阅读说明：本技术 规划行驶路径的方法及其电子装置 (Method for planning driving path and electronic device thereof ) 是由 刘晋宇 白艾伦 朴昶洙 罗麟鹤 于 2019-02-25 设计创作，主要内容包括：提供了一种方法,所述方法包括：使用至少一个传感器检测位于距第一车辆预定距离内的至少一个外部车辆；基于所述至少一个外部车辆的类型确定由于所述至少一个外部车辆而引起的风险；并且基于由于所述至少一个外部车辆而引起的风险来规划第一车辆的行驶路径。(There is provided a method comprising: detecting, using at least one sensor, at least one outside vehicle located within a predetermined distance from a first vehicle; determining a risk due to the at least one outside vehicle based on the type of the at least one outside vehicle; and planning a driving path of the first vehicle based on the risk due to the at least one outside vehicle.)

1. A method of planning a driving path of a first vehicle, the method being performed by an apparatus comprised in the first vehicle, the method comprising:

detecting, using at least one sensor, at least one outside vehicle located within a predetermined distance from a first vehicle;

determining a risk due to the at least one outside vehicle based on the type of the at least one outside vehicle; and

planning a driving path of the first vehicle based on the risk due to the at least one outside vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the at least one outside vehicle comprises: determining a type of the at least one outside vehicle based on at least one of a size, a weight, and a performance of the at least one outside vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one outside vehicle comprises: a high risk second vehicle that is behind the first vehicle and that is traveling in the same lane as the first vehicle,

wherein the step of planning a driving path of the first vehicle comprises: changing the driving lane of the first vehicle and/or increasing the driving speed of the first vehicle based on the distance between the second vehicle and the first vehicle being smaller than a safety distance predefined based on a risk due to the second vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one outside vehicle comprises: a third vehicle that is behind the first vehicle and that travels in a second lane adjacent to the first lane, wherein the first lane is a travel lane of the first vehicle,

wherein the step of planning a driving path of the first vehicle comprises: based on the type of the third vehicle and a distance between the first vehicle and the third vehicle, it is determined whether to change the driving lane of the first vehicle from the first lane to the second lane.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether to change the lane of travel of the first vehicle comprises:

when the third vehicle is a low-risk vehicle, determining to change the driving lane of the first vehicle from the first lane to a second lane based on the distance between the first vehicle and the third vehicle being greater than the first safe distance; and is

When the third vehicle is a high-risk vehicle, it is determined to change the lane of travel of the first vehicle from the first lane to the second lane based on the distance between the first vehicle and the third vehicle being greater than the second safe distance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one outside vehicle comprises: a fourth vehicle that is ahead of the first vehicle and that is traveling in the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle,

wherein the step of planning a driving path of the first vehicle comprises: determining to reduce the travel speed of the first vehicle based on a distance between the first vehicle and the fourth vehicle being less than a safety distance predefined based on a risk due to the fourth vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the at least one outside vehicle comprises:

changing from the first lane to the second lane based on the traveling lane of the first vehicle, sensing an external vehicle traveling in a third lane adjacent to the second lane, and

wherein the step of planning a driving path of the first vehicle comprises:

predicting a lane-change speed and/or a lane-change probability of the external vehicle based on the type of the external vehicle traveling in a third lane; and is

Determining whether to change the driving lane of the first vehicle from the first lane to the second lane based on the predicted lane-change speed and/or the predicted lane-change probability of the external vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of planning the travel path of the first vehicle comprises:

determining a risk due to a fifth vehicle travelling behind the first vehicle and in the same lane as the travelling lane of the first vehicle and a risk due to at least one sixth vehicle travelling behind the first vehicle and in a different lane than the travelling lane of the first vehicle; and is

Determining a lane for stopping the first vehicle based on the risk due to the fifth vehicle and the risk due to the at least one sixth vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the lane for stopping the first vehicle comprises:

determining to stop the first vehicle in the current driving lane based on the risk due to the fifth vehicle being less than or equal to the risk due to the at least one sixth vehicle; and is

Determining to stop the first vehicle in a lane different from the current driving lane based on the risk due to the fifth vehicle being greater than the risk due to the at least one sixth vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one outside vehicle comprises: a seventh vehicle turning right at an intersection ahead of the first vehicle and merging into a lane adjacent to the lane in which the first vehicle is traveling,

wherein the step of planning a driving path of the first vehicle comprises:

determining an intersection turning radius of a seventh vehicle; and is

Determining whether to decelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle and/or change the lane of the first vehicle based on the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of planning the travel path of the first vehicle comprises:

predicting a blind zone of a driver of the at least one external vehicle based on a type of the at least one external vehicle in a lane different from a lane of travel of the first vehicle; and is

The travel speed of the first vehicle is determined based on the driver's blind spot.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing information for maneuvering the first vehicle and/or controlling maneuvering of the first vehicle based on results of planning a travel path of the first vehicle.

