Method and apparatus for continuous curve speed adjustment for a road vehicle

1. A method of continuous curve speed adjustment for a road vehicle, the method comprising:

obtaining current ego velocity (v E ) data of the road vehicle;

obtaining distance (d) and curvature value (r) data of an upcoming road segment represented by a set of control points (P n , P n+1 , etc.) to be negotiated by the road vehicle;

obtaining road property data of a road comprising the road segment to be negotiated;

obtaining environmental property data of the road vehicle environ;

obtaining driver property data of the road vehicle driver;

continuously streaming the obtained data to a data processing arrangement arranged to process the data;

evaluating, by the data processing arrangement, the obtained data to perform a translation to target velocities (v road ) for the respective control points (P);

performing, by the data processing arrangement, for each respective control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) a translation from target velocity (v road, n , v road, n+1 , etc.) for that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) and distance (d n , d n+1 , etc.) to that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) and obtained current ego velocity (v E ) of the road vehicle, to a target acceleration (a n , a n+1 , etc.) to reach that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) at the target velocity (v road, n , v road, n+1 , etc.) for that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.);

continuously streaming the resulting target accelerations (a n , a n+1 , etc.) for the respective control points (P n , P n+1 , etc.) to a control unit of the road vehicle; and

adjusting, by the control unit, the road vehicle acceleration to reach each respective control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) at the target velocity (v road, n , v road, n+1 , etc.) for that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.).

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein it further comprises obtaining said curvature value (r) data from at least one of: a map system; an onboard camera system; one or more onboard yaw-rate sensors; one or more onboard radar sensors; one or more onboard lidar sensors.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein it further comprises obtaining said road property data that include at least one of: road width; slope; inclination; lane width; road type; banking; and number of lanes.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein it further comprises obtaining said environmental property data including at least one of data on: sight distance; light conditions; road edge; lateral clearance distance; and weather conditions.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein it further comprises obtaining said driver property data including at least one of data on: individual preferences; and driving style.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein it further comprises determining curve exits through fusing, by the data processing arrangement, two or more of: map data from the map system; yaw-rate data from the one or more onboard yaw-rate sensors; data from one or more onboard camera sensors; data from one or more onboard radar sensors; data from one or more onboard lidar sensors.

7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein it further comprises providing an override of functionality on per-curve basis by depressing at least one of an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal or a clutch pedal of the road vehicle.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein it further comprises selecting the target acceleration (a n+1 ) for a respective control point (P n+1 ) as a minimum acceleration required, from a previous control point (P n ), to reach that control point (P n+1 ) at the target velocity (v road, n+1 ) for that control point (P n+1 ).

9. A method according to claim 1 , wherein it further comprises performing the translation to target velocities (v road ) for the respective control points (P) using one of a polynomial or table lookup function.

10. A road vehicle continuous curve speed adjustment apparatus, comprising:

a vechicle speedometer for obtaining current ego velocity (v E ) data of the road vehicle;

one or more of: a map system, an onboard camera system, an onboard yaw-rate sensor, an onboard radar sensor, and an onboard lidar sensor for obtaining distance (d) and curvature value (r) data of an upcoming road segment represented by a set of control points (P n , P n+1 , etc.) to be negotiated by the road vehicle;

one or more of: the onboard camera system, the map system, the onboard lidar sensor, and an onboard radar system for obtaining road property data of a road comprising the road segment to be negotiated;

one or more of: an onboard vehicle sensor and online weather service for obtaining environmental property data of the road vehicle environ;

one or more of: a human-machine-interface and the onboard sensor for obtaining driver property data of the road vehicle driver;

one or more communication arrangements for transmission/reception of wired, or wireless communication for continuously streaming the obtained data to a data processing arrangement arranged to process the data;

the data processing arrangement being arranged to:

evaluate the obtained data to perform a translation to target velocities (v road ) for the respective control points (P); and to perform, for each respective control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.), a translation from target velocity (v road, n , v road, n+1 , etc.) for that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) and distance (d n , d n+1 , etc.) to that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) and obtained current ego velocity (v E ) of the road vehicle ( 1 ), to a target acceleration (a n , a n+1 , etc.) to reach that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) at the target velocity (v road, n , v road, n+1 , etc.) for that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.);

the apparatus further comprising:

one or more communication arrangements for transmission/reception of wired, or wireless communication for continuously streaming the resulting target accelerations (a n , a n+1 , etc.) for the respective control points (P n , P n+1 , etc.) to a control unit of the road vehicle; the control unit being arranged to adjust the road vehicle ( 1 ) acceleration to reach each respective control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.) at the target velocity (v road, n , v road, n+1 , etc.) for that control point (P n , P n+1 , etc.).