METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DRIVING CONTROL, DEVICE, MEDIUM, AND SYSTEM

Abstract

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, provided are a method and apparatus for driving control, a device, a medium, and a system. A method for driving control comprises obtaining perception information related to the environment in which a vehicle is located, the perception information comprising at least perception information related to a target object in the environment. The method also comprises determining, on the basis of the perception information, whether the target object is in an abnormal motion state, and generating a driving-related message in response to the target object being in the abnormal motion state, the driving-related message indicating the abnormal motion state of the target object. The method also comprises providing the driving related message to the vehicle for controlling the vehicle to travel on a path that does not collide with the target object. Thus, an abnormal object, in the environment, that may affect the traveling of the vehicle can be detected more accurately and in time, thereby guiding safe traveling of the vehicle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of priority of PCT International Patent Application PCT/CN2019/074989, titled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DRIVING CONTROL, DEVICE, MEDIUM, AND SYSTEM”, filed on Feb. 13, 2019, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a field of computer, and in particular, to automatic driving control technology.

BACKGROUND

With the development and progress of science and technology, controlling driving of a transportation means through an automatic control system may bring convenience to people's travel. In recent years, as an application scenario of artificial intelligence, automatic driving (also referred to as unmanned driving) has become a new direction for the development of various transportation means, particularly of the automobile industry. The ability of a transportation means to autonomously drive is becoming increasingly expected. Generally, implementation of autonomous driving may include perceiving a surrounding environment of a transportation means through a sensing device, performing a decision-making plan regarding driving based on a perception result, and controlling a specific driving operation of the transportation means according to the decision-making plan. Therefore, the accuracy and efficiency of any of environment perception, decision planning and control will affect the driving safety and comfort of a transportation means and the operating efficiency of an overall transportation system.

SUMMARY

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a scheme for driving control is provided.

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a driving control assisting method is provided. The method includes acquiring perception information related to an environment of a transportation means, the perception information including at least perception information related to a target object in the environment; determining whether the target object is in an abnormal motion state based on the perception information; generating a driving-related message in response to the target object being in the abnormal motion state, the driving-related message indicating the abnormal motion state of the target object; and providing the driving-related message to the transportation means, to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception information includes a plurality of information sets related to the target object sensed at a plurality of time points in a period of time. In some embodiments, determining whether the target object is in the abnormal motion state includes: determining whether the target object is continuously stationary in the period of time based on the plurality of information sets; and determining that the target object is in an abnormal stationary state, in response to determining that the target object is continuously stationary in the period of time.

In some embodiments, the perception information further includes perception information related to a reference object in the environment. In some embodiments, determining whether the target object is in the abnormal motion state includes: determining a movement of the target object and a movement of the reference object based on the perception information related to the target object and the perception information related to the reference object; determining whether the target object is in an abnormal movement state by comparing the movement of the target object with the movement of the reference object.

In some embodiments, determining whether the target object is in the abnormal movement state includes: comparing a moving direction of the target object with a moving direction of the reference object; and determining that the target object is in a retrograde state, in response to the moving direction of the target object being opposite to the moving direction of the reference object.

In some embodiments, the target object is a target transportation means, and the reference object is a reference transportation means in a same lane as the target transportation means.

In some embodiments, determining whether the target object is in the abnormal movement state includes: comparing the moving speed of the target object with the moving speed of the reference object; and determining that the target object is in an abnormal speed state, in response to a difference between the moving speed of the target object and the moving speed of the reference object exceeding a speed difference threshold.

In some embodiments, the target object and the reference object are in a same lane, and wherein determining that the target object is in the abnormal speed state includes: determining that the target object is in an abnormally slow speed state, in response to the difference exceeding the speed difference threshold and the moving speed of the target object is higher than the moving speed of the reference object; and determining that the target object is in an abnormally fast speed state, in response to the difference exceeding the speed difference threshold and the moving speed of the target object is lower than the moving speed of the reference object.

In some embodiments, generating the driving-related message includes: generating a perception message for the transportation means, the perception message including a description related to the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception message includes at least one of: a classification, the abnormal motion state, retention time of a motion state, physical appearance descriptive information, a type, location information, a moving speed, a moving direction, an acceleration, an acceleration direction, historical motion trajectory information, and predicted motion trajectory information of the target object.

In some embodiments, generating the driving-related message includes: generating at least one of a decision planning message and a control message for the transportation means, the at least one of the decision planning message and the control message being used to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, acquiring the perception information includes acquiring at least one of: roadside perception information sensed by a sensing device which is arranged in the environment and independent of the transportation means; transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with the transportation means; and transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with another transportation means.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method for driving control is provided. The method includes receiving a driving-related message from an external device of a transportation means, the driving-related message being generated based on perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, and the perception information including at least perception information related to a target object in the environment; and controlling driving of the transportation means in the environment, in response to the driving-related message indicating that the target object is in an abnormal motion state, to enable the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, the abnormal motion state includes one of: an abnormal stationary state, in which the target object is continuously stationary in a period of time, a retrograde state, in which a moving direction of the target object is opposite to a moving direction of a first reference object in the environment, and an abnormal speed state, in which a difference between a moving speed of the target object and a moving speed of a second reference object in the environment exceeds a speed difference threshold.

In some embodiments, the target object is a target transportation means, and in the retrograde state, the first reference object is a reference transportation means in a same lane as the target transportation means.

In some embodiments, the abnormal speed state includes one of: an abnormally slow speed state, in which the difference exceeds the speed difference threshold, and the moving speed of the target object is higher than the moving speed of the second reference object, and an abnormally fast speed state, in which the difference exceeds the speed difference threshold, and the moving speed of the target object is lower than the moving speed of the second reference object.

In some embodiments, receiving the driving-related message includes: receiving a perception message for the transportation means, the perception message including a description related to the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception message includes at least one of a classification, the abnormal motion state, retention time of a motion state, physical appearance descriptive information, a type, location information, a moving speed, a moving direction, an acceleration, an acceleration direction, historical motion trajectory information, and predicted motion trajectory information of the target object.

In some embodiments, receiving the driving-related message includes: receiving at least one of a decision planning message and a control message for the transportation means, the at least one of the decision planning message and the control message being used to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a driving control assisting apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes: a perception acquisition module, configured to acquire perception information related to an environment of a transportation means, the perception information including at least perception information related to a target object in the environment; an abnormal motion determination module, configured to determine whether the target object is in an abnormal motion state based on the perception information; a message generation module, configured to generate a driving-related message in response to the target object being in the abnormal motion state, the driving-related message indicating the abnormal motion state of the target object; and a message provision module, configured to provide the driving-related message to the transportation means, to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for driving control is provided. The apparatus includes: a message receiving module, configured to receive a driving-related message from an external device of transportation means, the driving-related message being generated based on perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, and the perception information including at least perception information related to a target object in the environment; and a driving-related control module, configured to control driving of the transportation means in the environment, in response to the driving-related message indicating that the target object is in an abnormal motion state, to enable the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes: one or more processors; and a storage device for storing one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs, when being executed by the one or more processors, enable the one or more processors to implement the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes: one or more processors; and a storage device for storing one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs, when being executed by the one or more processors, enable the one or more processors to implement the method according to the second aspect of the present disclosure.

In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions for enabling a computer to perform the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions for enabling a computer to perform the method according to the second aspect of the present disclosure.

In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a system for coordinated driving control, including: a roadside subsystem including the apparatus according to the third aspect of the present disclosure; and a vehicle-mounted subsystem including the apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the content described herein is neither intended to denote key or critical elements of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Further features of the present disclosure may be readily understood from the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In conjunction with the drawings and with reference to the following detailed description, the above and other features, advantages and aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent. In the drawings, same or similar reference signs refer to same or similar elements, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example environment in which a plurality of embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a coordinated driving control system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C are schematic diagrams showing example scenarios of a coordinated driving control according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3D to FIG. 3E are schematic diagrams showing example scenarios of a coordinated driving control according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4A is a flowchart showing a driving control assisting method on a roadside according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B is a flowchart showing a driving control assisting method on a roadside or a vehicle side according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5A is a flowchart showing a method for driving control on a vehicle side according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5B is a flowchart showing of a method for driving control on a vehicle side according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6A a schematic block diagram showing a driving control assisting apparatus on a roadside according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6B a schematic block diagram showing a driving control assisting apparatus on a roadside or a vehicle side according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7A a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus for driving control on a vehicle side according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7B a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus for driving control on a vehicle side according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a device capable of implementing a plurality of embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings. Although some embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided for more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. Therefore, those ordinary skilled in the art should envisage that various changes and modifications may be made to embodiments described herein, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application. Likewise, descriptions of well-known functions and structures are omitted in the following description for clarity and conciseness.

In the description of embodiments of the present disclosure, the term of “include” and similar terms thereto should be understood as an open-ended inclusion, i.e., “including but not limited to”. The term “based on” should be understood as “at least in part based on”. The term “one embodiment” or “the embodiment” should be understood as “at least one embodiment”. The terms “first”, “second”, etc. may refer to different or the same objects. The following text may further include other explicit and implicit definitions.

As mentioned above, environment perception, a decision planning and/or a control are very important aspects in driving control of a transportation means, especially in automatic driving control. In the current field of automatic driving, a vehicle itself is required to be able to perceive a surrounding environment and have computing power to process a perception result and generate operating instructions. However, a driving based on single-vehicle perception is greatly limited. For example, sensing devices and computing devices installed on a vehicle have high manufacturing and maintenance costs while low reuse rates. Restricted by the location and visual field of a vehicle, sensing devices of the vehicle have a limited perception range and are easy to be blocked, thus, it is difficult to obtain a global perception capability. In addition, since the decision planning and the control of a driving are performed from the perspective of a single vehicle, it is impossible to improve overall traffic passage efficiency, or to solve a vehicle passage problem under special circumstances.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an improved driving control scheme, which achieves the driving control of a transportation means based on multi-side coordination. Specifically, a remote device generates at least one of a perception message, a decision planning message and a control message based on perception information related to an environment. The perception message, the decision planning message, and/or the control message generated are provided to the transportation means, which achieve a driving control based on the received message.

According to some example embodiments, it is further proposed an improved coordinated driving control scheme. Specifically, a remote device determines whether a target object is in an abnormal motion state based on perception information related to an environment. When it is determined that the target object is in an abnormal motion state, a driving-related message is generated to indicate the abnormal motion state of the target object. The generated driving-related message is provided to transportation means, to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory not colliding with the target object. Thus, an abnormal object in an environment which may affect the travelling of transportation means may be detected more accurately and timely, thereby guiding the transportation means to travel safely.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

Example Environment

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example traffic environment 100 in which a plurality of embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. One or more transportation means 130-1, 130-2 and 130-3 are included in the example environment 100. For the convenience of description, the transportation means 130-1, 130-2 and 130-3 are collectively referred to as transportation means 130. As used herein, a transportation means refers to any type of tool that may carry people and/or things and is movable. In FIG. 1 and other drawings and descriptions herein, the transportation means 130 is shown as a vehicle. A vehicle may be a motor vehicle or a non-motor vehicle, examples of which include but are not limited to a car, a sedan, a truck, a bus, an electro mobile, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc. However, it should be understood that the vehicle is only an example of the transportation means. Embodiments of the present disclosure are also applicable to other transportation means, such as a ship, a train, an airplane, etc.

One or more transportation means 130 in an environment 100 may be a transportation means with a certain automatic driving capability, which may also be referred to as an unmanned transportation means. Of course, another or some other transportation means 130 in an environment 100 may be those having no automatic driving capability. Such a transportation means may be controlled by a driver. An integrated device or a removable device in one or more transportation means 130 may be capable of communicating with other devices based on one or more communication technologies, for example, communicating with other transportation means or other devices based on communication technologies, such as Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) technology, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technology, Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) technology, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) or Internet of Vehicles technology, or any other communication technology.

The transportation means 130 may be equipped with a positioning device to determine its own location. The positioning device may, for example, implement positioning based on any one of the following technologies: a positioning technology based on laser point cloud data, a global positioning system (GPS) technology, a global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) technology, a Beidou navigation system technology, a Galileo positioning system technology, a quasi-zenith satellite system (QAZZ) technology, a base station positioning technology, a Wi-Fi positioning technology, etc.

In addition to the transportation means 130, there may be other objects in an environment 100, such as movable or immovable objects, like animals, plants 105-1, persons 105-2, and transportation infrastructure. The traffic infrastructure includes objects for guiding a traffic passage and indicating a traffic rule, such as traffic signal lights 150-3, a traffic sign (not shown), a road lamp, and so on. Objects outside the transportation means are collectively referred to as out-vehicle objects 105. During driving control of a certain transportation means 130, it is necessary to note an out-vehicle object which may affect the driving of the transportation means, such an object is referred to as a target object.

One or more external devices 110 and 120 of the transportation means 130 are further deployed in the environment 100. External devices are usually arranged independently of the transportation means 130 and may be located remotely from the transportation means 130. Herein, a device that is “independent” of the transportation means 130 refers to a device that at least does not move with the movement of the transportation means 130. The external devices 110 and 120 may be any device, node, unit, facility, etc. having computing capabilities. As an example, a remote device may be a general-purpose computer, a server, a mainframe server, a network node such as an edge computing node, a cloud computing device such as a Virtual Machine (VM), and any other device that provides computing power.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the transportation means 130 may have a wired and/or wireless communication connection with a roadside device 110. For example, one or more transportation means 130 may have a communication connection 101 with the roadside device 110 and a communication connection 103 with the remote device 120, and there may also be a communication connection 105 between the roadside devices 110 and 120. Note that for each transportation means 130, a communication connection may be established with one of the roadside devices 110 and 120, or each transportation means 130 may have a communication connection with both of the roadside devices 110 and 120.