13. An apparatus included in a first vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

a sensing unit including at least one sensor; and

a processor configured to: detecting, using the at least one sensor, at least one outside vehicle located within a predetermined distance from a first vehicle, determining a risk due to the at least one outside vehicle based on a type of the at least one outside vehicle; and planning a driving path of the first vehicle based on the risk due to the at least one outside vehicle.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one outside vehicle comprises: a high risk second vehicle that is behind the first vehicle and that is traveling in the same lane as the first vehicle,

wherein the processor is further configured to alter the driving lane of the first vehicle and/or increase the driving speed of the first vehicle based on the distance between the second vehicle and the first vehicle being less than a safety distance predefined based on a risk due to the second vehicle.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one outside vehicle comprises: a third vehicle that is behind the first vehicle and that travels in a second lane adjacent to the first lane, wherein the first lane is a travel lane of the first vehicle,

wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether to change the lane of travel of the first vehicle from the first lane to the second lane based on a distance between the first vehicle and the third vehicle and a type of the third vehicle.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one outside vehicle comprises: a fourth vehicle that is ahead of the first vehicle and that is traveling in the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle,

wherein the processor is further configured to determine to reduce the travel speed of the first vehicle based on a distance between the first vehicle and the fourth vehicle being less than a safety distance predefined based on a risk due to the fourth vehicle.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one external vehicle is detected to be traveling in a third lane adjacent to the second lane based on a lane of travel of the first vehicle changing from the first lane to the second lane, and

wherein the processor is further configured to predict a lane change speed and/or a lane change probability of the external vehicle based on the type of the external vehicle traveling in the third lane, and determine whether to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle from the first lane to the second lane based on the predicted lane change speed and/or the predicted lane change probability of the external vehicle.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a risk due to a fifth vehicle traveling behind the first vehicle and in the same lane as the first vehicle's lane of travel and a risk due to at least one sixth vehicle traveling behind the first vehicle and in a different lane than the first vehicle's lane of travel, and determine the lane for stopping the first vehicle based on the risk due to the fifth vehicle and the risk due to the at least one sixth vehicle.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to provide information for maneuvering the first vehicle through the output interface and/or to control maneuvering of the first vehicle based on results of planning a travel path of the first vehicle.

20. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a program recorded thereon, wherein the program, when executed by a computing device, causes the electronic device to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 12.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a method of planning a driving path according to types of nearby vehicles and an electronic device thereof.

Background

As interest in autonomous vehicles increases, technologies capable of autonomous driving are attracting attention. In order to cause the vehicle to move by itself without the driver's manipulation, a technique of sensing the external environment of the vehicle, a technique of determining an operation such as acceleration, stop, turning, and the like by summarizing the sensed information and determining a travel path, a technique of controlling the movement of the vehicle using the determined information, and the like are required. Although all technologies must be organically combined for autonomous driving, a technology of sensing an external environment of a vehicle is increasingly important. Sensing the external environment is not only the first element of autonomous driving, but also requires the integration of electronics and IT technology to sense the external environment.

Techniques for sensing the external environment can be broadly divided into two types: sensor-based sensing techniques and connection-based sensing techniques. There are ultrasonic sensors, cameras, radars, and lidar that are installed in vehicles for autonomous travel. These sensors may be mounted on the vehicle to sense the external environment and terrain of the vehicle and provide information to the driver and vehicle, either alone or in combination with other sensors.

Connection-based sensing techniques for autonomous driving include V2X and fine positioning techniques. V2X refers to vehicle-to-something, including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) for communication between vehicles, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) for communication with infrastructure, and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) for communication with pedestrian. V2X may refer to a wireless communication technology that connects a traveling vehicle with surrounding vehicles, transportation infrastructure, and nearby pedestrians. V2X may communicate information such as location, distance, and speed in the vehicle and provide information such as the location of surrounding traffic and pedestrians to the vehicle over a connected communication network.

Disclosure of Invention

Drawings

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of particular embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example system for planning a travel path of a vehicle, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method of planning a travel path of a first vehicle, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating example risks based on types of outside vehicles, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method of planning a travel path of a first vehicle as a function of a type of a rear vehicle, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating example operations for planning a travel path for a first vehicle in view of a perceived safe distance of a large truck at the rear, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating example operations of visually providing information for directing movement of a first vehicle, according to embodiments;

fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of providing information for maneuvering a first vehicle using a voice signal according to an embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining a lane-change of a first vehicle based on a type of a nearby vehicle according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating example operations for determining whether to change the lane of a first vehicle based on the type of adjacent lane vehicles, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining a travel speed of a first vehicle based on a type of a preceding vehicle, according to an embodiment;

fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of determining the travel speed of the first vehicle based on the type of the preceding vehicle according to the embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining a lane for a first vehicle to stop based on a type of a nearby vehicle, according to an embodiment;

fig. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of determining a stopped lane based on a risk due to a rear vehicle according to an embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining movement of a vehicle at an intersection according to an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of determining motion of a vehicle based on a type of a nearby vehicle at an intersection, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method of determining whether to change the lane of a first vehicle based on a lane-change speed or a lane-change probability of an external vehicle, according to an embodiment;

fig. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of determining whether to change the lane of the first vehicle based on the lane-change speed or the lane-change probability of the external vehicle according to an embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of planning vehicle movement based on a blind spot by an external vehicle driver, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of predicting a blind area according to the type of an external vehicle, according to an embodiment;

fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of outputting a warning message for a blind area according to an embodiment;

fig. 21 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of an example vehicle travel assist apparatus according to the embodiment; and

fig. 22 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of an example vehicle according to the embodiment.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments provide a path planning method that determines risks due to nearby vehicles according to the types of the nearby vehicles and searches for safety maneuver under complicated and different road conditions in consideration of the risks due to the nearby vehicles, and an electronic device thereof.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description.

According to an example aspect of the present disclosure, a method of planning a travel path of a first vehicle performed by an apparatus included in the first vehicle comprises: sensing (detecting) at least one outside vehicle located within a predetermined distance from a first vehicle using at least one sensor; determining a risk due to the at least one outside vehicle based on the type of the at least one outside vehicle; and planning a driving path of the first vehicle based on the risk due to the at least one outside vehicle.

