A METHOD FOR OPERATING AN AT LEAST PARTIALLY AUTONOMOUS MOTOR VEHICLE BY AN ASSISTANCE SYSTEM AS WELL AS A CORRESPONDING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to the field of automobiles. More specifically, the invention relates to the field of a method for operating an at least partially autonomous motor vehicle by an assistance system of the motor vehicle as well as to a corresponding assistance system.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
[0002] In the state of the art, it is known that different driving styles may be identified by capturing naturalistic driving patterns and classifying them according to a set of predefined factors, allowing a generic classification, for example, a conservative or aggressive driving style. However, there is a lack in the art to select a very specific driving style that may be recognized as belonging to an individual person and therefore to select this driving style in a special situation.
[0003] WO 2020/119004 Al discloses a method of modifying operation of an autonomous vehicle, including a machine learning module accepting input relating to driving style of the autonomous vehicle, the machine learning module receiving passenger feedback during operation, the passenger feedback training the machine learning module to create a personal driving style decision-making model, controlling operation of the autonomous vehicle using the personal driving style decision-making model.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] It is an object of the invention to provide a method as well as an assistance system by which a situation-specific driving mode can be selected by a user of the motor vehicle.
[0005] This object is solved by a method as well as a corresponding assistance system according to the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are presented in the dependent claims.
[0006] One aspect to the invention relates to a method for operating an at least partially autonomous motor vehicle by an assistance system of the motor vehicle, wherein at least a first individual driving profile is provided by the assistance system to select the first individual driving profile by a user of the motor vehicle, wherein the first individual driving profile is generated depending on a first driving profile of a first person.
[0007] In an embodiment, at least a second individual driving profile is provided by the assistance system to select the second individual driving profile by the user, wherein the second individual driving profile is generated depending on a second driving profile of a second person, and wherein at least one driving parameter of the autonomous motor vehicle is adapted depending on the selected first individual driving profile or the selected second individual driving profile.
[0008] Therefore, a method is provided which allows a situation-specific user experience in an at least partially autonomous motor vehicle by using the ability to automatically learn a driving style of a particular individual. The user or the customer may select the individual driving profile of the at least partially autonomous motor vehicle not just from a range of driving styles, such as for instance economy/conservative to aggressive driving style, but may also choose from a preset range of options of, for example, race-car drivers or other famous individuals, whose driving records are provided to train the system.
[0009] According to an embodiment, the first individual driving profile and/or the second individual driving profile is generated by detecting a specific driving behavior of the first person and/or the second person.
[0010] In another embodiment, the specific driving behavior of the first person and/or the second person is processed by a machine learning algorithm to generate the first individual driving profile and/or the second individual driving profile.
[0011] In another embodiment, the first individual driving profile and/or the second individual driving profile specifies a lane change behavior and/or a safety distance behavior and/or a turning behavior and/or a track usage behavior and/or a parking behavior and/or a gear usage behavior and/or a route usage behavior.
[0012] Another aspect of the invention relates to an assistance system for an at least partially autonomous motor vehicle, wherein the assistance system is configured to perform a method according to the preceding aspect. In particular, the method is performed by the assistance system.
[0013] A still further aspect of the invention relates to an at least partially autonomous motor vehicle comprising the assistance system according to the preceding aspect. In particular, the at least partially autonomous motor vehicle may be configured as a fully autonomous motor vehicle.
[0014] Advantageous forms of the method are to be regarded as advantageous forms of the assistance system as well as of the motor vehicle. The assistance system as well as the motor vehicle comprises means for performing the method.
[0015] Further advantages, features, and details of the invention derive from the following description of preferred embodiments as well as from the drawing. The features and feature combinations previously mentioned in the description as well as the features and feature combinations mentioned in the following description of the figure and/or shown in the figure alone can be employed not only in the respectively indicated combination but also in any other combinations or taken alone without leaving the scope of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0016] The novel features and characteristic of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. The accompanying drawing, which is incorporated in and constitutes a part of this disclosure, illustrates an exemplary embodiment and together with the description, serves to explain the disclosed principles. The same numbers are used throughout the figure to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiment of the present subject matter are now described below, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figure.
[0017] The only figure shows a schematic side view according to an embodiment of a motor vehicle with an embodiment of an assistance system.
[0018] In the figures same elements or elements having the same function are indicated by the same reference signs.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration". Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.
[0020] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawing and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure.
[0021] The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion so that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus preceded by "comprises" or "comprise" does not or do not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.
[0022] In the following detailed description of the embodiment of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawing that forms part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration a specific embodiment in which the disclosure may be practiced. This embodiment is described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
[0023] Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of a motor vehicle 10 which is at least partially autonomous. In particular, the motor vehicle 10 may be fully autonomous. The motor vehicle 10 comprises an assistance system 12.
