined by system-specific, environment-specific and / or emission-specific parameters.

The dependent claims have preferred developments of the invention to the content. Advantageously, it is provided that the aforementioned steps are each carried out periodically, so that a plurality of cells is transmitted and / or received. Thus, it is possible to complete

Environmental model to the vehicle to transfer. Therefore, it is possible by means of the method according to the invention, a complete high-precision

Environmental model to transfer, this gradually by the

Using individual units of the environment model, the individual cells, which are preferably GridTiles, takes place. Thus, a broadband-optimized

Transmission of the environment model possible. The order of the cells to be transferred can be chosen meaningfully, with the aforementioned criteria preferably being used.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, prioritized such cells are emitted and / or received, which represent a first subregion. The first subregion is that region of the environment in which the motor vehicle is located. Thus, by means of this particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, first of all that cell is transmitted which represents that subregion of the environment which the Vehicle needed to navigate immediately. This ensures that the most important data is available as quickly as possible.

In a further particularly advantageous embodiment, prioritized such cells are emitted and / or received, which represent a second partial area. The second subarea is disposed immediately adjacent to the first subarea and / or is located such that the motor vehicle, taking into account the current direction of travel, will transition from the first subarea to the second subarea. This means that, in accordance with this preferred embodiment, the data that is required in the near future is prioritized. This follows the above concept of first transmitting the data necessary for the

Navigation are particularly important. Since, preferably, first of all the data relating to the immediate surroundings of the vehicle is provided, in this embodiment the area is provided which the vehicle will need next, so that a seamless transition takes place in the vehicle

Environment model is possible.

Furthermore, it is particularly preferably provided that prioritized such cells are emitted and / or transmitted, which represent a third subregion. The third subarea includes all obstacles and

Open spaces that are relevant to a current movement of the motor vehicle. In this way, it is preferably possible to determine, in the known direction of travel, in which width the environment in front of the vehicle must be transmitted in order to obtain the necessary information on open spaces and / or obstacles in the direction of this

To completely transmit the direction of travel.

In a further preferred embodiment, prioritized such cells are transmitted and / or received, which represent a fourth subregion. The fourth subregion comprises the first subregion and extends to one

Destination point to which the vehicle is to be guided. This means that in particular a trajectory is known in advance, which should follow the vehicle. Therefore, the fourth partial area is the area that the vehicle is traversed when following the trajectory to the destination point.

Advantageously, a compression method is used for transmitting and / or receiving the cell. This is preferably a Run length compression method. In this way, the transmission can be further optimized, especially if the transmission takes place by radio.

In a further preferred embodiment, the transmitting station is another motor vehicle and / or a stationary unit. In particular, it is provided that the transmitting station is another motor vehicle which has already traveled through an area to be transmitted and can thus provide information about this area. For example, the stationary unit may be a parking garage, where the stationary unit is aware of a defined environmental model that it can send to the vehicle.

It is preferably provided that the motor vehicle requests the transmission of the cell from the transmitting station. In particular, it is provided that the

Vehicle recognizes that it is traveling to an area for which information may be available. Therefore, it is provided that the vehicle the

Request transmission of the information, so that the vehicle then the environment model is transmitted in the form of one, or preferably several, individual cells.

The invention further relates to a control device for a motor vehicle. The controller is connected to other components of the vehicle and configured to perform the previously described methods.

Finally, the invention relates to a motor vehicle, the aforementioned

Control unit includes.

Brief description of the drawings

Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows an environment model with a first portion of the

Environment and a second portion of the environment as used in the method according to an embodiment of the invention, 1, which corresponds to a third subregion of the environment, that part of the environment model from FIG. 1 which corresponds to a fourth subregion of the environment, a schematic representation of the transfer of cells according to a first time step of the method according to the exemplary embodiment of the invention , A schematic representation of the transfer of cells according to a second time step of the method according to the embodiment of the invention, a schematic representation of the transfer of cells according to a third time step of the method according to the embodiment of the invention, and a schematic view of the vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention ,

Embodiments of the invention

First, a first embodiment of the invention will be described without reference to the drawings. In it the use of an environment model looks over

(Radio) network that a transmitting station, e.g. a central parking garage unit or another vehicle has already created an environment model consisting of GridTiles. If a vehicle now works on this environment model, e.g. because it is entering the parking garage, the environment model is transmitted tile by tile.

In an advantageous embodiment, the tile on which the vehicle is located is first transmitted (first subarea) and then the surrounding tiles (second subarea). In this way, the world around the vehicle is iteratively built up. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the transmission order can be determined depending on system-specific and / or environment-specific and / or mission-specific variables. This will be described later in detail.

A system-specific variable is in particular the current orientation of the vehicle. In that case, those pointing in that direction would

Neighborhood tiles are transmitted next (third subarea). For closer restriction, the direction of the tiles to be transferred could also be made via the current gear selection.