According to another example aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus included in a first vehicle includes: a sensing unit including at least one sensor; and a processor configured to sense (e.g., detect) at least one outside vehicle located within a predetermined distance from a first vehicle using the at least one sensor to determine a risk due to the at least one outside vehicle based on a type of the at least one outside vehicle; and planning a driving path of the first vehicle based on the risk due to the at least one external vehicle.

Terms used in the present disclosure will be described briefly, and various example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail.

The terms used in the present disclosure are selected from general terms that are currently widely used in consideration of their functions in the present disclosure. However, the terminology may be different according to intentions of those of ordinary skill in the art, precedent cases, or appearance of new technology. Further, in a specific case, some terms may be arbitrarily selected, and the meanings of those terms will be described in the corresponding parts of the present disclosure. Accordingly, terms used in the present disclosure are not merely designated as terms, but are defined based on the meanings of the terms and throughout the present disclosure.

Throughout this disclosure, when a component "comprises" an element, it will be understood that the component may additionally comprise other elements rather than exclude other elements, so long as there is no particular statement to the contrary. Further, as used in this disclosure, a compound such as "The terms unit, module, etc. may refer to, for example, a unit that handles at least one function or motion, and the unit may be implemented by hardware or software, or by any combination of hardware and software.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail so as to fully convey the scope of the disclosure and enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the disclosure. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the various example embodiments set forth herein. Moreover, for the clarity of the present disclosure, parts of the drawings that are not relevant to the detailed description may be omitted. Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example system for planning a travel path of a vehicle, according to an embodiment.

According to an embodiment, a system for planning a travel path of a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a motion planning system) may include a vehicle travel assist apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an "apparatus") 100. The apparatus 100 may be an apparatus for sensing the surroundings of the first vehicle 10 and planning a travel path of the first vehicle 10. The first vehicle 10 may be an autonomous vehicle, but is not limited thereto. For example, the first vehicle 10 may be a vehicle using an Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS).

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may include a sensing unit (e.g., including at least one sensor and/or sensing circuitry) 110 and a processor (e.g., including processing circuitry) 120. The apparatus 100 may sense (detect) at least one outside vehicle existing within a predetermined distance from the first vehicle 10 through the sensing unit 110. The at least one external vehicle may be, for example, but not limited to, a vehicle traveling in the same lane as the first vehicle 10, a vehicle traveling in a different lane than the first vehicle 10, a stationary vehicle, and the like. Further, the apparatus 100 may sense the surrounding environment of the first vehicle 10 at 360 degrees using the sensing unit 110.

According to an embodiment, the sensing unit 110 may include various sensors and/or sensing circuitry, such as, for example, but not limited to, at least one of an image sensor (e.g., a front-facing stereo camera, a panoramic camera, etc.), a light detection and ranging (lidar) sensor, a radio detection and ranging (radar) sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor (e.g., a thermal detection infrared camera), a laser scanner, a depth sensor, a location sensor (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS), a differential GPS (dgps), an Inertial Navigation System (INS), etc.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may include various processing circuits and analyze the image information transmitted by the sensing unit 110 to identify at least one external vehicle (e.g., the second vehicle 21, the third vehicle 22, and the fourth vehicle 23) located around the first vehicle 10. For example, the processor 120 may determine the type of each of the second vehicle 21, the third vehicle 22, and the fourth vehicle 23. The processor 120 may then determine a risk for each of the second, third and fourth vehicles 21, 22, 23 according to the determined type. For example, when the second vehicle 21 is a small vehicle, the third vehicle 22 is a medium vehicle, and the fourth vehicle 23 is a large vehicle, the processor 120 may determine that the risk of the third vehicle 22 is higher than the risk of the third vehicle 22, and the risk of the fourth vehicle 23 is higher than the risk of the third vehicle 22.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may identify at least one outside vehicle (e.g., the second vehicle 21, the third vehicle 22, and the fourth vehicle 23) located near the first vehicle 10 through the communicator 130. For example, the communicator 130 may include various communication circuits and use vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology, and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) technology to obtain identification information of at least one outside vehicle (e.g., type of vehicle, size of vehicle, location of vehicle, etc.) that is broadcast or advertised in the at least one outside vehicle. The communicator 130 may transmit the obtained identification information of the at least one outside vehicle to the processor 120. The processor 120 may determine the risk of the at least one outside vehicle based on the identification information of the at least one outside vehicle.

The processor 120 may also plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 taking into account the risk of at least one outside vehicle (e.g., the second vehicle 21, the third vehicle 22, and the fourth vehicle 23). According to an embodiment, the travel path of the first vehicle 10 may include, for example, but not limited to, at least one of the following motions: a motion of maintaining the current state of the first vehicle 10, a motion of changing a lane of the first vehicle 10, a motion of decelerating or accelerating the first vehicle 10, a motion of stopping the first vehicle 10, and the like, but is not limited thereto. For example, the processor 120 may define a safe distance between the outside vehicle and the first vehicle 10 to be longer as the risk of the outside vehicle increases, and when the outside vehicle enters the safe distance, the processor 120 may plan a travel path that changes the lane of the first vehicle 10 or decelerates or accelerates the first vehicle 10. The safe distance may refer to, for example, a necessary distance for a vehicle to avoid a collision with a preceding vehicle when the preceding vehicle running in the same direction suddenly stops. According to an embodiment, the safe distance may vary according to a traveling speed of the vehicle. In the present disclosure, when the traveling speed of the vehicle is not particularly mentioned, the safe distance may refer to a distance at which the vehicle avoids collision with a preceding vehicle, for example, when the vehicle travels according to a speed limit or an average speed. Further, according to an embodiment, the safety distance may vary according to the type of road. For example, a safe distance on a highway may be defined to be longer than a safe distance on a general road.