[0024] According to an embodiment, a method for operating the at least partially autonomous motor vehicle 10 by the assistance system 12 is provided, wherein at least a first individual driving profile 14 is provided by the assistance system 12 for the first individual driving profile 14 to be selected by a user 16, for example, on a display device 18 of the motor vehicle 10, wherein the first individual driving profile 14 is generated depending on a first driving profile 20 of a first person 22. In an embodiment at least a second individual driving profile 24 is provided by the assistance system 12 for the second individual driving profile 24 to be selected by the user 16, wherein the second individual driving profile 25 is generated depending on a second driving profile 26 of a second person 28, and wherein at least one driving parameter 30 of the at least partially autonomous motor vehicle 10 is adapted depending on the selected first individual driving profile 14 or the selected second individual driving profile 24.
[0025] According to the shown embodiment, the first individual driving profile 14 and the second individual driving profile 24 may be provided by an electronic computing device 32, which may be configured as a backend server. The first individual driving profile 14 and the second individual driving profile 24 may be transmitted to the assistance system 12. It is obvious that more than two individual driving profiles 14, 24 may be provided by the electronic computing device 32.
[0026] In an embodiment, the first individual driving profile 14 and/or the second individual driving profile 24 is generated by detecting a specific driving behavior of the first person 22 and/or the second person 28. The specific driving behavior of the first person 22 and/or the second person 28 is processed by a machine learning algorithm to generate the first individual driving profile 14 and/or the second individual driving profile 24.
[0027] According to another embodiment, the first individual driving profile 14 and/or the second individual driving profile 24 specifies a lane change behavior and/or a safety distance behavior and/or a turning behavior and/or a track usage behavior and/or a parking behavior and/or a gear usage behavior and/or a route usage behavior or any other driving behaviors specific to the first and/or second individual driving profile (14,24) of the first person 22 and/or the second person 28.
[0028] In particular, Fig. 1 shows that an individual landing of a driving style is required to drive a special motor vehicle 10 for a specific amount of time, covering a variety of different traffic situations, for example, highway, urban, rural, dense traffic, light traffic or others. The recording motor vehicle is equipped with special recording hardware that allows for capturing the precise maneuvers or trajectories together with sensor data which capture the surrounding environment of the recording motor vehicle, such as a camera, a radar or a lidar, as well as processed data, detected objects, GPS, navigation system, tracks or any other means applicable to embodiments of this disclosure. The combined data is subsequently used in a machine learning system to generate the individual driving profiles 14, 24 for the individual person conditioned on the environment sensor data. This is, for example, done by the position and velocity of other vehicles located around the recording vehicle. This allows to model driving behavior beyond simple factors such as distance to a leading vehicle, as the model takes into account additional information from other sensor data and follows the most similar maneuver recorded by the individual as closely as possible in a safe way.
[0029] The driving behavior may specify how often the recording vehicle changes lanes in general. Furthermore, the driving behavior may specify how large a safety distance is kept to a leading vehicle, in particular depending on the velocity. Furthermore, the driving behavior specifies how early or late the recording vehicle merges from/to on/off-ramps. In another embodiment, the driving behavior may specify how to execute a turn, for example, if the person 22, 28 stays in the center of the line or tries to hit the apex, for example, to maximize or minimize the effective turn radius. The driving behavior may also be specified during a lane change, whether the recording vehicle chooses to slow down or accelerate when approaching a line with a gap in the target lane. The driving behavior may also specify how the recording vehicle reacts when an aggressive driver is tailgating, for example, if the persons 22, 24 change lane or speed up or do not perform such actions. On multi-lane highways, the behavior can be specified by capturing which lane the driver 22, 28 prefers to drive on. Furthermore, acceleration and braking profiles may be specified, for example, how quickly the target speed is reached after a traffic light has turned green. The driving behavior may also be specified by the average time the vehicle is using the turn signal before making a turn. Furthermore, the driving behavior may be specified by whether the recording vehicle prefers parallel parking or angle/diagonal parking, or whether it prefers to back up into a parking spot or drive into the spot straight ahead. The driving behavior may also be specified by whether the recording vehicle stays in a higher or lower gear. Furthermore, the preference of particular routes may also be used to specify the driving behavior. This may be done by using a navigation system of the recording vehicle. Furthermore, the preference to accept or avoid dense traffic may also be taken into account for specifying the driving behavior.
Reference Signs motor vehicle 12 assistance system 14 first individual driving profile 16 user 18 display device first driving profile 22 first person 24 second individual driving profile 26 second driving profile 28 second person driving parameter 32 electronic computing device