Method for increasing safety at a crossing system
A method for increasing safety at a crossing system including crosswalk. The method includes: receiving environmental signals representing an environment, including a crossing system, of a motor vehicle approaching the crossing system and wanting to cross the crossing system; specifying a boundary condition and/or an instruction for action for a crossing system maneuver to be planned for the motor vehicle on the basis of the environmental signals; planning a crossing system maneuver for the motor vehicle based on the environmental signals including ascertaining a target trajectory, fulfilling the specification, for the motor vehicle based on the specification, wherein, if no target trajectory fulfilling the specification can be ascertained for the motor vehicle, the planning includes using a relaxed, at least one boundary condition and/or a relaxed, at least one instruction for action to ascertain a fallback target trajectory fulfilling the relaxed specification; outputting the correspondingly ascertained target trajectory.
1 . A method for increasing safety at a crossing system including a crosswalk, comprising the following steps:
receiving environmental signals representing an environment of a motor vehicle approaching the crossing system;
based on the environmental signals, specifying an initial set of one or more boundary conditions and/or one or more instructions for action that define constraints that must be satisfied by a target trajectory for a crossing system maneuver of the motor vehicle;
planning, by a computer executing planning software and based on the environmental signals, the crossing system maneuver for the motor vehicle by attempting to compute the target trajectory to satisfy the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
determining, during the planning, that no target trajectory exists that satisfies the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
in response to determining that no target trajectory exists, modifying the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action to form a relaxed set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
re-planning, by the computer executing the planning software, the crossing system maneuver using the relaxed set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
iteratively repeating the modifying and re-planning until the computer executing the planning software computes a fallback target trajectory that satisfies a current iteration of the boundary conditions and/or instructions for action, each iteration, after a first of the iterations, further relaxing the boundary conditions compared to the immediately preceding iteration; and
controlling operation of the motor vehicle in accordance with the computed fallback target trajectory to perform the crossing system maneuver.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein motor vehicle state signals describing a motor vehicle state are received, and wherein the specifying and the planning are carried out based on the motor vehicle state signals.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the specifying is carried out based on a predetermined set of rules including one or more rules for a behavior of the motor vehicle at the crossing system.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein, based on the environmental signals, a decision is made as to whether the crossing system is free, wherein, when the decision is made that the crossing system is free, the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action specifies restricting a trip of the motor vehicle to its current lane, and wherein, when the decision is made that the crossing system is not free, the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action specifies stopping the motor vehicle in front of a virtual stop line that is located in front of the crossing system in a driving direction of the motor vehicle.
5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the relaxed set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action specifies one or more of the following specifications in each case:
(i) stopping in front of the virtual stop line that is located on the crossing system;
(ii) stopping in front of the virtual stop line that is located on the crossing system and in front of a pedestrian wanting to cross the crossing system;
(iii) driving around the pedestrian without collision; and
(iv) braking at most with a predetermined maximum deceleration.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the modifying of the boundary conditions and/or instructions for action and the re-planning are carried out such that: (i) the modification is calculated sequentially after feedback that no target trajectory satisfying a current one of the iterations of the boundary conditions and/or instructions for action can be computed, or (ii) the modification is calculated in parallel so that a further relaxed set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action is already available for re-planning the crossing system maneuver.
7 . A device configured to increase safety at a crossing system including a crosswalk, the device comprising a computer configured to:
receive environmental signals representing an environment of a motor vehicle approaching the crossing system;
based on the environmental signals, specify an initial set of one or more boundary conditions and/or one or more instructions for action that define constraints that must be satisfied by a target trajectory for a crossing system maneuver of the motor vehicle;
plan, by execution of planning software and based on the environmental signals, the crossing system maneuver for the motor vehicle by attempting to compute the target trajectory to satisfy the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
determine, during the planning, that no target trajectory exists that satisfies the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
in response to determination that no target trajectory exists, modify the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action to form a relaxed set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
re-plan, by the execution of the planning software, the crossing system maneuver using the relaxed set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
iteratively repeat the modifying and re-planning until the computer executing the planning software computes a fallback target trajectory that satisfies a current iteration of the boundary conditions and/or instructions for action, each iteration, after a first of the iterations, further relaxing the boundary conditions compared to the immediately preceding iteration; and
control operation of the motor vehicle in accordance with the computed fallback target trajectory to perform the crossing system maneuver.
8 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium on which is stored a computer program for increasing safety at a crossing system including a crosswalk, the computer program, when executed by a computer, causing the computer to perform the following steps:
receiving environmental signals representing an environment of a motor vehicle approaching the crossing system;
based on the environmental signals, specifying an initial set of one or more boundary conditions and/or one or more instructions for action that define constraints that must be satisfied by a target trajectory for a crossing system maneuver of the motor vehicle;
planning, by execution of planning software and based on the environmental signals, the crossing system maneuver for the motor vehicle by attempting to compute the target trajectory to satisfy the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
determining, during the planning, that no target trajectory exists that satisfies the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
in response to determining that no target trajectory exists, modifying the initial set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action to form a relaxed set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
re-planning, by the execution of the planning software, the crossing system maneuver using the relaxed set of boundary conditions and/or instructions for action;
iteratively repeating the modifying and re-planning until the computer executing the planning software computes a fallback target trajectory that satisfies a current iteration of the boundary conditions and/or instructions for action, each iteration, after a first of the iterations, further relaxing the boundary conditions compared to the immediately preceding iteration; and
controlling operation of the motor vehicle in accordance with the computed fallback target trajectory to perform the crossing system maneuver.