According to an embodiment, the first vehicle 10 may share a travel path with an external vehicle through the communicator 130. For example, the first vehicle 10 may broadcast information regarding the first travel path of the first vehicle 10 planned by the processor 120 through the communicator 130. Further, the processor 120 of the first vehicle 10 may acquire information about the travel path planned by the external vehicle through the communicator 130. For example, the communicator 130 may obtain a second travel path planned by the second vehicle 21, a third travel path planned by the third vehicle 22, and a fourth travel path planned by the fourth vehicle 23.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 of the first vehicle 10 may determine the risk of the driving path planned by the external vehicle. For example, the processor 120 may determine the risk of each of the travel paths planned by the plurality of external vehicles based on a comparison of the travel paths collected by the plurality of external vehicles with the ambient environment information. When the risk of each of the travel paths planned by the plurality of external vehicles is greater than the threshold, the processor 120 may maintain the travel path of the first vehicle 10 as the first travel path. Further, the processor 120 may change the travel path of the first vehicle 10 from the first travel path to the second travel path when the risk of the second travel path planned by the second vehicle 21 is less than a threshold.

According to an embodiment, although not shown in fig. 1, the apparatus 100 may further include a driver, a memory, an input interface (e.g., including input circuitry), an output interface (e.g., including output circuitry), and the like, but is not limited thereto. The detailed configuration of the apparatus 100 will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 21.

Although not shown in fig. 1, the driving path planning system may include a server in addition to the apparatus 100. In this case, according to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may transmit information (e.g., surrounding image information, current location information, etc.) collected through the sensing unit 110 to a server, and the server may plan a travel path of the first vehicle 10 based on, for example, but not limited to, the type of at least one outside vehicle existing around the first vehicle 10. The apparatus 100 may receive a result of a travel path planned by the first vehicle 10 from a server and control the first vehicle 10 or display information for guiding the travel path of the first vehicle 10.

According to the embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine the stability of the front/rear drivable area in real time in consideration of the type of at least one vehicle existing around the first vehicle 10, and guide the first vehicle 10 to the area where the stability is improved. In the following, the method performed by the apparatus 100 for planning a driving path of the first vehicle 10 taking into account the type of the at least one external vehicle will be described in more detail with reference to fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of planning a travel path of the first vehicle 10 according to an embodiment.

In operation S210, the device 100 may sense (detect) at least one outside vehicle located within a predetermined distance from the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, the predetermined distance may be, for example, a range that may be perceived by at least one sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10 or a short-range communication radius of the first vehicle 10, but is not limited thereto. For example, the predetermined distance may be a distance predefined by a user or a travel path planning system.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may use at least one sensor to sense, for example, but not limited to, a presence of at least one outside vehicle located within a predetermined distance, a type of the at least one outside vehicle, a location of the at least one outside vehicle (e.g., a relative location from the first vehicle 10 to the at least one outside vehicle, a relative distance from the first vehicle 10 to the at least one outside vehicle, etc.), a travel speed of the at least one outside vehicle, and/or the like.

The at least one external vehicle may include, for example, but not limited to, at least one of a sports car, a truck, a van, a bus, a sedan, a coupe, a SUV, a van, a minibus, a motorcycle, a bicycle, and the like.

The at least one external vehicle may further include, but is not limited to, a vehicle traveling behind the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, a vehicle traveling behind a second lane adjacent to the first lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, a vehicle traveling ahead of the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, a vehicle turning right at an intersection and merging into an adjacent lane of the lane in which the first vehicle 10 is traveling, and a vehicle traveling on a third lane adjacent to the second lane adjacent to the first lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may analyze an image of the at least one outside vehicle obtained by the image sensor to determine a type of the at least one outside vehicle. The apparatus 100 may determine the type of the at least one outside vehicle based on, for example, but not limited to, the size, weight, performance, etc. of the at least one outside vehicle.

For example, the apparatus 100 may detect the outline of an external vehicle included in an image captured by an image sensor. The apparatus 100 may detect the type of the outside vehicle, the name of the outside vehicle, etc., for example, but not limited to, by comparing the detected outline of the outside vehicle with a predefined template. For example, when the outline of an outside vehicle is similar to a template of a bus, the apparatus 100 may perceive the outside vehicle as a bus. Further, since the bus is large in size and heavy in weight, the apparatus 100 may determine that the type of the outside vehicle is a large vehicle.

When the outline of the outside vehicle included in the image captured by the image sensor is similar to the template of the sports car, the apparatus 100 may perceive the outside vehicle as the sports car. Since the braking force of the sports car is good, the apparatus 100 may determine the type of the outside vehicle as a high-performance vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine the type of the external vehicle using a logo of the vehicle manufacturer (e.g., a badge or a trademark of the vehicle manufacturer, etc.) included in the image of the external vehicle. For example, when the badge included in the image of the external vehicle corresponds to a badge of a manufacturer that manufactures an expensive import vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine that the type of the external vehicle is an expensive vehicle.

