Vulnerable road user warning system for a vehicle
A vulnerable road user warning system for a vehicle includes one or more controllers that receive wireless signals from a communication network indicating the location, speed, and trajectory of a vulnerable road user located in an environment surrounding the vehicle. The one or more controllers include one or more processors that execute instructions to determine potential imminent contact between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle based on the wireless signals. In response to determining the potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle, the one or more controllers instruct the vehicle to execute one or more preventative actions to avoid contact between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user.
1 . A vulnerable road user warning system for a vehicle, the vulnerable road user warning system comprising:
one or more controllers that receives wireless signals from a communication network indicating a location, speed, and trajectory of a vulnerable road user located in an environment surrounding the vehicle, and wherein the one or more controllers include one or more processors that execute instructions to:
determine the vehicle is either making a turn or maintaining a straight trajectory based on a path prediction radius of the vehicle;
in response to determining the vehicle is maintaining the straight trajectory, determine a position and speed of the vulnerable road user based on the wireless signals;
calculate a relative heading angle between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle;
compare the relative heading angle with a lower limit threshold heading angle and an upper limit threshold heading angle;
in response to determining the relative heading angle is greater than the lower limit threshold heading angle and less than the upper limit threshold heading angle, determine a potential intersection exists between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user;
in response to determining a potential intersection exists between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user, compare a position of the vulnerable road user with a lateral distance threshold value and a stopping distance of the vehicle;
in response to determining the position of the vulnerable road user intersects with the lateral distance threshold value and the stopping distance of the vehicle, determine a conflict box;
in response to determining a distance measured between the front of the vehicle and a closest side of the conflict box is less than the stopping distance of the vehicle, determine potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle; and
in response to determining the potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle, instruct the vehicle to execute one or more preventative actions to avoid contact between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user.
2 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more preventative actions include instructing an autonomous driving system to change a trajectory of the vehicle to avoid contacting the vulnerable road user.
3 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 1 , wherein the conflict box is determined based on a predicted point of intersection between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle.
4 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 3 , wherein the predicted point of intersection is calculated based on a predicted trajectory of the vehicle and a predicted trajectory of the vulnerable user.
5 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 3 , wherein the conflict box includes four sides of equal length that create a square, and wherein the predicted point of intersection is located at a center of the conflict box.
6 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 5 , wherein longitudinal sides of the conflict box are lengthened as a function of the speed of the vehicle.
7 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 5 , wherein lateral sides of the conflict box are lengthened as a function of the speed of the vulnerable road user.
8 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 1 , wherein the lateral distance threshold value is the sum of a left lateral distance threshold, a right lateral distance threshold, a left width buffer distance, and a right width buffer distance.
9 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 8 , wherein the left lateral distance threshold is determined based on a lane width of a lane the vehicle is traveling along and a left lane multiplier, and the right lateral distance threshold is determined based on the lane width of the lane and a right lane multiplier.
10 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 9 , wherein the left lateral distance threshold is greater than the right lateral distance threshold.
11 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 1 , wherein the path prediction radius is measured from a center of a circular predicted path that the vehicle follows while executing the turn.
12 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more controllers execute instructions to:
in response to determining the vehicle is making a turn, compare the position of the vulnerable road user with the lateral distance threshold value and the stopping distance of the vehicle, wherein the lateral distance threshold value is centered along the circular predicted path that the vehicle follows.
13 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more controllers execute instructions to:
in response to determining the stopping distance of the vehicle is less than or equal to the position of the vulnerable road user and the position of the vulnerable road user falls within the lateral distance threshold value centered along the circular predicted path, determine the potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle.
14 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers execute instructions to:
instruct an autonomous driving system to delay launching the vehicle from a stop at an immediate intersection where a traffic signal controller is located based on the wireless signals received from the communication network, wherein the wireless signals include information regarding the traffic signal controller and geometric data regarding an intersection where the traffic signal controller is located that are part of.
15 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 1 , wherein the communication network is based on the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication protocol.
16 . A method for determining potential imminent contact between a vulnerable road user and a vehicle, the method comprising:
determining, by one or more controllers, the vehicle is either making a turn or maintaining a straight trajectory based on a path prediction radius of the vehicle, wherein the one or more controllers receive wireless signals from a communication network indicating a location, speed, and trajectory of a vulnerable road user located in an environment surrounding the vehicle;
in response to determining the vehicle is maintaining the straight trajectory, determining a position and speed of the vulnerable road user based on the wireless signals;
calculating a relative heading angle between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle;
comparing the relative heading angle with a lower limit threshold heading angle and an upper limit threshold heading angle;
in response to determining the relative heading angle is greater than the lower limit threshold heading angle and less than the upper limit threshold heading angle, determining a potential intersection exists between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user;
in response to determining a potential intersection exists between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user, comparing a position of the vulnerable road user with a lateral distance threshold value and a stopping distance of the vehicle;
in response to determining the position of the vulnerable road user intersects with the lateral distance threshold value and the stopping distance of the vehicle, determining a conflict box;
in response to determining a distance measured between the front of the vehicle and a closest side of the conflict box is less than the stopping distance of the vehicle, determining the potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle; and
in response to determining the potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle, instructing the vehicle to execute one or more preventative actions to avoid contact between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user.
17 . A vulnerable road user warning system for a vehicle, the vulnerable road user warning system comprising:
one or more controllers that receives wireless signals from a communication network indicating a location, speed, and trajectory of a vulnerable road user located in an environment surrounding the vehicle, and wherein the one or more controllers include one or more processors that execute instructions to:
determine the vehicle is either making a turn or maintaining a straight trajectory based on a path prediction radius of the vehicle;
in response to determining the vehicle is maintaining the straight trajectory, determine a position and speed of the vulnerable road user based on the wireless signals;
calculate a relative heading angle between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle;
compare the relative heading angle with a lower limit threshold heading angle and an upper limit threshold heading angle;
in response to determining the relative heading angle is greater than the lower limit threshold heading angle and less than the upper limit threshold heading angle, determine a potential intersection exists between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user;
in response to determining a potential intersection exists between the vehicle and the vulnerable road user, compare a position of the vulnerable road user with a lateral distance threshold value and a stopping distance of the vehicle;
in response to determining the position of the vulnerable road user intersects with the lateral distance threshold value and the stopping distance of the vehicle, determine a conflict box;
in response to determining a distance measured between the front of the vehicle and a closest side of the conflict box is less than the stopping distance of the vehicle, determine potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle; and
in response to determining the potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle, instruct an autonomous driving system to change a trajectory of the vehicle to avoid contacting the vulnerable road user.
18 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 17 , wherein the one or more controllers execute instructions to:
in response to determining the vehicle is making a turn, compare the position of the vulnerable road user with the lateral distance threshold value and the stopping distance of the vehicle, wherein the lateral distance threshold value is centered along a circular predicted path that the vehicle follows.
19 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 18 , wherein the one or more controllers execute instructions to:
in response to determining the stopping distance of the vehicle is less than or equal to the position of the vulnerable road user and the position of the vulnerable road user falls within the lateral distance threshold value centered along the circular predicted path, determine the potential imminent contact exists between the vulnerable road user and the vehicle.
20 . The vulnerable road user warning system of claim 17 , wherein the communication network is based on the V2X communication protocol.