Via the communication connection, the roadside device 110 and/or the remote device 120 may master or assist in controlling the driving of one or more transportation means 130 through signaling transmission and reception. For example, a roadside subsystem 112 is integrated/installed/fixed in the roadside device 110, and a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 is integrated/installed/fixed in the transportation means 130-1. The roadside subsystem 112 and the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 communicate with each other to implement driving control of the transportation means 130. Different vehicle-mounted subsystems may also be communicated with each other, to achieve a coordinated driving control. Although not shown, in addition to the roadside device 110 and the transportation means 130-1, other roadside devices and transportation means may also be equipped with a roadside subsystem 112 and a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132, respectively.

In some embodiments, the roadside device 110 may be deployed near a geographic area where the transportation means 130 is traveling and/or parking, for example, roadside devices may be deployed on both sides of a road at certain intervals, or at a predetermined distance from a location where the transportation means 130 may appear. In some implementations, the communication connection 101 between the transportation means 130 and the roadside device 110 may be based on a short-range communication technology. Of course, the communication connection 101 may also be based on technologies that realize other range communications, and in this respect, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the remote device 120 may be a networked computing infrastructure. For example, the remote device 120 may be deployed in a cloud or in a computing node in other network environments, such as a remote computing node, a server, or an edge computing device. In a cloud environment, the remote device 120 may sometimes be referred to as a cloud device. The remote device 120 may provide greater computing power, storage capability, and/or communication capability. The communication connection 103 between the remote device 120 and the roadside device 110 and/or the communication connection 105 between the remote device 120 and the transportation means 130 may be based on a long-range communication technology. Although it may not be physically located near the driving area of the transportation means 130, the remote device 120 may still achieve a real-time control and/or a non-real-time control of the transportation means 130 through a high-speed communication connection.

One or more sensing devices 107 are further arranged in the environment 100. The sensing device 107 is arranged independently of the transportation means 130 and is used to monitor the condition of the environment 100, to obtain perception information related to the environment 100. The sensing device 107 may also be referred to as a roadside sensing device. The roadside device 110, especially the one deployed near the driving environment, may have wired and/or wireless communication connections with one or more sensing devices 107. If the communication rate allows, the farther remote device 120 may also be able to communicate with one or more sensing devices 107, or transfer via the roadside device 110. Perception information collected by the sensing device 107 arranged corresponding to the road may also be referred to as roadside perception information. Perception information of the sensing device 107 may be provided to the roadside device 110 having a communication connection. Although shown as mutually independent devices, in some implementations, the sensing device 107 and the roadside devices 110 and 120 may also be partially or fully integrated with each other.

A plurality of sensing devices 107 may be arranged at a certain interval, to monitor a specific geographic range of the environment 100. In some examples, in addition to fixing the sensing device 107 at a specific location, a movable sensing device 107, such as a movable perceiving station, may also be provided. Depending on the perception capability, a perception range of the sensing device 107 is limited. FIG. 1 schematically shows a perception range 102 of the sensing device 107. Objects or phenomena appearing in the perception range 102 may be sensed by the sensing device 107. In the example of FIG. 1, the out-vehicle objects 105-1 to 105-3 and the transportation means 130-1 and 130-2 are all located within the perception range 102 of the sensing device 107. The transportation means 130-3 is not within the perception range 102, and it may not be within the perception range of any sensing device, or it may be within the perception range of any other sensing device not shown. In some cases, the perception ranges of a plurality of adjacently deployed sensing devices 107 may partially overlap.

In order to monitor the environment 100 related to the transportation means 130 more comprehensively, the sensing device 107 may be arranged near the area where the transportation means 130 is traveling and/or parking. As needed, the sensing device 107 may be arranged on a roadside, or a road surface, or deployed at a certain height such as being fixed at a certain height by a support rod. The sensing device 107 may include one or more sensor units, which may be of a same type or different types, and may be distributed at a same location or different locations in the perception range 102.

Examples of the sensor units in the sensing device 107 may include, but are not limited to: an image sensor (such as a camera), a laser radar, a millimeter wave radar, an infrared sensor, a positioning sensor, an illumination sensor, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a wind speed sensor, a wind direction sensor, an air quality sensor, etc. An image sensor may collect image information; a laser radar and a millimeter wave radar may collect laser point cloud data; an infrared sensor may use infrared ray to detect environment conditions in an environment; a positioning sensor may collect location information of an object; an illumination sensor may collect measurement values indicating an illumination intensity in an environment; a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor may collect measurement values indicating a pressure, a temperature and a humidity, respectively; a wind speed sensor and a wind direction sensor may collect measurement values indicating a wind speed and a wind direction, respectively; an air quality sensor may collect some air quality-related indicators, such as oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, dust concentration, and pollutant concentration in the air. It should be understood that only some examples of sensor units are listed above. According to actual needs, there may be other types of sensors.

It should be understood that the facilities and objects shown in FIG. 1 are only examples. The type, number, and relative arrangement of objects that appear in different environments may vary. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect. For example, the environment 100 may have more roadside devices 110 and sensing devices 107 deployed on roadside, to monitor additional geographic locations. Embodiments of the present disclosure may involve a plurality of remote devices 120, or may not involve any remote device 120.

Example System

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, regardless of the automatic driving capability of the transportation means, an external device of the transportation means, including a roadside device or a remote device, is configured to coordinate with the transportation means, to provide a partial or full driving control of the transportation means. The partial or full driving control is achieved by providing a perception message, a decision-planning message and/or a control message to the transportation means. As a result, a roadside subsystem of a remote device and a vehicle-mounted subsystem on a transportation means realize a coordinated driving control. By realizing the function of driving control of a transportation means with the assistance of an external device, effective safe automatic driving may be achieved.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a coordinated driving control system 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The system 200 involves the transportation means 130, the roadside device 110, and the roadside sensing device 107 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the remote device 120 may also perform a driving control together with or in replacement of the roadside device 110, especially when the communication rate between the remote device 120 and the transportation means 130 allows. Therefore, functions described below for the roadside device 110, especially the roadside subsystem 112, may also be implemented at the remote device 120 accordingly. In some embodiments, a coordinated driving control may also involve traffic infrastructure in a driving environment, such as traffic signal lights 150-3.

As shown in FIG. 2, the roadside subsystem 112 of the roadside device 110 includes a roadside unit (RSU) 212 and a driving control module 214, and the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in the transportation means 130 includes an on-board unit (OBU) 232 and a driving control module 234, and optionally includes one or more vehicle-mounted sensing devices 236 arranged in association with the transportation means 130. The RSU 212 is configured to communicate with devices and/or components external to the roadside subsystem 112, such as with another roadside subsystem 112, a remote device 120 and/or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132, and the OBU 232 is configured to communicate with devices and/or components external to the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132, such as with a roadside subsystem 112, another vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 and/or a remote devices 120.

The driving control module 214 in the roadside subsystem 112 is configured to process driving control-related information and generate a driving-related message to be transmitted by the RSU 212, for driving control of the transportation means 130. The driving control module 234 in the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 is configured to process driving control-related information, acquire a driving-related message, and control the driving of the transportation means 130 based on an information processing result and/or an acquired driving-related message.

A driving-related message may have any format in conformity with a communication technology used between the roadside subsystem 112 and the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132. The driving-related messages may include at least one of: a perception message 202 indicating an environment perception result, a decision-planning message 204 indicating a decision plan of the transportation means 130 while driving, and a control message 206 indicating a specific driving operation of the transportation means 130 while driving. In terms of order, the information indicated by these three types of messages depends on the information contained in the previous type of message, respectively. For example, a decision plan is based at least on an environment perception result, and a control message is usually made based on a decision plan or an environment perception result. This means that if the perception message 202 and/or the decision-planning message 204 are/is sent to the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 needs to perform further processing to obtain a control message, to achieve driving control of the transportation means 130. The transportation means 130 may be equipped with a wired control system, including a braking system, a steering system, a drive system, automobile body control and so on for controlling a vehicle, which are capable of controlling the acceleration, deceleration, steering, lights, double flash and the like of a vehicle.

From the perception message, to the decision-planning message, and then to the control message, the driving control of the transportation means 130 is constantly clarified, and the requirements for the automatic driving control capability on the side of the transportation means 130 is gradually lowered. In the interaction with the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132, the specific type of a driving-related message provided may depend on various triggering factors, such as at least one of a time-based trigger, a location-based trigger, and an event-based trigger.

A time-based trigger may be, for example, broadcasting periodically one or more predetermined types of driving-related messages or sending the same within a specific time period, such as sending a perception message. Transportation means 130 having established a communication connection with the roadside device 110 and being within a communication range may receive a broadcast driving-related message, particularly the perception message 202.

A location-based trigger may be, for example, triggering one or more predetermined types of driving-related messages based on the location of a transportation means 130. It may be determined whether the transportation means 130 is in a predetermined area (e.g., a traffic intersection), in a specific road section, and/or whether a distance from a reference object (e.g., the roadside device 110) is within a predetermined threshold, etc., and a predetermined type of driving-related message is sent when a condition is determined to be satisfied. Under such a triggering condition, the perception message 202, the decision-planning message 204, and/or the control message 206 may be sent.

An event-based trigger may include, for example, a request from the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132. The vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may send a specific type of a driving-related message according to an instruction of the request. Alternatively or additionally, an event-based trigger may further include detecting an occurrence of a predetermined event related to the transportation means 130. For example, if it is detected that the transportation means 130 is in a dangerous state, a failure state, or a power shortage state, etc., a decision-planning message 204 and a control message 206 may be sent, to deal with the dangerous state and the failure state, and reduce the computation and power consumption at the transportation means 130. Other events that trigger the transmission of one or more driving-related messages may also be defined.

The generation and specific content of each driving-related message will be described below in detail.

Perception Message

Specifically, a RSU 212 in a roadside subsystem 112 is configured to acquire perception information related to a detected environment 100 from one or more environment perception sources, and generate driving-related messages 202, 204 and 206 based on the perception information. The perception information may indicate one or more aspects of the environment 100 and objects present therein, depending on the capability of the environment perception sources. For driving control, perception information includes at least information related to objects present in the environment 100.

An environment perception source may include one or more roadside sensing devices 107 that provide roadside perception information 220 to a roadside subsystem 112. Such a roadside sensing device may provide a better viewing angle of perception and a more comprehensive and accurate environment perception. Due to the presence of a roadside sensing device 107, even when a transportation means 130 has no perception capability, or only has a limited perception capability, and/or has a perception blind zone due to the occlusion of other objects, it may still has roadside-based perception to complete an automatic driving function, thereby realizing a low-cost safe automatic driving.

Alternatively or additionally, an environment perception source may further include a vehicle-mounted sensing device 236 on the transportation means 130, including a target transportation means 130 to be controlled and other transportation means 130, which provide transportation means perception information 224 to a roadside subsystem 112. The type, number, and/or perception capability of a vehicle-mounted sensing device 236 may be the same as or different from the one or more roadside sensing devices 107. In some embodiments, the environment perception source may further include a remote device 120, which may obtain perception information related to an environment 100 from a database and/or other devices. By synthesizing perception information from different environment perception sources, a coordinated perception of an environment 100 may be realized, to perceive the environment 100 more comprehensively. Such coordinated perception may make up for the limitations of one or more aspects of the perception accuracy, the perception perspective, and the perception type of different environment perception sources.

One or more environment perception sources may utilize corresponding types of sensing devices to monitor static and/or dynamic objects in an environment 100, such as pedestrians, cyclists, transportation means, objects protruding from the road surface, etc., and may also detect traffic facilities related to the traffic passage, such as traffic signal lights and traffic sign lights. Alternatively or additionally, environment perception sources may also monitor road surface conditions, road traffic conditions, weather conditions in an environment, geographic areas, monitoring and diagnosis of target transportation means, etc. Perception information obtained by a RSU 212 from an environment perception source may be original perception data collected by a sensing device, partially processed perception data, and/or a perception result. For example, perception information from a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may be original perception data, or perception data or perception result partially or completely processed by a driving control module 234.

The obtained perception information is provided to a driving control module 214. The driving control module 214 is configured to perform an analysis based on the perception information. Specifically, the driving control module 214 may be configured to recognize objects that may appear in an environment 100 based on the perception information, and determine information related to the recognized objects. The driving control module 214 may also be configured to determine a perception result of one or more other aspects of an environment 100 and/or the transportation means 130 in the environment 100 based on the perception information. The driving control module 214 may use various data analysis technologies such as a data fusion technology to process perception information. In some embodiments, by analyzing perception information, the driving control module 214 may generate a perception message 202, including an analysis result of the perception information. The perception message 202 may be provided to an OBU 232 in the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 via the RSU 212.

At the transportation means 130, the driving control module 234 in the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may perform a driving control of the transportation means 130 based on the perception message 202. For example, the driving control module 234 may generate a self-vehicle decision plan based on the perception message 202, and control the self-vehicle driving operation based on the generated decision plan. In some embodiments, if the transportation means 130 has an environment perception capability, such as being integrated with an vehicle-mounted sensing device 236, and/or may obtain perception information from devices other than the roadside device 110 (e.g., other transportation means 130), then the driving control module 234 may perform a driving control of the transportation means 130 based on the perception message 202 received from the RSU 212 together with other perception information. The sources of different perception messages/information may be processed through technologies such as data fusion. In some embodiments, if a transportation means 130 has no environment perception capability, the driving control module 234 may directly use a received perception message 202 as an input of a decision control of the transportation means 130.

Depending on the source and specific content of perception information, the perception message 202 may include indication information related to an environment 100 and/or one or more other aspects of transportation means 130 in the environment 100. In some embodiments, the perception message 202 may include following information related to one or more aspects: a description related to a target object present in the environment 100, for example, may include at least one of a classification, location information, speed information, direction information, physical appearance descriptive information, a specific type, a motion state, retention time of a motion state, perception confidence, historical motion trajectory information, predicted motion trajectory information, and state tracking information of the object; information related to a physical condition of a road in the environment 100, for indicating at least one of a road surface physical condition of the road and structured information of the road; information related to a traffic facility in the environment 100, for indicating at least one of a state of a signal light and a traffic sign on the road; information related to a road traffic condition in the environment 100, for indicating at least one of a sign, traffic flow and a traffic event related to the road and/or a lane in the road; and information related to a weather condition in the environment 100. In some embodiments, the perception message 202 may further include auxiliary information related to positioning of the transportation means 130, diagnosis information of a failure of the transportation means 130, information related to an Over-The-Air (OTA) of a software system of the transportation means 130, and/or time information.