According to the embodiment, the apparatus 100 may obtain the surrounding situation information (environmental information) for at least one outside vehicle using a precision map. For example, the apparatus 100 may call up a fine map around the first vehicle 10. The apparatus 100 may compare sensor information (e.g., front camera image information, rear camera image information, side camera image information, radar information, lidar information, ultrasonic information, infrared information, etc.) collected in real time while the first vehicle 10 is traveling with the called precision map to obtain a current position (e.g., an absolute position) of the at least one outside vehicle, a traveling lane (e.g., a first lane) in which the at least one outside vehicle is currently traveling, and information on surroundings (e.g., a stop line, a road sign, a road structure, a traffic flow condition, etc.) of the at least one outside vehicle, but is not limited thereto. The precision map may include not only road information necessary for the vehicle to travel but also a map that is more accurate than the existing map and has an error from an actual road of, for example, 10cm to 20cm or less.

The apparatus 100 may obtain the surrounding environment information of the first vehicle 10 using at least one sensor and/or a precision map. For example, the device 100 may use a front-facing camera or a panoramic camera to obtain lane, stop line, landmark information, and the like. Furthermore, the apparatus 100 may obtain information about the road structure using a lidar sensor or a radar sensor. Further, the apparatus 100 may sense the current driving lane of the first vehicle 10 using a precision map.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may use V2X technology (e.g., Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) and/or wireless access in a vehicle environment (WAVE)) to perceive the at least one external vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may receive a packet broadcast or advertised by at least one outside vehicle for a predetermined period of time, analyze the received packet, and determine a relative location of the at least one outside vehicle or a type of the at least one outside vehicle. The package broadcasted or advertised by the at least one outside vehicle may include identification information (e.g., vehicle name, vehicle type, manufacturer, etc.) of the at least one outside vehicle, location information, etc., but is not limited thereto.

In operation S220, the apparatus 100 may determine a risk of the at least one outside vehicle based on the type of the at least one outside vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the risk of the at least one external vehicle may refer to, for example, an index of the probability that the at least one external vehicle that is traveling has a negative impact on the first vehicle 10. The risk of the at least one outside vehicle may be defined differently based on the type of the at least one outside vehicle.

For example, referring to fig. 3, the apparatus 100 may classify the type 310 of the vehicle into, for example, but not limited to, a large vehicle 301, an SUV 302, a medium vehicle 303, and a small vehicle 304. According to the features 320 based on the type 310 of the vehicle, the weight and size may increase from the small vehicle 304 to the large vehicle 301, and the braking force may decrease from the small vehicle 304 to the large vehicle 301, and the turning radius may increase from the small vehicle 304 to the large vehicle 301.

The device 100 may define the risk 330 according to the characteristics 320 based on the type 310 of the vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may define the risk of the large vehicle 301 as 2.0, the risk of the SUV 302 as 1.5, the risk of the medium vehicle 303 as 1.0, and the risk of the small vehicle 304 as 0.7. The device 100 may then classify 340 the outside vehicle as a high risk vehicle, a medium risk vehicle, or a low risk vehicle based on the risk 330 of the outside vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may classify a large vehicle 301 having a risk greater than 1.5 as a high risk vehicle, an SUV 302 having a risk greater than 1.0 and less than 1.5 as a medium risk vehicle, and a medium vehicle 303 and a small vehicle 304 having a risk less than or equal to 1.0 as low risk vehicles.

Since the braking distance required for each vehicle is different, the apparatus 100 may provide the safety distance 350 differently based on the type 310 of the outside vehicle. For example, in the case where the speed of the external vehicle is the average running speed, when the external vehicle is the large-sized vehicle 301, the apparatus 100 may provide the safe distance 350 longer than that when the external vehicle is a medium/small-sized vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may define the safe distance 350 of the middle-sized vehicle 303 as 70m when the outside vehicle is the middle-sized vehicle 303 traveling at 70km/h, and may define the safe distance 350 of the large-sized vehicle 301 as 100m when the outside vehicle is the large-sized vehicle 301 traveling at 70 km/h.

The type 310, risk 330, and classification 340 of the vehicle are not limited to the table shown in fig. 3, and various changes may be made thereto. For example, the apparatus 100 may easily classify the type 310 of the vehicle into a large vehicle 301 and a medium and small vehicle. The apparatus 100 may also classify the type 310 of the vehicle into a large vehicle 301, an SUV 302, a sports car, a sedan, and a mini-type vehicle in detail. Further, the apparatus 100 may classify only the large vehicle 301 as a high risk vehicle and classify the SUV 302, the medium vehicle 303, and the small vehicle 304 as low risk vehicles.

In operation S230, the apparatus 100 may plan a travel path of the first vehicle 10 based on the risk of the at least one outside vehicle.

For example, based on the risk of external vehicles located around the first vehicle 10, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 to change the path of the first vehicle 10, change the lane of the first vehicle 10, adjust the travel speed (e.g., accelerate or decelerate) of the first vehicle 10, stop or end the travel of the first vehicle 10, maintain the current state of the first vehicle 10, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