The required tiles can be modified via environment-specific variables, e.g. a parking garage. If the direction of travel is known from system-specific variables, it is possible to determine, in terms of width, the environment in front of the direction of travel, via the knowledge of open spaces and obstacles in the direction of this direction of travel

Vehicle must be transferred in order to fully transfer the necessary information on open spaces and / or obstacles (fourth sub-area). This information can be extended by the contextual knowledge of traffic rules and possible driving actions, so that if e.g. the vehicle is driven on a ramp, the tiles necessary for leaving the ramp are completely transmitted, the tiles are transmitted in the order that the drive from the said driving action is continuously made possible. Mission specific sizes are e.g. when entering a parking garage, which destination the car should reach and how it gets to it. This is the global path of the vehicle, its route in the parking garage known. So that the vehicle can now localize and calculate the path in the required detailing, the tiles required for this are going to be replaced

system-specific and environment-specific variables and timely sent to the vehicle.

Since the nearby environment is transmitted first, the vehicle immediately has a workable environment and can begin with situation analysis and planning algorithms. If it receives measurements from outside of its known environment so they can in newly allocated tiles with

appropriate neighborhood relationships are integrated. This matches with the well-known procedure when using GridTiles as tiles. If the vehicle subsequently receives a historical tile over the network interface that covers the same area, the system automatically integrates it with the tiles created by the vehicle, for which the merging algorithm is responsible for the GridTile process.

Furthermore, instead of transmitting a complete tile, its information may also be condensed. For example, only cells with one

Probability probability above a certain threshold are transmitted. In this way, the elements of a GridTiles could be unique

Identifications (IDs) are provided. During the transfer of a

GridTiles will not send the complete GridTile, but only those elements of the GridTile, e.g. Have occupancy information. An advantageous coding would consist of a list of tuples with the unique ID of the element and the coding of the occupancy level.

Also advantageous is a transmission of pure bit values, which indicate whether the information content of a cell is above or below the threshold. When the cells are transmitted bit-by-bit, tiles can be sub-elementally transmitted, for example, by passing the number of occupied / unoccupied cells, in the order in which they are mapped in memory. Figuratively speaking, this could look like this: The memory image 00000000001 11 10000 can be described by "10 unoccupied cells, 4 occupied cells, 5 unoccupied cells" and thus compactly transmitted by 10.4.5 Further compression algorithms for data reduction can be implemented Similar to algorithms used in image compression, these characteristics increase in increasing order

Data reduction to increase bandwidth optimization. A

Return transmission of tiles represents a further use according to the invention. As a result, already historically plausibilized maps can be constantly updated.

Figure 1 shows an environment model 1, which is composed of individual cells 3, wherein the individual cells 3 are in particular GridTiles. The cells 3 included Information about the environment modeled by the environment model 1, where the information is basically different in obstacles 31 and open spaces 32 The obstacles 31 and the open spaces 32 are through

Occupancy probabilities represented, so that means of the

Environment model even inaccurate measurements can be displayed.

Furthermore, it is shown in FIG. 1 that a vehicle 10 is located within the environment that is imaged by the environment model 1. In this case, the vehicle is located in a first sub-area 4, which is formed by that cell 3, which represents the environment that is immediately around the

Vehicle 10 extends. Subsequent to the first subregion 4 there is a second subregion 5, which is represented by a plurality of cells 3. Since a trajectory 2 is known that follows the vehicle 10, it is known that the vehicle will transition from the first area 4 into the second area 5. Therefore, it is advantageously provided that in the case where the

Environmental model 1 is transmitted to the vehicle 10, first

Information about the first portion 4 and then information about the second portion 5 are sent. Thus, the vehicle 10 is always the information that it just needs to navigate within the environment represented by the environment model 1.

FIG. 2 shows a section from the environment model 1 from FIG. 1. This section corresponds to a third subarea 6, which is represented by those cells 3 that are relevant to a current direction of movement 20 of the vehicle 10. In this case, preferably possible branches can be taken into account. Thus, it is shown in FIG. 2 that the

Movement direction 20 of the vehicle can continue either in the direction of movement 21 or in the direction of movement 22. Both possibilities are preferably encompassed by the third subarea, so that the vehicle has all the information about obstacles 31 and open spaces 32 for the current one

Direction provided. It is possible that the aforementioned principles are applied, which means that first those cells 3 are sent to the vehicle 10, which are particularly relevant for a current navigation of the vehicle.

FIG. 3 shows, analogously to FIG. 2, a further detail from FIG

Environment model 1, this section a fourth portion 7th represents. For the fourth subregion 7, it is necessary that a trajectory 2 is known, which follows the vehicle 10. Thus, only those cells 3 form the fourth subregion 7, which are arranged around the trajectory 2, so that the fourth subregion 7 represents that environment which the vehicle 7 must inevitably pass through when following the trajectory 2.