In some embodiments, the perception message 202 may further include map information which may indicate, for example, at least one of an identification of a map, an update mode of the map, an area of the map to be updated and location information. Map information may indicate a high-precision map that meets the requirement of an automatic driving scenario. The identification of a map may include, for example, a version number of the map, an update frequency of the map, etc. The update mode of a map may indicate, for example, an update source (from a remote device 120 or other external sources), an update link, update time, etc., of the map.

In some embodiments, the perception message 202 may further include information related to a parking area of the transportation means 130. When the transportation means 130 has a parking intention, for example, when it is detected that the transportation means 130 approaches to a predetermined parking geographic area or initiates a parking request, the perception message 202 may include information related to the parking area of the transportation means 130. Certainly, in some embodiments, information related to a parking area of the transportation means 130 may always be included in the perception message 202 without a determination of parking intention. The information related to a parking area may include information related to a parking spot (e.g., parking space) in the parking area, information of an obstacle in the parking area, etc. In some embodiments, the information related to a parking area may include, for example, a predetermined serial number of a parking spot in the parking area, location information of a parking spot, a physical state description of a parking spot, an idle state of a parking spot, and/or entrance and exit information of the parking area.

In some embodiments, information related to a parking area may be provided, for example, from a remote device 120 to a roadside device 110. The roadside device 110 makes the information included in a perception message 202 and provides to the transportation means 130, to assist the transportation means 130 for finding a suitable parking spot as soon as possible. In some embodiments, the roadside device 110 may also make the information related to a parking area not included in the perception message 202, but generate a subsequent decision-planning message 204 and/or a control message 206 based on such information, to control the driving and/or parking of the transportation means 130 in the parking area.

For the convenience of understanding, some specific examples and descriptions of different types of information in a perception message 202 are given below in Table 1.1.

TABLE 1.1
Perception Messag (RSU→OBU)
indication	specific
information	content	unit	remarks
time	current	ms
information	moment
description	classification	character	pedestrian/cyclist/motor
related to a			vehicle/non-motor
target			vehicle/stationary obstacle/
object			obstacle, which may be
			further classified into more
			types according to an authority
			of an object (e.g., rescue,
			construction, command, etc.),
			a passing request, an object
			identification or a signboard,
			and an appearance of an object
			(e.g., color, size), etc.
	motion state	integer	selected from a group
		sequence	consisting of a plurality of
			predetermined states, including
			motion states listed in Table
			1.3 for example, each of the
			predetermined states
			corresponding to a respective
			index value
	retention time		time information (e.g., start
	of motion		time, end time, duration, etc.)
	state		indicating that a target object
			retains a specific motion state
	type	integer	selected from a group
			consisting of a plurality of
			predetermined types,
			including the types listed in
			Table 1.2 for example, each
			of the predetermined type
			corresponding to a respective
			index value
	perception		indicating a confidence of a
	confidence		description related to a target
			object detected based on
			perception information
	location	deg & m	location information may be
	information		uniformly represented by
			points in a specific coordinate
			that may be any geocentric
			system coordinate system,
			parametric coordinate system,
			and coordinate system after
			translation and rotation. When
			describing a point in a
			coordinate system, it may be
			actual original data and
			converted data (e.g., data for
			performing parameter
			integralization) of the
			coordinate system. For
			example, location information
			of GPS data may be described
			with latitude, longitude (in a
			unit of deg) and altitude data
			(in a unit of m)
	physical		description of a size (e.g.,
	appearance		length, width, height), a color,
	descriptive		corner point data, a center
	information		point location, a ground
			clearance, etc. of an object,
			specific representation may
			refer to Table 1.4
	speed	m/s
	speed	deg	it may form a clockwise angle
	direction		with true north
	acceleration	m/s2
	acceleration	deg	it may form a clockwise angle
	direction		with true north
	state tracking		indicating corresponding time
	information		(start time, end time) and/or
			corresponding time length
			of a target object in different
			motion states
	historical		a motion trajectory of an
	trajectory		object in a past period of
	information		time, including information
			such as locations and speeds
			of a target object at different
			moments in the past
	predicted		a predicted motion trajectory
	trajectory		of an object in a future time
	information		period, including information
			such as location and speed
			information of a target object
			at different moments in the
			future
information	road surface		whether a road surface has
related to	physical		potholes or accumulated water
physical	conditions		or dust, is maintained, is
conditions			closed, etc.
of a road	structured		a ramp indication of a road
	information		(e.g., a distance, a turning
	of a road		radius, the number of lanes,
			etc. of a ramp), a type of a
			road (highway, ordinary road),
			the number of lanes of a road
information	state of a	integer	states of various indicator
related to	signal light		lights in signal light facilities
traffic			and other data
facilities	traffic signs		signs indicating road passage
			rules, e.g., a speed limit sign,
			a height limit sign, and a
			steering restriction sign
information	traffic flow		density, speed, queue length,
of road	of a road		etc. of vehicles on a road
traffic	traffic flow		density, speed, and queue
condition	of a lane		length of vehicles in each lane
			when a road has a plurality of
			lanes
	signs of a road
	signs of a lane
	traffic events		events, such as traffic accidents
			and road maintenance, on a
			specific road or a specific lane
information	weather		indicating weather of various
related to	conditions		aspects, e.g., a temperature, a
weather			moderation, an air pollution
conditions			level, an illumination, etc.
auxiliary	auxiliary		assisting transportation means
information	positioning		for more accurate positioning
related to	information
positioning
diagnosis	diagnosis		diagnosis information of
information	result		failures in hardware, software
of a failure			and other components of the
			transportation means
information	OTA data		for updating one or more
related to			software systems of the
OTA			transportation means
map	map data		indicating at least one of an
information			identification of a map, e.g., a
			high-precision map used, a
			version, an update mode of the
			map, an area of the map to be
			updated, and location
			information
information	predetermined		a parking area is pre-divided
related to a	serial		into one or more parking spots
parking	number of a		with predetermined serial
area	parking spot		numbers
	location		accurate positioning of a
	information		parking spot, such as a
	of a parking		location at a center of the
	spot		parking spot
	physical state		a size of a parking spot, e.g.,
	description of		may be described with length
	a parking spot		and width, or with corner point
			data, and/or may include a
			shape of the parking spot, etc.
	idle state of a		the number of idle parking
	parking spot		spots
	entrance and		locations of entrance and exit,
	exit		and/or a route indication
	information of
	a parking area

TABLE 1.2
Types of Target Object
type           remarks
whole object
dynamic object an unmarked obstacle in a high-precision map
static object  a marked obstacle in a high-precision map

TABLE 1.3
Motion State of Target Object
motion state remarks
static       the speed is zero or less than a threshold
dynamic      having a certain speed (greater than a threshold)
. . .        may be classified into other motion states according
             to moving speeds

TABLE 1.4
Physical Appearance Descriptive Information of Target Object
information item     remarks
descriptive approach in terms of corner points, bounding polygons,
of appearance        etc.
collection of        may be three-dimensional spatial point
descriptive points   coordinates, and may be described with latitude,
                     longitude and altitude
length, width and
height
ground clearance
color collection     one or more colors of the target object
center point location

Although some examples of the content contained in a perception message 202 are listed above, it should be understood that the perception message 202 may further include other content, including less or more content. In each communication, the perception message 202 provided from a roadside subsystem 112 to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may be all or part of the above content in Tables 1.1-1.4, or it may include other content. During transmission, the perception message 202 or constituent elements therein may be, for example, data-compressed, to further reduce the amount of data transmitted between the roadside and the transportation means. In some embodiments, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 on one transportation means 130 may also provide perception data, for example, in a format of the perception message 202 to the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 on other transportation means 130. In one embodiment, the perception message 202 interacted between the vehicle-mounted subsystems 132 may mainly include the description related to a target object, such as the description related to a target object designed in the above Tables 1.1-1.4.

Decision Planning Message

A decision planning message 204 may be generated by a driving control module 214 of a roadside subsystem 112 based on perception information. The driving control module 214 processes the perception information, determines a perception result, and generates the decision planning message 204 based on the perception result. When a decision plan is performed, the driving control module 214 may determine to perform the plan according to a level of a road or a lane, and perform a unified plan for transportation means 130 on a same road or a same lane. In addition, the driving control module 214 may also perform a plan according to a level of the transportation means. Due to more comprehensive perception information of an environment 100, the roadside subsystem 112 may consider the conditions of all of the transportation means or traffic participants in a certain geographic area, to determine a more reasonable decision plan.

In some embodiments, when it is determined that the roadside end is required to intervene in the driving decision or plan of a transportation means 130, or when the roadside subsystem 112 takes over the driving control of a transportation means 130 (e.g., according to a geographic area, upon a request of the transportation means 130, or after obtaining a permission of the transportation means 130), the roadside subsystem 112 provides a decision planning message 204 to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132. The decision planning message 204 may be, for example, provided to the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in real time, or at a smaller time interval (which may depend on the moving speed of the transportation means 130).

At the transportation means 130, the driving control module 234 in the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may perform a driving control of the transportation means 130 based on a decision planning message 204. For example, the driving control module 234 may generate self-vehicle control information based on the decision planning message 204, to indicate specific driving operations of the transportation means 130. In some embodiments, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132, such as a driving control module 234 therein, may determine whether to use the decision planning message 204 to control the transportation means 130. In a case where a decision planning message 204 is not used, it may be discarded. In a case where a decision planning message 204 needs to be used, the driving control module 234 may fully comply with a decision plan for the transportation means 130 indicated in the decision planning message 204, to formulate a local decision plan, or alternatively, in conjunction with a local strategy and with reference to the decision plan indicated by the message 204, to formulate a local decision plan. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited in this respect.

The roadside subsystem 112 may achieve a global environment perception through various environment perception sources, including, but not limited to, information related to a road traffic condition, information related to a road physical state, information of infrastructures, map information, etc., and during the driving planning of the transportation means 130, road resources may be used more reasonably and effectively, to ensure safer and more effective driving.

In some embodiments, the decision planning message 204 may include following information related to one or more aspects: an indication of a travelling road on which a decision is to be applied, start time information and/or end time information of a decision plan, start location information and/or end location information of a decision plan, an identification of a transportation means targeted by a decision plan, decision information related to a driving behavior of a transportation means, decision information related to a driving action of a transportation means, information of a trajectory point of a route plan, expected time for arriving at a trajectory point of a route plan, information related to other transportation means involved in the decision plan, map information, time information, etc. The map information may indicate, for example, at least one of an identification of a map, an update mode of a map, an area of a map to be updated, and location information. The identification of a map may include, for example, a version number of a map, an update frequency of a map, etc. The update mode of a map may indicate, for example, an update source of the map (from a remote device 120 or other external sources), an update link, update time, etc.

For the convenience of understanding, some specific examples and descriptions of different types of information in a decision planning message 204 are given below in Table 2.

TABLE 2
Decision planning message (RSU→OBU)
indication
information	specific content	remarks
time information	current moment
indication of a	a road/lane	pedestrian/cyclist/
travelling road	corresponding to	transportation means target
on which a	a road/lane level	object therein are considered
decision is to be	decision
applied
start time	start time	indicating to a transportation
information of a		means when to start an
decision plan		indicated decision plan
end time	end time	indicating to a transportation
information of a		means when to end an
decision plan		indicated decision plan
start location	start location	indicating to a transportation
information of a	indication	means where to start an
decision plan		indicated decision plan
end location	end location	indicating to a transportation
information of a	indication	means where to end an
decision plan		indicated decision plan
identification of	identification of	a decision plan may be
a transportation	a transportation	targeted to one or more
means targeted	means	transportation means, while
by a decision		other transportation means
plan		may ignore the received
		decision strategy
decision	behavior-level	behaviors, e.g., following a
information	decision	transportation means ahead,
related to a		stopping, allowing right of
driving		way, turning left, turning
behavior		right, etc.
decision	action-level	decision information, e.g.,
information	decision	trajectory points of a route
related to a		plan, time, a speed (it may
driving action		form a clockwise angle
		with the true angle, north),
		an acceleration, an angle
		etc.; feedback control of
		a transportation means,
		including a throttle control,
		speeding up, braking, a
		steering wheel rotation
		and other actions
information	information of	it may be described with
related to a	trajectory points	map data or longitude and
trajectory of	of a route plan	latitude information
a route plan	expected time	planning expected time for
	for arriving at	arriving at one or more
	trajectory points	trajectory points
	of a route plan
information	location of other
related to other	transportation
transportation	means
means	related	identification, descriptive
	information of	information, right-of-way
	other	information, etc., of other
	transportation	transportation means
	means
map information	map data	indicating at least one of an
		identification of a map, e.g.,
		a high-precision map
		used, an update mode of the
		map, an area of the map to
		be updated and location
		information

Although some examples of the content contained in a decision planning message 204 are listed above, it should be understood that the decision planning message 204 may further include other content, including less or more content. In each communication, the decision planning message 204 provided from a roadside subsystem 112 to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may be all or part of the above content in Table 2, or it may include other content. During transmission, the decision planning message 204 or constituent elements therein may be, for example, data-compressed, to further reduce the amount of data transmitted between the roadside and the transportation means.

Control Message

A control message 206 may be generated by a driving control module 214 of a roadside subsystem 112 based on decision planning information. The control message 206 may specify a specific driving operation on a transportation means 206.

In some embodiments, when it is determined that the roadside end is required to intervene in the driving decision or plan of a transportation means 130, or when the roadside subsystem 112 takes over the driving control of a transportation means 130 (e.g., according to a geographic area, upon a request of the transportation means 130, or after obtaining a permission of the transportation means 130), the roadside subsystem 112 provides a control message 206 to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132. The control message 206 may be, for example, provided to the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in real time, or at a smaller time interval (which may depend on the moving speed of the transportation means 130).