In addition to the risk of the at least one outside vehicle, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 taking into account, for example, but not limited to, a travel lane of the at least one outside vehicle, a travel speed of the at least one outside vehicle, a distance between the first vehicle 10 and the at least one outside vehicle, or a turning radius of the at least one outside vehicle, etc.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a high risk second to travel behind the same lane as the first vehicle 10. When the distance between the second vehicle and the first vehicle 10 is less than a safety distance (e.g., 100m) predefined according to the risk of the second vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the travel lane of the first vehicle 10 is changed. The apparatus 100 may determine the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 is increased and the distance between the second vehicle and the first vehicle 10 is greater than a safety distance (e.g., 100m) previously defined according to the risk of the second vehicle. The method of planning a travel path of a first vehicle 10 according to a risk of a second vehicle performed by the apparatus 100 will be described in more detail later with reference to fig. 4.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a third vehicle traveling behind a second lane adjacent to the first lane being a traveling lane of the first vehicle 10. At this time, the apparatus 100 may determine whether to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane based on the type of the third vehicle and the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle. For example, when the third vehicle is a low risk vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is greater than a first safe distance (e.g., 70 m). When the third vehicle is a high risk vehicle, then the apparatus 100 may determine to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is greater than a second safe distance (e.g., 100 m). The second safety distance may be longer than the first safety distance. For example, as the risk of the third vehicle increases, the safety distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle may become longer. The method of determining whether to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 based on the risk of the third vehicle, performed by the apparatus 100, will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 8.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a fourth vehicle traveling in front of the same lane as the first vehicle 10. At this time, the apparatus 100 may determine to reduce the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is less than a safety distance predefined according to the risk of the fourth vehicle. For example, the safe distance of the first vehicle 10 may be defined as "100 m" when the risk of the fourth vehicle traveling in front is 2.0, and the safe distance of the first vehicle 10 may be defined as "50 m" when the risk of the fourth vehicle traveling in front is 1.0. When the risk of the fourth vehicle is 2.0 and the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is 70m, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path that reduces the speed of the first vehicle 10 such that the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is greater than 100 m. The operation of planning the travel path of the first vehicle 10 according to the risk of the fourth vehicle traveling ahead will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 10.

According to an embodiment, when the apparatus 100 is to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane, the apparatus 100 may sense an external vehicle driving in a third lane adjacent to the second lane. The device 100 may predict a lane-change speed or a lane-change probability of the external vehicle based on the type of the external vehicle traveling in the third lane. The device 100 may determine whether to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane based on the predicted lane-change speed or the lane-change probability of the external vehicle. A method of determining whether the apparatus 100 changes the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 according to the lane change speed or the lane change probability of the external vehicle will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 16.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine the lane for stopping the first vehicle 10 based on a risk of a fifth vehicle traveling behind the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 and a risk of at least one sixth vehicle traveling behind a different lane than the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10.

For example, the apparatus 100 may determine to stop the first vehicle 10 in the current driving lane when the risk of the fifth vehicle is less than or equal to the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle. When the risk of the fifth vehicle is greater than the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine to stop the first vehicle 10 in a lane different from the current driving lane. The method performed by the apparatus 100 for determining a lane for stopping the first vehicle 10 depending on the risk of an external vehicle traveling behind the first vehicle 10 will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 12.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a seventh vehicle turning right at an intersection ahead of the first vehicle 10 and merging into a lane adjacent to the lane in which the first vehicle 10 is traveling. The device 100 may determine an intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle, and determine whether to decelerate the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 or to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 based on the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle. The method of planning the travel path of the first vehicle 10 based on the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle, which is performed by the apparatus 100, will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 14.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may predict a blind area of a driver driving at least one external vehicle based on a type of the at least one external vehicle traveling in a lane different from a traveling lane of the first vehicle 10. The apparatus 100 may determine the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 based on the predicted blind area. For example, the apparatus 100 may plan a travel path that decelerates or accelerates the speed of the first vehicle 10 or maintains the current speed to avoid a blind area. Further, the apparatus 100 may plan a travel path that changes the lane of the first vehicle 10 to avoid the blind area. The method of planning a travel path of the first vehicle 10 to avoid a blind spot of a driver of at least one external vehicle, performed by the apparatus 100, will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 18.

In operation S240, when the travel path planned in operation S230 is not the travel path maintaining the current state, the apparatus 100 may determine whether the first vehicle 10 is in the autonomous travel mode.

In operation S250, when the first vehicle 10 is not in the autonomous travel mode, the apparatus 100 may provide the driver with information for guiding a travel path of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may provide the information for directing the travel path of the first vehicle 10 as at least one of, for example, but not limited to, a visual signal, an audio signal, a haptic signal (e.g., a vibration signal), and the like. For example, the apparatus 100 may display an indication (image or text) of a lane change or guidance speed adjustment that guides the first vehicle 10 on the display. The apparatus 100 may output a voice guiding a lane change or guiding a speed adjustment of the first vehicle 10. The apparatus 100 may output the vibration signal until the travel path of the first vehicle 10 is changed to the planned travel path.

In operation S260, when the first vehicle 10 is in the autonomous driving mode, the apparatus 100 may control a driving path of the first vehicle 10 according to the planned driving path. For example, but not limiting of, the apparatus 100 may automatically change the lane of the first vehicle 10, adjust the speed of the first vehicle 10, stop the first vehicle 10, and the like.

When the planned driving path is the driving path maintaining the current state in operation S230, operations S240 to S260 may be omitted. In the following, the operation of the apparatus 100 for planning a driving path of the first vehicle 10 based on the risk of external vehicles will be described in more detail.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of planning a travel path of the first vehicle 10 according to the type of the vehicle behind according to an embodiment.

In operation S410, the device 100 may sense a second vehicle traveling behind the driving lane of the first vehicle 10.

