US 12,441,359 B2
Method for operating a transportation vehicle and a transportation vehicle
Jannis Hoppe, Braunschweig (DE); and Daniel Münning, Braunschweig (DE)
Assigned to VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, (DE)
Filed by VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, Wolfsburg (DE)
Filed on Jul. 10, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/349,296.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2022 207 005.4 (DE), filed on Jul. 8, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0010228 A1, Jan. 11, 2024
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01); B60W 40/06 (2012.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01)
CPC B60W 60/001 (2020.02) [B60W 40/06 (2013.01); G06V 20/588 (2022.01); B60W 2420/403 (2013.01); B60W 2552/20 (2020.02); B60W 2555/20 (2020.02)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A transportation vehicle comprising:
an image capturing unit;
a communication unit; and
a control unit linked to the image capturing unit and the communication unit for signal transmission purposes, wherein the control unit controls the image capturing unit and communication unit by controlling:
the image capturing unit to generate an optical image of an upcoming roadway lying ahead in a direction of travel of the transportation vehicle, wherein the image is used as a basis for ascertaining an ego lane of the roadway assigned to the transportation vehicle, and the image is used as a basis for ascertaining an upcoming profile of the ego lane,
capturing of at least one item of meta information that influences the detection of the ego lane and/or of the upcoming profile of the ego lane,
retrieving swarm data pertaining to the roadway from a database,
deriving a comparison lane of the roadway and a comparison profile of the comparison lane from the swarm data,
using the at least one item of meta information, the upcoming profile and the comparison profile as a basis for ascertaining an uncertainty factor for the image from the image capturing unit,
using the uncertainty factor as a basis for determining weighting factors for the upcoming profile and for the comparison profile,
providing a mixed profile, which is mixed based on the weighting factors of the ego lane for a vehicle guidance function of the transportation vehicle on the roadway,
deriving a driving line for the comparison lane from the swarm data, wherein the driving line corresponds to a line on the lane followed by other transportation vehicles that generated the swarm data used to generate the comparison lane,
comparing an ego position of the transportation vehicle on the roadway with the driving line for the comparison lane,
determining a degree of agreement for the ego position to the driving line for the comparison lane,
determining an uncertainty factor and weighting factors based on the degree of agreement, and
determining a mixed profile of the ego lane, wherein contents of the mixed profile of the ego lane are determined to include both portions of the ego lane and portions of the comparison lane based on the determined uncertainty factor,
wherein, in response to the uncertainty factor being sufficiently low in comparison to a threshold, the mixed profile contains only the ego lane portions, and
wherein, in response to the uncertainty factor being sufficiently high in comparison to a threshold, the mixed profile contains only the comparison lane portions.