At the transportation means 130, the driving control module 234 in the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may perform a driving control of the transportation means 130 based on a control message 206. For example, the driving control module 234 may determine a specific driving operation on the transportation means 130 based on the control message 206. In some embodiments, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132, such as a driving control module 234 therein, may determine whether to use the control message 206 to control the transportation means 130. In a case where a control message 206 is not used, it may be discarded. In a case where a control message 206 needs to be used, the driving control module 234 may fully comply with a control operation for the transportation means 130 indicated in the control message 206, to determine a local control operation, or alternatively, in conjunction with a local strategy and with reference to the control operation indicated by the message 206, to determine a local control operation. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited in this respect.

The roadside subsystem 112 may achieve a global environment perception through various environment perception sources, including, but not limited to, information related to a road traffic condition, information related to a road physical state, information of infrastructures, map information, etc., and during the formulation of a control operation on the transportation means 130, road resources may be used more reasonably and effectively, to ensure safe traveling of an automatic driving vehicle under special needs.

In some embodiments, the control message 206 may include following information related to one or more aspects: kinematic control information related to a motion of the transportation means, kinetic control information related to at least one of a power system, a transmission system, a brake system and a steering system of the transportation means, control information related to a ride experiences of a passenger in the transportation means, control information related to a traffic warning system of the transportation means, and time information.

For the convenience of understanding, some specific examples and descriptions of different types of information in a control message 206 are given below in Table 3.

TABLE 3
Control Message (RSU→OBU)
indication
information	specific content	remarks
time information	current moment
kinematic control	motion direction of a	indicating a motion
information	transportation means	direction
	speed of a	indicating a motion speed
	transportation means
	acceleration of a	indicating a motion
	transportation means	acceleration
	kinematic	indicating a kinematic
	correction	correction of a
		transportation means
kinetic control	related control of a	involving components of an
information of a	power system	engine, such as an internal
transportation		combustion engine, a motor,
means		wheels, and the like, and
		indicating whether to output
	related control of a	indicating a gear, whether to
	transmission system	cut off the power, parking,
		forwarding and/or
		reversing, and indicating a
		torque and a wheel speed of
		each driving wheel
	related control of a	indicating one or more
	brake system	aspects of in a braking
		control system: a torque of
		each wheel, a braking
		force distribution, and
		parking
	related control of a	indicate a steering angle of
	steering system	each wheel, etc.
control information	involving a control	for example, an adjustment
related to a ride	of riding comfort	of a suspension in a
experience		transportation means
control information	indication of each	control of warning
related to a traffic	component of a	components of a vehicle in
warning system	traffic warning	one or more aspects such as
	system	lighting, steering and
		whistling

Although some examples of the content contained in a control message 206 are listed above, it should be understood that the control message 206 may further include other content, including less or more content. In each communication, the control message 206 provided from a roadside subsystem 112 to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may be all or part of the above content in Table 2, or it may include other content. During transmission, the control message 206 or constituent elements therein may be, for example, data-compressed, to further reduce the amount of data transmitted between the roadside and the transportation means.

Auxiliary Information from the Transportation Means

In some embodiments, as mentioned above, a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 at the transportation means 130 may further provide transportation means perception information 224 to a roadside subsystem 112 for the use by a driving control module 214 to generate a driving-related message. The transportation means perception information 224 may be directly transmitted by an OBU 232 to a RSU 212, or it may be processed to generate a perception message in a certain format.

A perception message provided by the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 includes information related to an environment detected by a vehicle-mounted sensing device 236, and the types of content therein may include one or more of the types of the content in the perception message 202 from the roadside subsystem 112 to the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132. In some embodiments, a perception message provided by the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may include information related to an obstacle present in an environment 100, to indicate at least one of a type, location information, speed information, direction information, physical appearance descriptive information, a historical trajectory, and a predicted trajectory of the obstacle. In some embodiments, a perception message provided by the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may alternatively or additionally information related to a weather condition in an environment; auxiliary information related to positioning of the transportation means 130, such as information related to a road traffic condition in the environment; diagnosis information on a failure of the transportation means 130; information related to an OTA upgrade of a software system in the transportation means 130; and/or information related to a parking area of the transportation means 130.

The information related to a parking area of the transportation means 130 may be detected by a vehicle-mounted sensing device 236, when the transportation means 130 approaches to the parking area. Regarding the characteristics of a parking area, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may determine, based on perception information of the sensing device 236, a predetermined serial number of a parking spot in the parking area, location information of the parking spot and/or an idle state of the parking spot, etc., as information related to the parking area. Through the information related to the parking area provided by the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132, the driving control module 214 in the roadside subsystem 112 may more accurately control the driving and/or parking of the transportation means 130 in the parking area.

Example types of specific content contained in perception messages from the transportation means 130 (e.g., the OBU 232) to the roadside device 110 (RSU 212) may refer to the perception message 202 shown Tables 1.1-1.4. Of course, it should be understood that it is unnecessary to include all of the types listed in the perception message 202, and in some embodiments, other types of information may also be indicated.

In some embodiments, in addition to the transportation means perception information 224 or alternatively, a roadside subsystem 112 may further acquire other types of information that a transportation means 130 may provide (e.g., received by a RSU 212 from an OBU 232). The acquired information may serve as auxiliary information for a driving control module 214 of a roadside subsystem 112 to determine a decision planning message 204 and/or a control message 206. Such auxiliary information may be generated and transmitted in any message format.

In some embodiments, a roadside subsystem 112 may acquire, for example, real-time running information of a transportation means 130. The real-time running information is related to a current running condition of the transportation means 130, and may include, for example, at least one of location information, traveling direction information, traveling route information, traveling speed information, operation state information, and component state information of the transportation means 130. In some embodiments, auxiliary information acquired from a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may also include auxiliary planning information of the transportation means 130, which indicates planning conditions of the transportation means 130. The auxiliary planning information may include, for example, at least one of an indication of traveling intention, planned traveling route information, and speed limit information of the transportation means 130.

Alternatively or additionally, auxiliary information acquired from a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may further include vehicle body information of a transportation means 130, to describe a physical state, an appearance state, etc., of the transportation means 130 per se. The vehicle body information may include, for example, at least one of identification, type, descriptive information, current traveling route information, and failure-related information of the transportation means 130. In addition, the auxiliary information may further include, for example, at least one of a special transportation means type and a right-of-way requirement level.

For the convenience of understanding, some specific examples and descriptions of the content indicated by an auxiliary message are given below in Table 4.

TABLE 4
Auxiliary Information (OBU→RSU)
indication
information	specific content	remarks
real-time	location	location information may be
running	information of a	uniformly represented by points
information	transportation	in a specific coordinate system
	means	that may be any geocentric
		coordinate system, parametric
		coordinate system, and coordinate
		system after translation and
		rotation. When describing a point
		in a coordinate system, it may
		be actual original data and
		converted data (e.g., data for
		performing parameter
		integralization) of the coordinate
		system. For example, location
		information of GPS data may be
		described with latitude, longitude,
		and altitude data
	information of	direction information may be
	a travelling	uniformly described with a
	direction	deflection angle of an object
		(such as, a transportation means)
		relative to a static position. The
		direction information may be
		original data or converted
		data (parameter integerization)
		of an angle
	information of a	it may be described with a
	travelling route	collection of location information
		of a transportation means at each
		node of a route
	information of a	including information related to
	travelling speed,	a speed and/or an acceleration of
	an acceleration	the transportation means, such
		as a speed, a three-axis
		acceleration, a yaw angular
		velocity, etc.
	information of an	light setting: indicating a state of
	operation state	each light, including such as
		steering lights, dipped headlights,
		headlights on full beam;
		state of a steering wheel:
		indicating an angle of a steering
		wheel, the angle is described
		with a deflection angle relative
		to a horizontal direction, in
		actual implementation, it may
		be original data or converted data
		(parameter integerization) of the
		angle; brake state: indicating
		whether to brake, a description
		of a braking force, which may be
		divided into different levels for
		indication
	state information	including state information of a
	of a component	vehicle body control component,
		a vehicle body sensing
		component, a display component,
		and/or other components on a
		vehicle, to indicate whether these
		components are in a good, alarm,
		or damaged state
auxiliary plan	indication of	indicating travelling intention of
information	travelling	a transportation means, such as
	intention	turning left, turning right, turning
		around, forwarding, outbound,
		inbound, etc.
	planned travelling	it may be described with a
	route information	collection of location information
		at each node of a route
	speed limit	indicating a maximum speed and
	information	acceleration allowed by the
		transportation means, which may
		be indicated by means of a
		speed, an angular velocity, etc.
vehicle body	identification	information capable of uniquely
information		identifying a transportation
of a		means, which may be a vehicle
transportation		identification number (VIN)
means		code, a license plate number, etc.
	type	indicating a basic type of a
		transportation means; types of
		transportation means may be
		classified according to different
		dimensions, e.g., transportation
		means classification standards,
		industry applications, power
		and/or driving modes;
		when transportation means are
		described, there may be multiple
		dimensions of information, for
		example, with respect to a
		right-of-way distribution,
		transportation means may be
		classified into ordinary
		transportation means, public
		transportation means and
		emergency vehicles; and in a
		scenario of parking,
		transportation means may be
		classified into a C-class vehicle,
		a B-class vehicle, an SUV, a
		large-scale vehicle, etc.
	descriptive	description of a size (e.g., length,
	information	width, height), a color, corner
		point data, a center point, a
		ground clearance, etc., of a
		transportation means; for
		example, the center point of a
		transportation means may be
		used as a reference to describe
		the length, width and height; or
		corner points may be used for
		description (corner point data
		may still be described with
		location information)
	current traveling	it may be described with a
	route information	collection of location information
		of a transportation means at
		each node of a route
	failure-related	when a component of a
	information	transportation means fails, it may
		indicate or describe the failed
		portion, and/or indicate a failure
		diagnosis result, etc.
special	special	indicating a basic type of a
transportation	transportation	special transportation means;
means	means	types of special transportation
indication	identification	means may be classified
information		according to different
		dimensions, e.g., transportation
		means classification standards,
		industry applications, power
		and/or driving modes, etc.;
		when special transportation
		means are described, there may
		be multiple dimensions of
		information, for example, special
		transportation means may be
		classified into a bus, a fire truck,
		an emergency vehicle, a police
		car, a road rescue vehicle, etc.,
		according to industry
		applications
	avoidance	passing rules, fixed lane using
	requirement of	rules, etc. for special
	special	transportation means
	transportation
	means
	right-of-way	indicating requirements of
	requirement level	special transportation means for
		right-of-way, under normal
		circumstances, special
		transportation means have a
		priority of starting (the right-of-
		way may be classified into
		different levels, and different
		types of transportation means
		correspond to different levels
		of right-of-way
description		description related to a target
related to a		object sensed by a vehicle-
target object		mounted sensing device and
		determined by a vehicle-mounted
		perception processing device,
		specific information may include
		description related to a target
		object listed in Table 1.1 and
		the associated Tables 1.2-1.4.
unmanned		identifying whether a
driving		transportation means is in an
identification		unmanned (automatic driving)
		state
automatic		identifying an automatic driving
driving level		level of a transportation means,
		the automatic driving level may
		be selected from multiple levels
		listed in a predetermined
		automatic driving capability level
		classification, such as the levels
		L0-L5 classified by Society of
		Automotive Engineers (SAE)

Although some examples of the content contained in auxiliary information are listed above, it should be understood that auxiliary information may further include other content, including less or more content. In each communication, the auxiliary information provided from a roadside subsystem 112 to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may be all or part of the above content in Table 4, or it may include other content. During transmission, auxiliary information, or constituent elements therein from a transportation means may be, for example, date-compressed, to further reduce the amount of data transmitted between the roadside and the transportation means.

The coordinated driving control system and some examples of message interaction and message composition therein are described above. In different scenarios, message interactions between a roadside subsystem 112 and a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 for implementing coordinated driving control may be different, and there may also be other information interactions. Implementations of coordinated driving control on the roadside, the vehicle side, and possibly the cloud will be described below with reference to some example scenarios.

Example Scenarios at an Intersection

Generally, in the presence of signal lights, a vehicle with an automatic driving capability may obtain a current state of a signal light through perception means, and pass through an intersection in accordance with a traffic rule of “stop at red light and walk when it turns green”. At an intersection where there is no signal light, each automatic driving vehicle may only rely on its own decision control, resulting in a low passage efficiency.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in some environments of complicated traffic roads, such as at an intersection, a road section where congestion occurs frequently, or a road section with frequent traffic accidents recognized by the traffic department, an external device such as a roadside device 110 may perceive road traffic conditions of a surrounding road based on roadside perception information and perception information possibly from other sources, and perform a global driving control of passages of the vehicle according to global road traffic conditions, in this way, a passage strategy may be improved, thereby achieving a more effective, reasonable and safer driving control.

FIG. 3A shows a coordinated driving control in an example scenario 310 at an intersection. In this scenario, a plurality of transportation means (i.e., vehicles) 130 are traveling toward the intersection. An OBU 232 of a vehicle-mounted subsystem 130 may transmit transportation means perception information 224 to a roadside subsystem 112 of a roadside device 110, and may also transmit one or more auxiliary information, such as real-time running information, auxiliary planning information, vehicle body information, and special transportation means indication information. Within a communication range, a RSU 212 of the roadside subsystem 112 receives information transmitted by the OBU 232, and receives information of a roadside sensing device 107 and possible information from a remote device 120, and provides received information to the driving control module 214 for generating driving-related messages. If the generated driving-related messages include the perception message 202, the environment perception result indicated in the perception message 202 may be more accurate and comprehensive than an environment perception result sensed by a single transportation means 130.

Since an external device, such as a roadside device, may obtain, from a roadside perception device and possibly other environment perception sources, comprehensive environment perception information, including perception data such as pedestrians, vehicles, cyclists, and road surface information in the environment, the environment perception capability may be further improved, and then the accuracy of subsequent decision planning and control may be improved.