According to embodiments, the apparatus 100 may sense the second vehicle, for example, using at least one sensor and/or a precision map mounted on the first vehicle 10. For example, the apparatus 100 may use, for example, but not limited to, an image sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, or the like, to sense the presence of the second vehicle and the type of the second vehicle. Further, the device 100 may analyze a series of frames obtained via the image sensor to determine a speed of the second vehicle, a location of the second vehicle (e.g., a driving lane of the second vehicle, etc.). The apparatus 100 may use a distance sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10 to determine the relative distance between the first vehicle 10 and the second vehicle. The apparatus 100 may also sense the current location of the first vehicle 10 using, for example, but not limited to, a location sensor (e.g., GPS), etc., and may sense the current speed and/or driving direction of the first vehicle 10 using, for example, but not limited to, an inertial sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, etc.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a current driving lane of the first vehicle 10, a current driving lane of the second vehicle, a stop line, a road condition, a road structure sign, and the like using the precision map.

The apparatus 100 may sense that the second vehicle is behind the first vehicle 10, the second vehicle is traveling in the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, and the type of the second vehicle using sensing information and/or a precision map collected from a sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10, but is not limited thereto.

In operation S420, the device 100 may determine whether the second vehicle is a high risk vehicle based on the type of the second vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine the risk of the second vehicle based on the type of the second vehicle, and when the risk of the second vehicle is greater than a threshold (e.g., 1.5), the apparatus 100 may determine that the second vehicle is a high risk vehicle. When the risk of the second vehicle is less than or equal to a threshold (e.g., 1.5), the apparatus 100 may determine that the second vehicle is a low risk vehicle. For example, when the second vehicle is a bus and the risk of the bus is 2.0 greater than a threshold (e.g., 1.5), the apparatus 100 may determine that the second vehicle is a high risk vehicle.

In operation S430, when the second vehicle is a high risk vehicle, the device 100 may determine whether a distance between the first vehicle 10 and the second vehicle is less than a safe distance of the high risk vehicle. For example, when the safe distance of the high-risk vehicle on the expressway is predefined as 100m, the apparatus 100 may determine whether the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the second vehicle is less than 100 m.

In operation S440, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the second vehicle is less than the safe distance of the high risk vehicle, the device 100 may determine to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 or increase the driving speed of the first vehicle 10. When the second vehicle is a high-risk vehicle such as a bus, the braking force of the second vehicle may not be good. For example, a first vehicle may suffer significant damage when a second vehicle may not be braking in time. The apparatus 100 may determine to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 or the driving speed of the first vehicle 10 is increased, thereby avoiding a risk from the second vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine that the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 is increased when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the second vehicle is less than the safe distance of the high risk vehicle. However, in the case where it is difficult to increase the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10. For example, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and an external vehicle traveling ahead of the first vehicle 10 is not suitable for increasing the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 or when there is a stop line ahead of the first vehicle 10, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 without increasing the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, when the apparatus 100 determines to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, the apparatus 100 may determine the lane as the region in which the stability is improved, taking into account the speed or position of the external vehicle traveling in the other lane. For example, when the first vehicle 10 is traveling in the second lane, the apparatus 100 may sense a bus approaching from behind the second lane. When no other vehicle is traveling in the first lane and the truck is traveling behind the third lane, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 to the third lane instead of the first lane.

According to an embodiment, operation S430 may be omitted. For example, when the second vehicle traveling in the rear is a high-risk vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 regardless of an increase in the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the second vehicle or the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10.

Referring to fig. 5, the operation of the apparatus 100 for planning the travel path of the first vehicle 10 when the large truck 500 is perceived from the rear will be described in more detail.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of planning a travel path of the first vehicle 10 in consideration of a safe distance of the large truck perceived at the rear, according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 5, a first vehicle 10 may travel in a first lane on a highway. The apparatus 100 may use, for example, at least one sensor to sense a large truck 500 driving in the rear of the first vehicle 10. The large truck 500 may be classified as a high risk vehicle and the safe distance 510 of the large truck 500 on a highway may be defined as, for example, 100 m.

The apparatus 100 may determine the actual distance 520 between the first vehicle 10 and the large truck 500 using, for example, at least one sensor. When the actual distance 520 is less than the safe distance 510 of the large truck 500, the device 100 may determine that the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 increases or changes lanes (530) due to an increased probability that the first vehicle 10 is in a dangerous condition. For example, the apparatus 100 may determine that the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 increases when no vehicle is traveling ahead of the first vehicle 10 in the first lane or the vehicle is traveling more than a predetermined distance ahead of the first vehicle 10 (e.g., a safe distance of the first vehicle 10). As the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 increases, the actual distance 520 between the first vehicle 10 and the large truck 500 may be greater than the safe distance 510 of the large truck 500.

When the vehicle is traveling within a predetermined distance in front of the first vehicle 10 (e.g., a safe distance of the first vehicle 10), the apparatus 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane 530.

According to the embodiment, when the apparatus 100 senses a high risk vehicle (e.g., a large truck 500) traveling behind the first vehicle 10 in the same lane as the first vehicle 10, the apparatus 100 may appropriately plan the traveling path of the first vehicle 10, thereby improving the traveling stability of the first vehicle 10.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of visually providing information for guiding a travel path of the first vehicle 10 according to the embodiment.

Referring to fig. 6, the apparatus 100 may visually display information for guiding a travel path of the first vehicle 10. According to an embodiment, the device 100 displays information for directing the travel path of the first vehicle 10 on at least one of, for example, but not limited to, a display mounted on the first vehicle 10, a navigation device, a mobile device connected to the first vehicle 10, and the like.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may display information for guiding the travel path of the first vehicle 10 on a transparent display. The transparent display may be implemented as a projection type display and may be, for example, but not limited to, a transparent Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a transparent thin film electroluminescent panel (TFEL), a transparent OLED, and the like. A projection type display may refer to, for example, a method of projecting and displaying an image on a transparent screen such as a head-up display (HUD).