The individual subregions, i. the first sub-area 4, the second sub-area 5, the third sub-area 6 and the fourth sub-area 7 are preferably used to define an order with which the individual cells 3 of the

Ambient model 1 are transmitted to the motor vehicle. Likewise, it is advantageously provided that the individual subregions determine the entire section of the environment model 1 to be transmitted. For example, only the cells 3 of the fourth subregion 7 can be transmitted if a transmission of the entire environment model 1 is not necessary or not desired. This is shown in FIGS. 4 to 6.

FIGS. 4 to 6 show in detail how the vehicle 10 can always be supplied with current surroundings information when following the trajectory 2. For this purpose again the environmental model 1 from FIG. 1 is shown. In addition, a first transmission area 81 is shown, which is that section of the

Environment model 1, which is prioritized to the vehicle 10 is transmitted. This preferably represents a first time step of the method according to the invention. It is thus possible for the vehicle 10 to travel a certain distance along the trajectory 2 with the information received in the first time step.

At the latest when the vehicle 10 has reached a first edge area 91 of the first transmission area 81, a second time step takes place. In the second time step, as shown in Figure 5, a second

Transmission area 82 transmitted to the vehicle 10. Once again, it is provided that upon reaching a second edge region 92 of the second transmission region 82, the process proceeds to the third time step of the method shown in FIG. In Figure 6 is shown as a third

Transmission area 83 is transmitted to the vehicle 10.

It is therefore obvious that overall the fourth shown in FIG

Subarea 7 is transmitted. The prioritization, in which order the individual cells 3 within the first transmission area 81, the second transmission area 82 and the third transmission area 83, preferably takes place by subdivision of the transmission areas into the first

Part 4 (see Figure 1) and second portion 5 (see Figure 2)

Thus, it is possible that the current information is always transmitted to the vehicle 10. Therefore, when following the trajectory 2, the vehicle 10 continually has up-to-date navigation information, by means of which an automated driver assistance system can independently steer the vehicle through the represented environment. By providing the

highly accurate environment model 1 will be a precise, safe and secure

reliable navigation of the vehicle allows.

Figure 7 shows the vehicle 10 according to an embodiment of the invention. The vehicle 10 includes a control unit 11, which is connected via a data line 14 with other components of the vehicle 10. In particular, these further components include further control devices of the vehicle 10 with which a movement of the vehicle 10 can be actively influenced. In addition, the control unit 1 1 is connected to sensors 12, with which the vehicle 10 can detect its surroundings.

Furthermore, the control unit 1 1 can receive data from a transmitting station 13, so that environmental data can be transmitted either by the sensors 12 or by the transmitting station 13 to the control unit 11 and thus to the vehicle 10. The controller 11 can all of these

Assemble information about the previously shown environment model 1 of the environment of the vehicle 10. Thus, the vehicle is always possible that it is guided safely and reliably by an automated driver assistance system through the environment.

Claims

A method of assisting a driver of a motor vehicle (10), comprising the steps of:

Receiving by the motor vehicle (10) a cell (3) emitted by a transmitting station (13), preferably a GridTile, the cell (3) representing an electronic memory image of at least a portion of an environment of the motor vehicle (10),

- storing the received cell (3) in the motor vehicle (10), and

Integrate the stored cell (3) into a stored one

Environmental model (1) of the motor vehicle (10).

- Detecting a motor vehicle (10) to which at least one cell (3), preferably a GridTile, transferable, wherein the cell (3) represents an electronic memory image of at least a portion of an environment of the motor vehicle (10), and

- Sending the cell (3) by a transmitting station (13).

Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the steps are carried out periodically, so that a plurality of cells (3) is emitted and / or received.

A method according to claim 3, characterized in that prioritized such cells (3) are emitted and / or received, which represent a first portion (4), wherein the motor vehicle (10) is within the first portion (4) of the environment.

A method according to claim 4, characterized in that prioritized such cells (3) are emitted and / or received, which represent a second partial area (5), wherein the first partial area (4) immediately adjacent to the second partial area (5) and / / or that Motor vehicle (10), taking into account the direction of travel of the first portion (4) in the second portion (5) will pass.

Method according to one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that prioritized such cells (3) are emitted and / or received, which represent a third portion (6), wherein the third portion (6) includes all obstacles and open spaces that are relevant for a current movement of the motor vehicle (10).

A method according to claim 4, characterized in that prioritized such cells (3) are emitted and / or received, which represent a fourth partial area (7), wherein the fourth partial area (7) comprises the first partial area (4) and a target point (23) to which the motor vehicle is to be guided.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that for transmitting and / or receiving the cell (3) a compression method is used.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transmitting station (13) is another motor vehicle and / or a stationary unit.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the motor vehicle from the transmitting station (13) requests the transmission of the cell (3).

Control unit (11) for a motor vehicle (10), wherein the control unit (11) is connected to further components of the motor vehicle (10) and is adapted to carry out the method according to one of Claims 1 to 10.

12. Motor vehicle (10), comprising a control unit (11) according to claim 11