In some embodiments, since the traffic passage at an intersection may involve a global plan of a plurality of transportation means, a driving control module 214 of a roadside subsystem 112 may generate a decision planning message 204 based on information from a plurality of sources, to perform a decision planning on a road, a lane, or a vehicle level, in order to achieve effective and reasonable intersection passage. The decision planning message 204 may be transferred to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 232 in a time period during which or within a starting location at which a transportation means 130 is determined as under a roadside control. In some embodiments, the driving control module 214 may directly generate a control message 206, to indicate a specific control operation on the transportation means 130, and then a RSU 212 provides the control message 206 to an OBU 232.

After receiving the decision planning message 204, the transportation means 130 may control the transportation means 130 according to a decision planning strategy indicated in the decision planning message 204, to ensure that the transportation means 130 drives according to the decision planning strategy of the roadside subsystem 112. After receiving the control message 206, the transportation means 130 may control the operation on the transportation means 130 according to a control operation indicated by the control message 206.

In some embodiments, the roadside subsystem 112 may also control traffic signal lights 150-3 on the roadside, to jointly implement a communication strategy. In some embodiments, the decision plan of the roadside subsystem 112 may also be implemented on roads without signal lights, to allow the safe and efficient passage of transportation means.

Example Scenario of Takeover of Transportation Means

An application of a decision control message 204 or a control message 206 means that the partial driving control or full driving control of a transportation means 130 will be performed by an external device, such as a roadside device 110. In some embodiments, such a partial driving control or full driving control is activated only when it is determined that the roadside device 110 may take over the transportation means 130. A takeover of the transportation means 130 may be caused by many reasons. For example, it may be because the transportation means 130, in particular, the transportation means 130 in an automatic driving mode, cannot deal with a current driving scenario, such as a software and/or hardware failure, and a normal driving requires a coordinated operation with other transportation means (e.g., a travel is stopped since the transportation means is besieged by surrounding vehicles), etc. At this time, the intervention of a roadside vehicle may help the transportation means 130 “get out of trouble” without manual intervention, which improves the automatic running capability of an automatic driving transportation means. Of course, in some cases, the transportation means 130 may request a takeover by a roadside device 110 for any other reason, for example, in order to realize automatic parking, etc.

FIG. 3B shows a coordinated driving control under an example scenario 320 of taking over the transportation means 130. In this scenario, the transportation means 130-1 fails, e.g., the driving control module fails, so on the road, the automatic driving is stopped. In response to such an event, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in the transportation means 130-1 may send a takeover request message to a roadside subsystem 112, to request a takeover of the driving control of the transportation means 130. The driving control module 214 of the roadside subsystem 112 may thus provide a control message 206 to the transportation means 130-1. In some embodiments, if part of driving control modules of the transportation means 130-1 fail, the takeover request message may only request a partial takeover of the driving control of the transportation means. In response to such a takeover request message, the driving control module 214 may provide a decision planning message 204, so that the transportation means 130-1 may drive according to the decision plan. Of course, in this case, the driving control module 214 may also provide a control message 206, to provide an overall control of the driving of the transportation means 130-1.

FIG. 3C further shows a coordinated driving control under an example scenario 330 of taking over a transportation means 130. In this scenario, the transportation means 130-1 is blocked by other surrounding transportation means 130-2 and 130-3 and cannot leave the predicament through a self-vehicle automatic driving decision. At this time, a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in the transportation means 130-1 may send a takeover request message to a roadside subsystem 112, to request a partial or full takeover of the driving control of the transportation means 130-1. The driving control module 214 of the roadside subsystem 112 may thus provide the decision planning message 204 and/or the control message 206 to the transportation means 130-1 for driving control. In addition, through the perception information received from respective perception information sources, the driving control module 214 determines that the smooth driving of the transportation means 130-1 requires the coordination with one or more other transportation means 130. For example, the driving control module 214 determines that the transportation means 130-1 cannot bypass the transportation means 130-2 to continue advancing, and the transportation means 130-2 is required to get out of the way for a certain space. Thus, the driving control module 214 further generates another decision planning message and/or another control message based on existing information. The RSU 212 then provides the generated decision planning message and/or control message to the transportation means 130-2. The transportation means 130-2 may perform a corresponding driving action according to the received message, so that the transportation means 130-1 is coordinated with to leave the current blocked state.

In some embodiments, a takeover request message indicates identification information of transportation means, travelling plan information of the transportation means, a reason for requesting takeover, and time information. The identification information of transportation means enables a roadside device 110 to identify and/or position the transportation means 130. The identification information may include, for example, an identification of a vehicle, such as a VIN code, a license plate number, and may further include a type, a size, descriptive information and location information of the vehicle, a description of surrounding objects, etc. The travelling plan information indicates a travelling plan of a transportation means 130, including but not limited to, a current travelling direction, a destination, a planned travelling route, and speed limit information (e.g., a maximum allowable speed and/or acceleration). The reason for requesting takeover may indicate, for example, a reason why a transportation means 130 requests a takeover, such as a self-vehicle failure, a specific demand (e.g., automatic parking), a failure of an automatic driving strategy.

In some embodiments, a roadside device 110 or other traffic management nodes may also actively request or require the roadside device 110 to take over one or more transportation means 130, when it is detected a need of takeover or it is facing an emergency situation. In some embodiments, in response to a takeover request message or if the roadside subsystem 112 actively determines to take over the driving control of the transportation means 130 at least in part, a RSU 212 provides a takeover notification message to the transportation means 130. The takeover notification message indicates takeover related information, including but not limited to, one or more of takeover start time, takeover end time, a takeover type, a takeover reason, and a takeover strategy.

Example Scenario of Map Update

It is discussed above that a perception message 202 and/or a decision planning message 204 may include map information, because a vehicle-mounted subsystem 232 needs to guide the driving of a transportation means depending on a map, especially a high-precision map, in the environment when performing a specific driving control. As mentioned above, map information may indicate at least one of an identification of a map, an update mode of a map, an area of a map to be updated, and location information. In some embodiments, a map update at the transportation means 130 may be that when a driving control module 234 on the vehicle side or a driving control module 214 on the roadside detects a map update need, and/or in response to a map update request from the transportation means 130, such as an OBU 232, a RSU 212 may make map information to be included in a generated perception message 202 and/or decision planning message 204. A map update request message may indicate time information, an identification of a transportation means 130, a type of a transportation means 130, descriptive information of a transportation means 130, location information of a transportation means 130, version information of a map, an area of a map which is requested to be updated, and an update mode of a map.

TABLE 5
Map Update Request Message (OBU→RSU)
indication	specific
information	content	remarks
time	current
information	moment
identification	identification	information capable of uniquely
information of		identifying a transportation means,
a transportation		for example, a VIN code, a license
means		plate number, etc.
	type	indicating a basic type of a transportation
		means; types of transportation means
		may be classified according to different
		dimensions, e.g., transportation means
		classification standards, industry
		applications, power and/or driving
		modes;
		when transportation means are described,
		there may be multiple dimensions of
		information
	geographical	specific location of a transportation
	location	means
	descriptive	description of a size (e.g., length, width,
	information	height), a color, corner point data, a
		center point, a ground clearance, etc., of
		a transportation means; for example, the
		center point of a transportation means
		may be used as a reference to describe
		the length, width and height; or corner
		points may be used for description
		(corner point data may still be described
		with location information)
map version	map version	indicating a version currently used by a
information		transportation means
area of a map	geographical	indicating a geographical area of a map
which is	area	to be updated
requested to
be updated
map update	indication	an update mode of a map may indicate,
mode	of an update	for example, an update source (from a
	mode	remote device or other external sources),
		an update link, update time, etc. of a map

Although some examples of the content contained in a map update request message are listed above, it should be understood that the map update request message may further include other content, including less or more content. In each communication, the map update request message provided from a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 to a roadside subsystem 112 may be all or part of the above content in Tables 1.1-1.4, or it may include other content. During transmission, a map update request message or constituent elements therein may be, for example, data-compressed, to further reduce the amount of data transmitted between the roadside and the transportation means.

Example Scenario of Remote Driving

In some embodiments, transportation means 130 having an automatic driving capability may be monitored in a running process based on remote information, and as needed, the transportation means may be remotely driven by a person or any other operator at a distal end. For example, when the transportation means is required to complete a complex task, due to the limitations in the aspects of perception and processing of the transportation means, it is necessary to manually perform an automatic remote driving at a distal end. In such an implementation, the transportation means 130 may support a switching between a remote driving and an automatic driving.

Generally, a remote actuation mechanism may be provided, to simulate an actuation mechanism for realizing a driving on a general transportation means. An actuation mechanism may include components in one or more systems, such as a power system, a transmission system, a brake system, a steering system, and a feedback system of the transportation means. Such a remote actuation mechanism may be implemented based on software, and for example operated by a driving simulator or a graphical interface. Such a remote actuation mechanism may also be partially or completely implemented by hardware. When the transportation means 130 enters a remote-control mode, a driving operation on a remote actuation mechanism is synchronized to a local actuation mechanism of the transportation means 130. That is to say, the driving operation on the transportation means 130 is initiated and controlled by the remote actuation mechanism, and it is mapped to the local actuation mechanism. An actuation operation on a remote actuation mechanism may be actuated, for example, by a person or any other operator. Such a remote control may be initiated, for example, when the transportation means 130 cannot perform a driving control by itself or it is in a stagnant state.

In some embodiments, if necessary, a remote actuation mechanism or a terminal device at the remote actuation mechanism may initiate a remote driving request message for the transportation means 130. The remote driving request message may indicate start time and/or end time and/or a start location and/or an end location of a remote driving, and the message further includes time information. The remote driving request message may be sent, for example, to a roadside device 110, such as a roadside subsystem 112. A RSU 212 of the roadside subsystem 112 may send the remote driving request message to an OBU 232 of a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132.

Upon reception of a permission or acknowledgement of a remote driving from the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of the transportation means 130, the roadside device 110 may initiate a control message 206 based on the remote driving. Specifically, the roadside subsystem 112 determines a remote actuation operation on the remote actuation mechanism associated with the transportation means 130, and may convert the remote actuation operation into the control message 206 based on parameters related to the local actuation mechanism of the transportation means 130, to control a local actuation mechanism to actuate a same operation as the remote actuation operation. The parameters related to the local actuation mechanism of the transportation means 130 may be obtained, for example, from storage means of the remote device 120 or directly from the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132.

In some embodiments, if it is determined that a remote driving is ended, the roadside subsystem 112 may provide an indication of the end of the remote driving to the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of the transportation means 130. At this time, the transportation means 130 returns to a normal driving mode.

Example Scenario of Detection of Abnormal Moving Object

In a scenario of automatic driving, it is necessary to pay attention to various types of other objects in an environment where a transportation means is located, such as locations, motion states and other descriptions of those objects. In this way, the transportation means may be assisted in making a correct driving decision and control. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in a case of a coordinated driving control, whether a target object is in an abnormal motion state is determined by an device outside the transportation means 130, such as a roadside device 110 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 on other transportation means 130 based on perception information related to an environment 100, especially perception information related to a target object in the environment 100. If it is detected that there is a target object in an abnormal motion state, one or more of driving-related messages provided to the transportation means 130, such as a perception message 202, a decision planning message 204 and a control message 206, will indicate the abnormal motion state of the target object. Based on such a driving-related message, the driving of corresponding transportation means 130 may be controlled, so that the transportation means 130 travels on a motion trajectory not colliding with the target object.

In the driving environment of the transportation means 130, such as on a travel road, target objects that may threaten the travelling safety of the transportation means 130 may include a target object constantly stationary, a target object conflicting with the moving direction of the transportation means 130, a target object significantly not matched with the moving speed of the transportation means 130, etc. In a real driving environment, there is usually a perception blind zone due to the occlusion of other objects, or a perception range of a transportation means itself is limited, so it may be difficult for a transportation means 130 itself to quickly, accurately and completely identify an abnormal target object in a mixed traffic environment. In some embodiments, the driving control of the transportation means 130 may be assisted by a perception capability and/or a computing capability of a roadside device 110 (e.g., a roadside subsystem 112) and other transportation means 130 (e.g., a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132), and the driving-related messages may be provided to the transportation means 130 to indicate the target objects in the abnormal motion state.

Concerned target objects may be various types of objects which may exist in an environment 100, especially objects on or near a travel road of a transportation means 130, such as various types of vehicles, persons, animals, and other objects.

In some embodiments, when determining whether a target object in an environment 100 is in an abnormal motion state, it may be desirable to detect objects in an abnormal stationary state. Herein, “abnormal stationary state” means being continuously stationary for a period of time, the period of time may be greater than a threshold. An abnormal stationary object, especially an object stopped on a road, needs to be timely and accurately notified to the driving control system of a travelling transportation means 130, to make a correct driving decision and control.

In one embodiment, it may be determined whether a target object is continuously stationary in a period of time based on a plurality of information sets related to a target object sensed at a plurality of time points in the period of time. Because it is necessary to obtain perception information within a period of time to determine the stationary state of a target object, the perception capability of a single transportation means 130 may be difficult to complete such a determination, thus, it is necessary to rely on the perception capability and/or the computing ability of the roadside or other transportation means.

The plurality of information sets at the plurality of time points may be partially or completely sensed by a roadside sensing device 107 and reported periodically, or may be partially or completely sensed by a vehicle-mounted sensing devices 236 on one or more other transportation means 130 passing by the stationary target object. In this case, if a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of a certain transportation means determines the motion state of a target object, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may obtain a plurality of information sets at a plurality of time points from the roadside subsystem 112 or a remote device 120. By collecting information of the target object in a period of time, the roadside subsystem 112 or the related vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 may determine whether the target object is always stationary. If the target object is always stationary in a period of time, it may be determined that the target object is in an abnormal stationary state.

In one embodiment, a target object in an abnormal stationary state may be transportation means in an environment 100, such as vehicles parked on both sides of a road for a long time. Such a vehicle parked for a long time period is sometimes called “zombie vehicle”. For such a vehicle, the period of time for determining the abnormal stationary state may be set to be a long time period, such as several weeks, several months, etc.

