Autonomous vehicle control system with roadside unit (RSU) network's global sensing

1. An autonomous vehicle (AV) control system comprising:

a sensing module provided in a vehicle, said sensing module collecting driving environment information; and

an onboard unit (OBU) provided in the vehicle, said OBU comprising:

1) a vehicle control module controlling the vehicle;

2) a roadside unit (RSU) communication module, said RSU communication module communicating with one or more RSU and receiving vehicle-specific targeted instructions and driving environment information from said one or more RSU; and

3) a traffic control center/traffic control unit (TCC/TCU) communication module communicating with a TCC/TCU and receiving vehicle-specific traffic operations instructions from the TCC/TCU,

wherein the sensing module fuses data from a plurality of sensors and uses a backup plan if a sensor of the plurality of sensors has a functional problem; and

wherein the vehicle control module controls the vehicle using the driving environment information collected by said sensing module, the vehicle-specific targeted instructions and driving environment information provided by one or more RSU, and the vehicle-specific traffic operations instructions provided by the TCC/TCU.

2. The AV control system of claim 1 , wherein said driving environment information comprises a vehicle speed, a vehicle headway, a vehicle acceleration/deceleration rate, a distance between a carriageway marking and a vehicle, an angle of a vehicle with respect to a central line, and/or a general traffic status.

3. The AV control system of claim 1 , wherein said sensing module receives sensor information from one or more sensors selected from the group consisting of a vision sensor, a LiDAR sensor, a radar sensor, a differential global positioning system (DGPS) sensor, an infrared sensor, and a laser sensor.

4. The AV control system of claim 1 , wherein said driving environment information comprises weather information, pavement conditions, and/or estimated travel time.

5. The AV control system of claim 1 , wherein said vehicle control module controls a vehicle according to vehicle control instructions comprising instructions for speed, spacing, lane designation, vehicle following, lane changing, and/or route.

6. The AV control system of claim 1 , wherein said RSU comprises:

an RSU sensing module collecting traffic information;

an RSU data processing module providing vehicle-specific information comprising a vehicle speed, a vehicle headway, a vehicle acceleration/deceleration rate, a distance between a carriageway marking and a vehicle, an angle of a vehicle with respect to a central line, and/or a general traffic status;

an RSU communication module receiving information from vehicles, sending information to a traffic control center (TCU); and/or sending vehicle-specific driving instructions to vehicles;

an RSU interface module that displays data that is sent to a vehicle; and

a power supply unit.

7. The AV control system of claim 6 , wherein said RSU receives sensor information from one or more sensors selected from the group consisting of a vision sensor; a LiDAR sensor; a radar sensor; an inductive loop sensor; an infrared sensor; and a laser sensor.

8. The AV control system of claim 6 , wherein said RSU data processing module fuses data collected from multiple sensors to estimate positioning and orientation of vehicles; to estimate traffic state; to plan autonomous driving paths; and/or to detect incidents in real time.

9. The AV control system of claim 1 , wherein said TCC/TCU provide data gathering, information processing, network optimization, operations and maintenance services for vehicles, traffic control, and predictive traffic control.

10. The AV control system of claim 1 , wherein said TCC/TCU provide:

vehicle-specific control instructions; and/or

vehicle-specific information comprising a desirable speed, a desirable spacing of vehicles, a desirable traffic volume, a desirable traffic split at access points, and/or traffic signal timing parameters.

11. The AV control system of claim 1 , wherein said TCC/TCU comprise optimizer and processor modules to process information.

12. The AV control system of claim 1 , further comprising a data collection module monitoring the operational state of a vehicle comprising said AV control system.

13. The AV control system of claim 1 , further comprising a V2V communication module configured to communicate with a second AV control system.

14. The AV control system of claim 1 , configured to distribute driving tasks to a TCC/TCU and RSU network.

15. The AV control system of claim 1 , configured to:

receive vehicle-specific control instructions from said one or more RSU; and

control, by the vehicle control module, a vehicle comprising said AV control system according to said vehicle-specific control instructions,

wherein said vehicle-specific control instructions comprise instructions for vehicle longitudinal position, vehicle lateral position, vehicle speed, vehicle steering, and vehicle control.

16. The AV control system of claim 1 , configured to:

receive vehicle-specific control instructions from said one or more TCC/TCU; and

control, by the vehicle control module, a vehicle comprising said AV control system according to said vehicle-specific control instructions,

wherein said vehicle-specific control instructions comprise instructions for vehicle longitudinal position, vehicle lateral position, vehicle speed, vehicle steering, and vehicle control.

17. A connected and automated vehicle (CAV) comprising an autonomous vehicle (AV) control system according to claim 1 .

18. The CAV of claim 17 , wherein a vehicle subsystem and a roadside unit (RSU) and traffic control center/traffic control unit (TCC/TCU) subsystem provide redundant information and control for the CAV to perform vehicle driving tasks.