US 12,403,932 B2
Autonomous vehicle navigation of bypass merge lanes
Robert C. Brasher, Fremont, CA (US)
Filed by Robert C. Brasher, Fremont, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 12, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/863,262.
Application 17/863,262 is a continuation in part of application No. 15/428,588, filed on Feb. 9, 2017, granted, now 11,386,815.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/352,987, filed on Jun. 21, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2023/0166760 A1, Jun. 1, 2023
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01); B60W 30/18 (2012.01); G06V 20/13 (2022.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01); G08G 1/01 (2006.01); G08G 1/04 (2006.01); G08G 1/09 (2006.01)
CPC B60W 60/001 (2020.02) [B60W 30/18163 (2013.01); G06V 20/13 (2022.01); G06V 20/588 (2022.01); G08G 1/0145 (2013.01); G08G 1/04 (2013.01); G08G 1/091 (2013.01); B60W 2420/403 (2013.01); B60W 2552/53 (2020.02)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system to manage vehicular traffic on a roadway having multiple through lanes of vehicular traffic moving in the same direction to reduce congestion in the vicinity of an entrance enabling vehicles to enter the roadway, the roadway not having a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) or Express Lane in the vicinity of the entrance, comprising in combination:
a roadway comprising a plurality of m through lanes of vehicular traffic moving in the same direction in the vicinity of an entrance to the roadway where m is an integer and m>2, wherein the in through lanes are delineated by dashed line segments having a given length between the lanes; and
a system comprising a plurality of lane separators positioned between n of the m through lanes where n is an integer and 2≤n≤m, which should not be crossed by vehicular traffic along a designated portion of the roadway within a predetermined distance d from the entrance to the roadway;
wherein the plurality of lane separators differ from dashed line segments delineating the m through lanes, the lane separators having a plurality of diverse predetermined lengths different from the given length and being located at predetermined positions with respect to the m through lanes to indicate that vehicular traffic should not cross any lane separator from one lane of the m through lanes in which the vehicular traffic is within the predetermined distance d from the entrance to an adjacent lane where one of the lane separators is positioned between the one lane and the adjacent lane;
wherein the plurality of lane separators define at least one of the m through lanes as an entrance bypass lane distal to the entrance to the roadway and at least one of the m through lanes as a merge lane proximal to the entrance to the roadway to enable vehicles to merge at the entrance into the at least one merge lane; and
wherein the plurality of lane separators are located amongst the m through lanes to manage entry of vehicles into the at least one merge lane at the entrance to the roadway; the combination further comprising:
an autonomous vehicle to navigate the roadway, the autonomous vehicle comprising:
an in-vehicle computer to execute instructions responsive to lane separator data to control the position of the autonomous vehicle to navigate the lane separators such that the autonomous vehicle does not cross any lane separator from one lane of the m through lanes in which the autonomous vehicle is within the predetermined distance d from the entrance to an adjacent lane where one of the lane separators is positioned between the one lane and the adjacent lane.