In one embodiment, after it is determined that a target object is in an abnormal stationary state, a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may generate a perception message, which may include all or part of the contents listed in Tables 1.1 to 1.4. The generated perception message may include a description related to the target object, especially an abnormal stationary state of the target object. In some examples, vehicles (i.e., the target objects) having been in a stationary state for a long time period may also be particularly indicated as “zombie vehicles” in the perception message.

Alternatively or additionally, a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may further generate a decision planning message or a control message for specific transportation means 130. The decision planning message or the control message may also indicate an abnormal stationary state of a target object, which may be realized by planning a travelling trajectory of the transportation means 130 or controlling the driving action of the transportation means 130 relative to the target object in the abnormal stationary state. Therefore, the transportation means 130 may be prevented from traveling on a motion trajectory that may collide with the stationary target object.

Specifically, in order to avoid a collision with a target object, a decision planning message or a control message may guide or control a moving direction, a moving speed, or an overall travelling route of a transportation means 130. For example, if it is determined that there is a target object in an abnormal stationary state in one lane of a road, the decision planning message or the control message may guide the transportation means 130 to change the lane in advance to travel on another lane, thereby avoiding a collision with the target object. In a case where no decision planning message or control message is obtained, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of the transportation means 130 may also take information contained in a perception message received from the outside (e.g., the description related to the target object) as an input of a decision plan and/or a control, to determine how to plan and control a driving, such as controlling the moving direction, the speed and the route of the transportation means 130 to avoid a collision with the stationary target object.

In one embodiment, a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may broadcast a generated perception message after determining a target object in an abnormal stationary state. A transportation means 130 within the communication range of the roadside subsystem 112 or the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may receive such a perception message. In another embodiment, the decision planning message and/or the control message generated by the roadside subsystem 112 or the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may be provided for specific transportation means 130, and thus may be transferred to the specific transportation means 130 through an established communication connection.

FIG. 3D shows an example scenario 340 in which a roadside subsystem 112 detects a target object in an abnormal stationary state in an environment 100. As illustrated in FIG. 3D, a roadside device 110 obtains perception information related to the environment, especially that related to transportation means 130-2 and 130-3 in the environment, from a roadside sensing device 107 and/or a vehicle-mounted sensing device 236 of the transportation means 130. For example, the roadside sensing device 107 may periodically detect perception information within a perception range 102 thereof and report to the roadside subsystem 112 (e.g., the RSU 212 therein). The roadside subsystem 112 (e.g., the RSU 212 therein) may also obtain perception information collected by the vehicle-mounted sensing device 236 from the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 passing by the transportation means 130-2 and 130-3. The roadside device 110 (e.g., the driving control module 214) may determine perception results from original perception information and record the perception results of the transportation means 130-2 and 130-3 at a plurality of time points, such as locations and speeds of the transportation means 130-2 and 130-3 at each of the time points.

If it is determined that the transportation means 130-2 and 130-3 are stationary in a period of time, the roadside subsystem 112 (e.g., the driving control module 214 therein) may determine that the transportation means 130-2 and 130-3 are in an abnormal stationary state, and may generate a driving-related message (e.g., a perception message, and/or a decision planning message and/or a control message for specific transportation means 130, such as the transportation means 130-1). The RSU 212 of the roadside subsystem 112 may broadcast the perception message, or send the decision planning message and/or the control message to the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of the specific transportation means 130-1. After receiving the driving-related message, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of the transportation means 130-1 may fuse the driving-related message with a perception result detected by the transportation means 130-1, determine a travelling strategy of the transportation means 130-1, and transmit the travelling strategy to a line control system of the transportation means 130-1, to realize a real-time control of the transportation means 130-1. For example, when it is acquired that the transportation means 130-2 and 130-3 are in an abnormal stationary state, the transportation means 130-1 may be controlled to change the lane in advance, to travel on a lane not colliding with the transportation means 130-2 and 130-3.

In addition to a target object in an abnormal stationary state, there may also exist a target object in an abnormal moving state in an environment 100, for example, a target object that conflicts with the moving direction of a transportation means 130, a target object significantly not matched with the moving speed of the transportation means 130, etc. In a traffic environment, a target object in an abnormal moving state may threaten the travelling safety of a transportation means 130, so it is necessary to detect such a target object in time, in order to make a correct travelling decision and control for the transportation means 130. The determination of a target object in an abnormal moving state may also be performed by a roadside subsystem 212 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of certain transportation means 130.

In some embodiments, when determining whether a target object is in an abnormal motion state, a movement of the target object, including at least a moving direction and/or a moving speed, may further be determined from perception information related to the target object. In addition, obtained perception information further includes perception information related to a reference object in the environment 100, for determining a movement of the reference object, including at least a moving direction and/or a moving speed. A reference object is usually selected as an object having a high probability in a normal moving state, such as the transportation means 130 in the environment 100. The selection of the reference object depends on the motion state of a target object to be determined, which will be described below. By comparing the movement of a target object with that of a reference object, it may be determined whether the target object is in an abnormal moving state.

An abnormal moving state may include: a retrograde state, i.e., the moving direction of a target object is different from those of most objects in an environment, or does not conform to the moving direction stipulated by a traffic rule; an abnormal speed state, i.e., a difference between the moving speed of a target object and that of a reference object is too large (e.g., exceeding a speed difference threshold). An abnormal speed state may be further divided into an abnormal slow state in which the moving speed of a target object is higher than that of a reference object, and an abnormal fast state in which the moving speed of a target object is lower than that of a reference object.

In one embodiment, when determining whether a target object is in a retrograde state, the moving direction of the target object may be compared with that of a reference object. In some examples, reference object may be selected as an object on a same traffic lane as the target object, and for example, the target object is a target transportation means, while the reference object is selected as reference transportation means on a same traffic lane as the target transportation means (sometimes the reference object in this case is also referred to as a “first reference object”). Herein, a traffic lane refers to a strip road section which enables a transportation means to be arranged longitudinally and travel safely, and which may be composed of one or more lanes. A travel road may have a one-way lane where transportation means all travel in substantially a same direction. A travel road may also have a two-way lane where transportation means on the two lanes travel in different directions. If the moving direction of a target object is detected as being opposite to that of a reference object, it may be determined that the target object is in a retrograde state. In order to accurately detect whether a target object is in a retrograde state, the reference object may be an object with a high confidence and in a correct travelling direction.

In one embodiment, when determining whether a target object is in an abnormal speed state, the moving speed of the target object is compared with that of a reference object. In some examples, a reference object for determining a speed abnormality may be an object having a same expected moving direction as the target object. For example, the reference object and the target object may be reference transportation means and target transportation means on traffic lanes of a same direction. The reference object in this case is sometimes referred to as a “second reference object”.

If a difference between the moving speed of a target object and that of a reference object is determined as exceeding a speed difference threshold, it is determined that the target object is in an abnormal speed state. The speed difference threshold may be set according to relevant traffic rules of roads, or may be set based on a safe distance between objects (especially the transportation means). A reference object may be selected as an object having a high probability in a normal moving state or a stationary state, such as the transportation means 130 on a same traffic lane as target transportation means (the target object) in an environment 100. In a case where the speed difference between a target object and a reference object exceeds a speed difference threshold, if the moving speed of the target object is determined as being higher than that of the reference object, it may be determined that the target object is in an abnormal slow state. Otherwise, if the moving speed of the target object is lower than that of the reference object, it may be determined that the target object is in an abnormal fast state. On some roads, traveling speeds of transportation means need to meet specific speed requirements, and those exceeding a specified upper speed limit or lower speed limit may threaten the safety of other transportation means. In addition, in a moving state, if the speed difference between a transportation means and other transportation means or objects is too large, it is necessary to specially plan and control the driving operation (e.g., deceleration, acceleration, turning, changing the travelling route, etc.) to avoid a collision.

In one embodiment, a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may generate a perception message after determining a target object in an abnormal moving state. The perception message may include a description related to a target object, especially descriptions of an abnormal moving state and other aspects of the target object, such as all or part of the contents listed in Tables 1.1 to 1.4. In some embodiments, the description related to the target object, such as the moving state of the target object in Table 1.1, may also indicate the specific abnormal moving state of the target object, such as a retrograde state, an abnormal slow state, an abnormal fast state, etc.

Alternatively or additionally, a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may further generate a decision planning message or a control message for specific transportation means 130. The decision planning message or the control message may also indicate an abnormal motion state of a target object. This may be achieved by planning the travelling trajectory of the transportation means 130 or controlling the driving action of the transportation means 130 relative to the target object in an abnormal moving state. Therefore, the transportation means 130 may be prevented from traveling on a motion trajectory that may collide with the target object that is moving abnormally.

Specifically, in order to avoid a collision with a target object, a decision planning message or a control message may guide or control the moving direction, the moving speed, or the overall travelling route of the transportation means 130. For example, if it is determined that there is a target object in a retrograde state in one lane of the road, the decision plan message or the control message may guide the transportation means 130 to avoid changing to or from that lane. For another example, if it is determined that there is a target object in an abnormal slow state in front of the transportation means 130 on a same lane, the decision planning message or the control message may guide the transportation means 130 to perform operations such as deceleration and/or lane change to avoid a collision. Or, if there is a target object in an abnormal fast state behind the transportation means 130 on a same lane, the decision planning message or the control message may guide the transportation means 130 to perform operations such as acceleration and/or lane change.

In one embodiment, a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may broadcast a generated perception message after determining a target object in an abnormal moving state. A transportation means 130 within the communication range of a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may receive such a perception message. In another embodiment, a decision planning message and/or a control message generated by a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of other transportation means 130 may be specific for specific transportation means 130, and thus may be transferred to the specific transportation means 130 through an established communication connection.

FIG. 3E shows an example scenario 350 in which a roadside subsystem 112 detects a target object in an abnormal stationary state in an environment 100. In this scenario, transportation means 130-1 to 130-5 are traveling on traffic lanes of a same direction. A roadside sensing device 107 and/or a vehicle-mounted sensing device 236 of the transportation means 130 obtain perception information within respective perception ranges 102 and 302, especially perception information related to each of the transportation means therein. The roadside sensing device 107 and the vehicle-mounted sensing device 236 may transfer the perception information to the roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of certain transportation means 130.

The roadside subsystem 112 or the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 (e.g., the driving control module 214 or the driving control 234) may determine that the moving direction of the transportation means 130-3 is different from (opposite to) that of other transportation means (e.g., transportation means 130-5 or transportation means 130-3) on the traffic lane based on the perception information, and thus determine that the transportation means 130-3 is in a retrograde state. The roadside subsystem 112 or the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 (e.g., the RSU 212 or the RSU 232) may broadcast the perception message, or may send a decision planning message and/or a control message to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of specific transportation means 130-1, to indicate the transportation means 130-3 in a retrograde state. After receiving the driving-related message, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of the transportation means 130-3 may fuse the driving-related message with the perception result detected by the transportation means 130-1, and determine a travelling strategy of the transportation means 130-3, so that the line control system of the transportation means 130-3 may be controlled to travel according to the travelling strategy. For example, the transportation means 130-1 may be controlled not to change to the lane where the retrograde transportation means 130-4 is located.

In some cases, a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of the transportation means 130-2 (e.g., the driving control module 214 or the driving control 234) may determine that the moving speed of the transportation means 130-3 is lower than that of the transportation means 130-2 based on perception information, and the difference therebetween is too large (greater than a speed difference threshold), and thus it may be determined that the transportation means 130-3 is in an abnormal slow state. The roadside subsystem 112 or the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 (e.g., the RSU 212 or the RSU 232) may broadcast the perception message, or may send a decision planning message and/or a control message to a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of specific transportation means 130-1, to indicate that the transportation means 130-3 is in an abnormal slow state. After receiving the driving-related message, the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of the transportation means 130-3 may fuse the driving-related message with the perception result detected by the transportation means 130-1, and determine a travelling strategy of the transportation means 130-3, so that the line control system of the transportation means 130-3 may be controlled to travel according to the travelling strategy. For example, the transportation means 130-1 may be controlled to decrease the speed and/or change the lane in advance.

Example Method

FIG. 4A is a flowchart showing a driving control assisting method 400 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 400 may be implemented at the roadside subsystem 112 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. It should be understood that although shown in a specific order, some steps in the method 400 may be performed in a different order than that shown or in a parallel manner Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited in this respect.

At block 410, perception information related to an environment of a transportation means is acquired, the perception information including at least information related to an object present in the environment. At block 420, a driving-related message for the transportation means is generated based on at least the perception information, the driving-related message including at least one of a perception message, a decision planning message, and a control message. At block 430, the driving related message is provided to the transportation means for driving control of the transportation means.

In some embodiments, acquiring the perception information includes acquiring at least one of: roadside perception information sensed by a sensing device which is arranged in the environment and independent of the transportation means; transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with the transportation means; and transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with another transportation means.

In some embodiments, the perception message includes at least one of: a description related to a target object present in the environment, for indicating at least one of a type, location information, speed information, direction information, physical appearance descriptive information, a historical trajectory, and a predicted trajectory of the target object; information related to a physical condition of a road in the environment, for indicating at least one of a road surface physical condition of the road and structured information of the road; information related to a traffic facility in the environment, for indicating at least one of a state of a signal light and a traffic sign on the road; information of a road traffic condition in the environment, for indicating at least one of a sign, traffic flow and a traffic event on the road and/or in a lane of the road; information related to a weather condition in the environment; auxiliary information related to positioning of the transportation means; diagnosis information of a failure of the transportation means; information related to an OTA upgrade of a software system of the transportation means; map information, indicating at least one of an identification of a map, an update mode of the map, an area of the map to be updated and location information; information related to a parking area of the transportation means; and time information.

In some embodiments, the decision planning message includes at least one of: an indication of a travel road on which a decision is to be applied, start time information and/or end time information of a decision plan, start location information and/or end location information of the decision plan, an identification of a transportation means targeted by the decision plan, decision information related to a driving behavior of the transportation means, decision information related to a driving action of the transportation means, information of a path planning trajectory point, expected time for arriving at the path planning trajectory point, information related to other transportation means involved in the decision plan, map information, indicating at least one of an identification of a map, an update mode of the map, an area of the map to be updated and location information, and time information.

In some embodiments, the control message includes at least one of: kinematic control information related to a motion of the transportation means, kinetic control information related to at least one of a power system, a transmission system, a brake system, and a steering system of the transportation means, control information related to a ride experience of a passenger in the transportation means, control information related to a traffic warning system of the transportation means, and time information.

In some embodiments, generating the driving-related message includes: generating at least one of the perception message and the decision plan message including map information used by the transportation means, in response to detecting that the map information is to be updated and/or in response to acquiring a map update request message from the transportation means, wherein the map update request message indicates at least one of time information, identification information of the transportation means, an area of a map to be updated, and an update mode of the map.

In some embodiments, generating the driving-related message further includes: acquiring at least one of real-time running information, auxiliary plan information and vehicle body information of the transportation means, and special transportation means indication information, and generating at least one of the decision planning message and the control message based on the acquired information.

In some embodiments, the real-time running information includes at least one of location information, traveling direction information, traveling route information, traveling speed information, operation state information, and component state information of the transportation means. In some embodiments, the auxiliary planning information includes at least one of an indication of traveling intention, planned traveling route information, and speed limit information of the transportation means. In some embodiments, the vehicle body information includes at least one of an identification, a type, descriptive information, current traveling route information, and failure-related information of the transportation means. In some embodiments, the special transportation means indication information includes at least one of a special transportation means type and a right-of-way requirement level.

In some embodiments, providing the driving-related message includes: providing the driving-related message to the transportation means, in response to at least one of a time-based trigger, a location-based trigger, and an event-based trigger.

In some embodiments, providing the driving-related message includes: receiving a takeover request message for the transportation means, the takeover request message indicating a request for at least partially taking over the driving control of the transportation means; and providing at least one of the decision planning message, and the control message to the transportation means, in response to the takeover request message.

In some embodiments, the takeover request message indicates at least one of identification information of the transportation means, travelling plan information of the transportation means, a reason for requesting takeover, and time information.

In some embodiments, the method 400 further includes: providing a takeover notification message to the transportation means, in response to determining that the driving control of the transportation means is to be at least partially taken over, the takeover notification message indicating at least one of start time of the takeover, end time of the takeover, a type of the takeover, a reason of the takeover, and a strategy of the takeover.

In some embodiments, the method 400 further includes: generating at least one of another decision planning message and another control message based on the perception information, in response to determining that the driving control of the transportation means requires an assistance of another transportation means; and providing at least one of the generated another decision planning message and the generated another control message to the other transportation means for driving control of the other transportation means.

In some embodiments, generating the driving-related message includes: determining a remote execution operation on a remote execution mechanism associated with the transportation means; converting the remote execution operation into the control message further based on a parameter related to a local execution mechanism of the transportation means, to control the local execution mechanism to execute a same operation as the remote execution operation.

FIG. 4B is a flowchart showing a driving control assisting method 401 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 may be implemented at a roadside subsystem 112 or a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. It should be understood that although shown in a specific order, some steps in the method 401 may be performed in a different order than that shown or in a parallel manner Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited in this respect.

At block 440, perception information related to an environment of a transportation means is acquired, the perception information including at least perception information related to a target object in the environment. At block 450, whether the target object is in an abnormal motion state is determined based on the perception information. At block 460, a driving-related message is generated in response to the target object being in the abnormal motion state, the driving-related message indicating the abnormal motion state of the target object. At block 470, the driving-related message is provided to the transportation means, to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception information includes a plurality of information sets related to the target object sensed at a plurality of time points in a period of time. In some embodiments, determining whether the target object is in the abnormal motion state includes: determining whether the target object is continuously stationary in the period of time based on the plurality of information sets; and determining that the target object is in an abnormal stationary state, in response to determining that the target object is continuously stationary in the period of time.

In some embodiments, the perception information further includes perception information related to a reference object in the environment. In some embodiments, determining whether the target object is in the abnormal motion state includes: determining a movement of the target object and a movement of the reference object based on the perception information related to the target object and the perception information related to the reference object; determining whether the target object is in an abnormal movement state by comparing the movement of the target object with the movement of the reference object.

In some embodiments, determining whether the target object is in the abnormal movement state includes: comparing a moving direction of the target object with a moving direction of the reference object; and determining that the target object is in a retrograde state, in response to the moving direction of the target object being opposite to the moving direction of the reference object.

In some embodiments, the target object is a target transportation means, and the reference object is a reference transportation means in a same lane as the target transportation means.

In some embodiments, determining whether the target object is in the abnormal movement state includes: comparing the moving speed of the target object with the moving speed of the reference object; and determining that the target object is in an abnormal speed state, in response to a difference between the moving speed of the target object and the moving speed of the reference object exceeding a speed difference threshold.

In some embodiments, the target object and the reference object are in a same lane, and wherein determining that the target object is in the abnormal speed state includes: determining that the target object is in an abnormally slow speed state, in response to the difference exceeding the speed difference threshold and the moving speed of the target object is higher than the moving speed of the reference object; and determining that the target object is in an abnormally fast speed state, in response to the difference exceeding the speed difference threshold and the moving speed of the target object is lower than the moving speed of the reference object.

In some embodiments, generating the driving-related message includes: generating a perception message for the transportation means, the perception message including a description related to the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception message includes at least one of a classification, the abnormal motion state, retention time of a motion state, physical appearance descriptive information, a type, location information, a moving speed, a moving direction, an acceleration, an acceleration direction, historical motion trajectory information, and predicted motion trajectory information of the target object.

In some embodiments, generating the driving-related message includes: generating at least one of a decision planning message and a control message for the transportation means, the at least one of the decision planning message and the control message being used to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, acquiring the perception information includes acquiring at least one of: roadside perception information sensed by a sensing device which is arranged in the environment and independent of the transportation means; transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with the transportation means; and transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with another transportation means.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart showing a method 500 for driving control according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented at a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. It should be understood that although shown in a specific order, some steps in the method 500 may be performed in a different order than that shown or in a parallel manner Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited in this respect.

At block 510, a driving-related message is received from an external device of a transportation means, the driving-related message being generated based on perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, and including at least one of a perception message, a decision planning message, and a control message. At block 520, driving of the transportation means in the environment is controlled based on the driving-related message.

In some embodiments, the method 500 further includes: providing, to the external device, transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with the transportation means as at least a part of the perception information.

In some embodiments, the method 500 further includes: providing, to the external device, at least one of real-time running information, auxiliary planning information and vehicle body information of the transportation means, and special transportation means indication information, for a generation of at least one of the decision planning message and the control message.

In some embodiments, receiving the driving-related message includes: providing, to the external device, a takeover request message for the transportation means, the takeover request message indicating a request for at least partially taking over the driving control of the transportation means; and receiving at least one of the decision planning message, and the control message, in response to the takeover request message. In some embodiments, the takeover request message indicates at least one of identification information of the transportation means, travelling plan information of the transportation means, a reason for requesting takeover, and time information.

In some embodiments, the method 500 further includes: receiving a takeover notification message for the takeover request message from the external device, the takeover notification message indicating at least one of start time of the takeover, end time of the takeover, a type of the takeover, a reason of the takeover, and a strategy of the takeover.

In some embodiments, receiving the driving-related message includes: providing, to the external device, a remote driving request message for the transportation means; and receiving the control message in response to the remote driving request message, the control message including a control instruction executable by a local execution mechanism of the transportation means, and the control message being obtained by performing a conversion of an execution operation on a remote execution mechanism based on a parameter related to the local execution mechanism.

FIG. 5B is a flowchart showing a method 501 for driving control according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented at a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. It should be understood that although shown in a specific order, some steps in the method 500 may be performed in a different order than that shown or in a parallel manner Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited in this respect.

At block 530, a driving-related message is received from an external device of a transportation means, the driving-related message being generated based on perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, and the perception information including at least perception information related to a target object in the environment. At block 540, whether the driving-related message indicates that the target object is in an abnormal motion state is determined. At block 550, driving of the transportation means in the environment is controlled, in response to the driving-related message indicating that the target object is in an abnormal motion state, to enable the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, the abnormal motion state includes one of: an abnormal stationary state, in which the target object is continuously stationary in a period of time, a retrograde state, in which a moving direction of the target object is opposite to a moving direction of a first reference object in the environment, and an abnormal speed state, in which a difference between a moving speed of the target object and a moving speed of a second reference object in the environment exceeds a speed difference threshold.

In some embodiments, the target object is a target transportation means, and in the retrograde state, the first reference object is a reference transportation means in a same lane as the target transportation means.

In some embodiments, the abnormal speed state includes one of: an abnormally slow speed state, in which the difference exceeds the speed difference threshold, and the moving speed of the target object is higher than the moving speed of the second reference object, and an abnormally fast speed state, in which the difference exceeds the speed difference threshold, and the moving speed of the target object is lower than the moving speed of the second reference object.

In some embodiments, receiving the driving-related message includes: receiving a perception message for the transportation means, the perception message including a description related to the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception message includes at least one of a classification, the abnormal motion state, retention time of a motion state, physical appearance descriptive information, a type, location information, a moving speed, a moving direction, an acceleration, an acceleration direction, historical motion trajectory information, and predicted motion trajectory information of the target object.

In some embodiments, receiving the driving-related message includes: receiving at least one of a decision planning message and a control message for the transportation means, the at least one of the decision planning message and the control message being used to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

Example Apparatus and Device

FIG. 6A is a schematic block diagram showing a driving control assisting apparatus 600 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 600 may be included in a roadside subsystem 112 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 or implemented as a roadside subsystem 112. As shown in FIG. 6A, the apparatus 600 includes a perception acquisition module 610, configured to acquire, by an external device of a transportation means, perception information related to an environment of transportation means, the perception information including at least information related to an object present in the environment; a message generation module 620, configured to generate a driving-related message for the transportation means based on at least the perception information, the driving-related message including at least one of a perception message, a decision planning message, and a control message; and a message provision module 630, configured to provide the driving-related message to the transportation means for driving control of the transportation means.

In some embodiments, the perception acquisition module is configured to acquire at least one of: roadside perception information sensed by a sensing device which is arranged in the environment and independent of the transportation means; transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with the transportation means; and transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with another transportation means.

In some embodiments, the message generation module includes: a map update-based message generation module, configured to generate at least one of the perception message and the decision planning message including map information, in response to detecting that the map information is to be updated and/or in response to acquiring a map update request message from the transportation means. In some embodiments, the map update request message indicates at least one of: time information, identification information of the transportation means, an area of a map to be updated, and an update mode of the map.

In some embodiments, the message generation module further includes: an auxiliary information acquisition module, configured to acquire at least one of real-time running information, auxiliary planning information and vehicle body information of the transportation means, and special transportation means indication information; and an auxiliary information-based message generation module configured to further generate at least one of the decision planning message and the control message based on the acquired information.

In some embodiments, the message provision module is configured as: a trigger-based message provision module configured to provide the driving-related message to the transportation means, in response to at least one of a time-based trigger, a location-based trigger, and an event-based trigger.

In some embodiments, the message provision module includes: a takeover request receiving module, configured to receive a takeover request message for the transportation means, the takeover request message indicating a request for at least partially taking over the driving control of the transportation means; and a takeover request-based message provision module, configured to provide at least one of the decision planning message, and the control message to the transportation means, in response to the takeover request message.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 600 further includes: a notification provision module, configured to provide a takeover notification message to the transportation means, in response to determining that the driving control of the transportation means is to be at least partially taken over, the takeover notification message indicating at least one of: start time of the takeover, end time of the takeover, a type of the takeover, a reason of the takeover, and a strategy of the takeover.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 600 further includes: another message generation module, configured to generate at least one of another decision planning message and another control message based on the perception information, in response to determining that the driving control of the transportation means requires an assistance of another transportation means; and another message provision module, configured to provide at least one of the generated another decision planning message and the generated another control message to the other transportation means for driving control of the other transportation means.

In some embodiments, the message generation module includes: an operation determination module, configured to determine a remote execution operation on a remote execution mechanism associated with the transportation means; a conversion-based message generation module, configured to convert the remote execution operation into the control message further based on a parameter related to a local execution mechanism of the transportation means, to control the local execution mechanism to execute a same operation as the remote execution operation.

FIG. 6B is a schematic block diagram showing a driving control assisting apparatus 601 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 600 may be included in a roadside subsystem 112 in FIG. 1 and FIG.2 or implemented as a roadside subsystem 112, or included in a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 or implemented as a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the apparatus 601 includes a perception acquisition module 640, configured to acquire perception information related to an environment of a transportation means, the perception information including at least perception information related to a target object in the environment; an abnormal motion determination module 650, configured to determine whether the target object is in an abnormal motion state based on the perception information; a message generation module 660, configured to generate a driving-related message in response to the target object being in the abnormal motion state, the driving-related message indicating the abnormal motion state of the target object; and a message provision module 670, configured to provide the driving-related message to the transportation means, to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception information includes a plurality of information sets related to the target object sensed at a plurality of time points in a period of time. In some embodiments, the abnormal motion determination module includes: a continuous stationary determination module, configured to determine whether the target object is continuously stationary in the period of time based on the plurality of information sets; and an abnormal stationary determination module, configured to determine that the target object is in an abnormal stationary state, in response to determining that the target object is continuously stationary in the period of time.

In some embodiments, the perception information further includes perception information related to a reference object in the environment, and wherein the abnormal motion determination module includes: an object movement determination module, configured to determine a movement of the target object and a movement of the reference object based on the perception information related to the target object and the perception information related to the reference object; an abnormal movement determination module, configured to determine whether the target object is in an abnormal movement state by comparing the movement of the target object with the movement of the reference object.

In some embodiments, the abnormal movement determination module includes: a movement direction comparison module, configured to compare a moving direction of the target object with a moving direction of the reference object; and a retrograde determination module, configured to determine that the target object is in a retrograde state, in response to the moving direction of the target object being opposite to the moving direction of the reference object.

In some embodiments, the target object is a target transportation means, and the reference object is a reference transportation means in a same lane as the target transportation means.

In some embodiments, the abnormal movement determination module includes: a moving speed comparison module, configured to compare the moving speed of the target object with the moving speed of the reference object; and an abnormal speed determination module, configured to determine that the target object is in an abnormal speed state, in response to a difference between the moving speed of the target object and the moving speed of the reference object exceeding a speed difference threshold.

In some embodiments, the target object and the reference object are in a same lane, and wherein the abnormal speed determination module includes: an abnormally slow speed determination module, configured to determine that the target object is in an abnormally slow speed state, in response to the difference exceeding the speed difference threshold and the moving speed of the target object is higher than the moving speed of the reference object; and an abnormally fast speed determination module, configured to determine that the target object is in an abnormally fast speed state, in response to the difference exceeding the speed difference threshold and the moving speed of the target object is lower than the moving speed of the reference object.

In some embodiments, the message generation module includes: a perception message generation module, configured to generate a perception message for the transportation means, the perception message including a description related to the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception message includes at least one of: a classification, the abnormal motion state, retention time of a motion state, physical appearance descriptive information, a type, location information, a moving speed, a moving direction, an acceleration, an acceleration direction, historical motion trajectory information, and predicted motion trajectory information of the target object.

In some embodiments, the message generation module includes: a decision planning and/or control message generation module, configured to generate at least one of a decision planning message and a control message for the transportation means, the at least one of the decision planning message and the control message being used to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception acquisition module is configured to acquire at least one of: roadside perception information sensed by a sensing device which is arranged in the environment and independent of the transportation means; transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with the transportation means; and transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with another transportation means.

FIG. 7A is a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus 700 for driving control according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 700 may be included in a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 or implemented as a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132. As shown in FIG. 7A, the apparatus 700 includes a message receiving module 710, configured to receive a driving-related message from an external device of a transportation means, the driving-related message being generated based on perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, and including at least one of a perception message, a decision planning message, and a control message; and a driving-related control module 720, configured to control driving of the transportation means in the environment based on the driving-related message.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 700 further includes a perception provision module, configured to provide, to the external device, transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with the transportation means as at least a part of the perception information.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 700 further includes an auxiliary information provision module, configured to provide, to the external device, at least one of real-time running information, auxiliary planning information and vehicle body information of the transportation means, and special transportation means indication information, for a generation of at least one of the decision planning message and the control message.

In some embodiments, the message receiving module includes: a takeover request provision module, configured to provide, to the external device, a takeover request message for the transportation means, the takeover request message indicating a request for at least partially taking over the driving control of the transportation means; and a takeover-based message receiving module, configured to receive at least one of the decision planning message, and the control message, in response to the takeover request message. The takeover request message indicates at least one of identification information of the transportation means, travelling plan information of the transportation means, a reason for requesting takeover, and time information.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 700 further includes a notification receiving module, configured to receive a takeover notification message for the takeover request message from the external device, the takeover notification message indicating at least one of start time of the takeover, end time of the takeover, a type of the takeover, a reason of the takeover, and a strategy of the takeover.

In some embodiments, receiving the driving-related message further includes: a remote driving request module, configured to provide, to the external device, a remote driving request message for the transportation means; and a control message receiving module, configured to receive the control message in response to the remote driving request message, the control message including a control instruction executable by a local execution mechanism of the transportation means, and the control message being obtained by performing a conversion of an execution operation on a remote execution mechanism based on a parameter related to the local execution mechanism.

FIG. 7B is a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus 701 for driving control according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 701 may be included in a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 in FIG. 1 and FIG.2 or implemented as a vehicle-mounted subsystem 132.

As shown in FIG. 7B, the apparatus 701 a message receiving module 730, configured to receive a driving-related message from an external device of a transportation means, the driving-related message being generated based on perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, and including at least perception information related to a target object in the environment; and a driving-related control module 740, configured to control driving of the transportation means in the environment, in response to the driving-related message indicating that the target object is in an abnormal motion state, to enable the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

In some embodiments, the abnormal motion state includes one of: an abnormal stationary state, in which the target object is continuously stationary in a period of time, a retrograde state, in which a moving direction of the target object is opposite to a moving direction of a first reference object in the environment, and an abnormal speed state, in which a difference between a moving speed of the target object and a moving speed of a second reference object in the environment exceeds a speed difference threshold.

In some embodiments, the target object is a target transportation means, and in the retrograde state, the first reference object is a reference transportation means in a same lane as the target transportation means.

In some embodiments, the abnormal speed state includes one of: an abnormally slow speed state, in which the difference exceeds the speed difference threshold, and the moving speed of the target object is higher than the moving speed of the second reference object, and an abnormally fast speed state, in which the difference exceeds the speed difference threshold, and the moving speed of the target object is lower than the moving speed of the second reference object.

In some embodiments, the message receiving module includes: a perception message receiving module, configured to receive a perception message for the transportation means, the perception message including a description related to the target object.

In some embodiments, the perception message includes at least one of a classification, the abnormal motion state, retention time of a motion state, physical appearance descriptive information, a type, location information, a moving speed, a moving direction, an acceleration, an acceleration direction, historical motion trajectory information, and predicted motion trajectory information of the target object.

In some embodiments, receiving the driving-related message includes: a decision planning and/or control message receiving module, configured to receive at least one of a decision planning message and a control message for the transportation means, the at least one of the decision planning message and the control message being used to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram showing an example device 800 that may be used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 800 may be used to implement the roadside subsystem 112 or the vehicle-mounted subsystem 132 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 8, the device 800 includes a computing unit 801, which may perform various appropriate actions and processing according to computer program instructions stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM) 802 or loaded from a storage unit 808 to a Random Access Memory (RAM) 803. In the RAM 803, various programs and data required for the operation of the device 800 may also be stored. The computing unit 801, the ROM 802, and the RAM 803 are connected to each other through a bus 804. An input/output (I/O) interface 805 is also connected to the bus 804.

A plurality of components in the device 800 are connected to the I/O interface 805, including: an input unit 806, such as a keyboard, a mouse; an output unit 807, such as various types of displays, speakers; a storage unit 808, such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk; and a communication unit 809, such as a network card, a modem, a wireless communication transceiver. The communication unit 809 allows the device 800 to exchange information/data with other devices through a computer network, such as the Internet and/or various telecommunication networks.

The computing unit 801 may be various general and/or dedicated processing components with processing and computing capabilities. Some examples of the computing unit 801 include, but are not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), various dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips, various computing units running machine learning model algorithms, and a digital signal processor (DSP), and any appropriate processor, controller, microcontroller, etc. The computing unit 801 executes various methods and processing described above, such as the method 400, the method 401, the method 500 or the method 501. For example, in some embodiments, the method 400, the method 401, the method 500 or the method 501 may be implemented as a computer software program, which is tangibly contained in a machine-readable medium, such as the storage unit 808. In some embodiments, the computer program may be partially or fully loaded and/or installed on the device 800 via the ROM 802 and/or the communication unit 809. When the computer program is loaded into the RAM 803 and executed by the computing unit 801, one or more steps of the method 400 or the method 500 described above may be performed. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the computing unit 801 may be configured to execute the method 400, the method 401, the method 500 or the method 501 in any other suitable manner (e.g., by means of firmware).

Functions described above may be performed at least in part by one or more hardware logic components. For example, non-restrictively, exemplary types of available hardware logic components include: a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an Application Specific Standard Product (ASSP), a System on Chip (SOC), a Load Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), etc.

Program codes for implementing the method of the present disclosure may be drafted in one or combinations of a plurality of programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or a controller of a general computer, a dedicated computer, or other programmable data processing means, so that when the program codes are executed by the processor or the controller, functions and/or operations specified in a flowchart and/or a block diagram are implemented. The program codes may be entirely executed on a machine, partially executed on a machine, partially executed on a machine as an independent software package and partially executed on a remote machine, or entirely executed on a remote machine or a server.

In the context of the present disclosure, a computer-readable medium may be a tangible medium, which may contain or store a program for use by or in combination with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, or any suitable combination of those aforementioned. More specific examples of the machine-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection based on one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, a Portable Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of those aforementioned.

In addition, although operations are depicted in a specific order, it should be understood that such operations are required to be performed in the shown specific order or in sequence, or all the shown operations are required to be performed to obtain desired results. Under a certain environment, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations of the scope of the present disclosure. Certain features that are described in the context of an individual embodiment may also be implemented in combination in an individual implementation. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of an individual implementation may also be implemented in a plurality of implementations individually or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the subject matter has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or logical actions of the method, it should be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. On the contrary, the specific features and actions described above are merely exemplary forms for implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A driving control assisting method, comprising:

acquiring perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, the perception information comprising at least perception information related to a target object in the environment;

determining whether the target object is in an abnormal motion state based on the perception information;

generating a driving-related message in response to the target object being in the abnormal motion state, the driving-related message indicating the abnormal motion state of the target object; and

providing the driving-related message to the transportation means, to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the perception information comprises a plurality of information sets related to the target object sensed at a plurality of time points in a period of time, and wherein determining whether the target object is in the abnormal motion state comprises:

determining whether the target object is continuously stationary in the period of time based on the plurality of information sets; and

determining that the target object is in an abnormal stationary state, in response to determining that the target object is continuously stationary in the period of time.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the perception information further comprises perception information related to a reference object in the environment, and wherein determining whether the target object is in the abnormal motion state comprises:

determining a movement of the target object and a movement of the reference object based on the perception information related to the target object and the perception information related to the reference object;

determining whether the target object is in an abnormal movement state by comparing the movement of the target object with the movement of the reference object.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein determining whether the target object is in the abnormal movement state comprises:

comparing a moving direction of the target object with a moving direction of the reference object; and

determining that the target object is in a retrograde state, in response to the moving direction of the target object being opposite to the moving direction of the reference object.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the target object is a target transportation means, and the reference object is a reference transportation means in a same lane as the target transportation means.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein determining whether the target object is in the abnormal movement state comprises:

comparing the moving speed of the target object with the moving speed of the reference object; and

determining that the target object is in an abnormal speed state, in response to a difference between the moving speed of the target object and the moving speed of the reference object exceeding a speed difference threshold.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the target object and the reference object are in a same lane, and wherein determining that the target object is in the abnormal speed state comprises:

determining that the target object is in an abnormally slow speed state, in response to the difference exceeding the speed difference threshold and the moving speed of the target object is higher than the moving speed of the reference object; and

determining that the target object is in an abnormally fast speed state, in response to the difference exceeding the speed difference threshold and the moving speed of the target object is lower than the moving speed of the reference object.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein generating the driving-related message comprises:

generating a perception message for the transportation means, the perception message comprising a description related to the target object.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the perception message comprises at least one of: a classification, the abnormal motion state, retention time of atho motion state, physical appearance descriptive information, a type, location information, a moving speed, a moving direction, an acceleration, an acceleration direction, historical motion trajectory information, and predicted motion trajectory information of the target object.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein generating the driving-related message comprises:

generating at least one of a decision planning message and a control message for the transportation means, the at least one of the decision planning message and the control message being used to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein acquiring the perception information comprises acquiring at least one of:

roadside perception information sensed by a sensing device which is arranged in the environment and independent of the transportation means;

transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with the transportation means; and

transportation means perception information sensed by a sensing device arranged in association with another transportation means.

12. A method for driving control, comprising:

receiving a driving-related message from an external device of a transportation means, the driving-related message being generated based on perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, and the perception information comprising at least perception information related to a target object in the environment; and

controlling driving of the transportation means in the environment, in response to the driving-related message indicating that the target object is in an abnormal motion state, to enable the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the abnormal motion state comprises one of:

an abnormal stationary state, in which the target object is continuously stationary in a period of time,

a retrograde state, in which a moving direction of the target object is opposite to a moving direction of a first reference object in the environment, and

an abnormal speed state, in which a difference between a moving speed of the target object and a moving speed of a second reference object in the environment exceeds a speed difference threshold.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the target object is a target transportation means, and in the retrograde state, the first reference object is a reference transportation means in a same lane as the target transportation means.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the abnormal speed state comprises one of:

an abnormally slow speed state, in which the difference exceeds the speed difference threshold, and the moving speed of the target object is higher than the moving speed of the second reference object, and

an abnormally fast speed state, in which the difference exceeds the speed difference threshold, and the moving speed of the target object is lower than the moving speed of the second reference object.

16. The method according to claims 12, wherein receiving the driving-related message comprises:

receiving a perception message for the transportation means, the perception message comprising a description related to the target object.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the perception message comprises at least one of a classification, the abnormal motion state, retention time of a motion state, physical appearance descriptive information, a type, location information, a moving speed, a moving direction, an acceleration, an acceleration direction, historical motion trajectory information, and predicted motion trajectory information of the target object.

18. The method according to claim 12, wherein receiving the driving-related message comprises:

receiving at least one of a decision planning message and a control message for the transportation means, the at least one of the decision planning message and the control message being used to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

19.-36. (canceled)

37. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a storage device for storing one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs, when being executed by the one or more processors, enable the one or more processors to implement the method according to:

acquire perception information related to an environment of transportation means, the perception information comprising at least perception information related to a target object in the environment;

determine whether the target object is in an abnormal motion state based on the perception information;

generate a driving-related message in response to the target object being in the abnormal motion state, the driving-related message indicating the abnormal motion state of the target object; and

provide the driving-related message to the transportation means, to control the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

38. An electronic device, comprising:

at least one processors; and

a memory communicatively connected with the at least one processor; wherein

the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor, and the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, to enable the at least one processors to perform the method according to: receive a driving-related message from an external device of a transportation means, the driving-related message being generated based on perception information related to an environment of the transportation means, and the perception information comprising at least perception information related to a target object in the environment; and control driving of the transportation means in the environment, in response to the driving-related message indicating that the target object is in an abnormal motion state, to enable the transportation means to travel on a motion trajectory that does not collide with the target object.

39.-41. (canceled)