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may display information for guiding a travel path of the first vehicle 10 in an Augmented Reality (AR). AR may refer to techniques that overlap the real world as seen by a user with virtual objects, for example.

For example, when the apparatus 100 senses a large truck 500 traveling behind the first vehicle 10 in the same lane (e.g., a second lane) as the first vehicle 10, the apparatus 100 may change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the second lane to the first lane. The device 100 may display an arrow 610 for guiding a lane change.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may display a map 630 representing a travel path of the first vehicle 10 on the display. The apparatus 100 may also display the location 631 of the first vehicle 10 and the location 632 of the large truck 500 on the map 630.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may display an indication guiding an increase in the travel speed of the first vehicle 10. For example, the apparatus 100 may guide the driver to increase the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 by displaying the current speed 620 (e.g., 65km/h) and the recommended speed 625 (e.g., 70km/h) of the first vehicle 10.

When the first vehicle 10 is an autonomous vehicle, the apparatus 100 may not visually display information for guiding the travel path of the first vehicle 10 on the display.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of providing information for maneuvering the first vehicle 10 as a voice signal according to the embodiment.

Referring to fig. 7, when the apparatus 100 senses a large truck 500 traveling behind the first vehicle 10 in the same lane (e.g., a second lane) as the first vehicle 10, the apparatus 100 may output a voice signal to direct the driver to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 or accelerate the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10. For example, the apparatus 100 may guide the driver to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 or accelerate the driving speed of the first vehicle 10 by outputting the voice message 700 "a large vehicle is driven behind, please accelerate or change the driving lane".

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining a lane-change of the first vehicle 10 based on the types of surrounding vehicles according to an embodiment.

In operation S810, the device 100 may sense a third vehicle traveling behind a second lane adjacent to a first lane, which is a traveling lane of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense the third vehicle using, for example, but not limited to, at least one sensor and/or a precision map mounted on the first vehicle 10. For example, the apparatus 100 may use, for example, but not limited to, an image sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, or the like, to sense the presence of the third vehicle and the type of the third vehicle. The apparatus 100 may also analyze a series of frames obtained by the image sensor to determine a speed of the third vehicle or a location of the third vehicle (e.g., a driving lane of the third vehicle, etc.). The apparatus 100 may also use a distance sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10 to determine the relative distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle. The apparatus 100 may also sense the current location of the first vehicle 10 using a location sensor (e.g., GPS) and may sense the current speed/driving direction of the first vehicle 10 using an inertial sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or the like.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a current driving lane of the first vehicle 10, a current driving lane of the third vehicle, a stop line, a road condition, a road structure sign, and the like using the precision map.

The apparatus 100 may sense that the third vehicle is behind the first vehicle 10, the third vehicle is traveling in a second lane adjacent to the first lane, which is a traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, and the type of the third vehicle using sensing information and/or a precision map collected from a sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10, but is not limited thereto.

In operation S820, the device 100 may determine whether the third vehicle is a high risk vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine the risk of the third vehicle based on a type of the third vehicle. The device 100 may then compare the risk of the third vehicle to a threshold to determine whether the third vehicle is a high risk vehicle. For example, when the risk of the third vehicle is greater than a threshold (e.g., 1.5), the apparatus 100 may determine that the third vehicle is a high risk vehicle. On the other hand, when the risk of the third vehicle is equal to or less than the threshold (e.g., 1.5), the apparatus 100 may determine that the third vehicle is a low-risk vehicle.

In operations S830 and S850, when the third vehicle is not a high risk vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine whether a distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is longer than the first safe distance. The first safety distance may be predefined. For example, the first safe distance may be a safe distance of a low risk vehicle.

According to an embodiment, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is longer than the first safe distance, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 to change the travel lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane. When the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is equal to or less than the first safe distance, the apparatus 100 may determine not to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 and monitor whether the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is longer than the first safe distance. When the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is longer than the first safe distance, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 to change the travel lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane.

In operations S840 and S850, when the third vehicle is a high risk vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine whether a distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is longer than a second safe distance. The second safety distance may be predefined. For example, the second safe distance may be a safe distance of a high risk vehicle. Thus, the second safe distance (e.g., the safe distance of the high risk vehicle) may be longer than the first safe distance (e.g., the safe distance of the low risk vehicle).

According to an embodiment, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is longer than the second safe distance, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 to change the travel lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane. When the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is equal to or less than the second safe distance, the apparatus 100 may determine not to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 and monitor whether the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is longer than the second safe distance. When the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the third vehicle is longer than the second safe distance, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 to change the travel lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane.

Thus, as the risk of an external vehicle traveling behind an adjacent lane becomes higher, the apparatus may allow the first vehicle 10 to attempt lane change to an adjacent lane with a larger margin of space, thereby increasing the stability of the lane change of the first vehicle 10. Referring to fig. 9, an operation of the apparatus 100 to determine a lane change to an adjacent lane of the first vehicle 10 according to the type of an external vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane will be described in more detail.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example operation for determining whether to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 according to the type of the adjacent lane vehicle according to the embodiment. In fig. 9, a case where the apparatus 100 changes the lane of the first vehicle 10 traveling in the second lane to the first lane will be described as an example.

Referring to 900-1 of fig. 9, the apparatus 100 may perceive a medium-sized vehicle 910 in a first lane traveling behind the first vehicle 10 using sensing information and/or a precision map collected from at least one sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10. Because the risk (e.g., 1.0) of the medium vehicle 910 is equal to or less than the threshold (e.g., 1.5), the device 100 may classify the medium vehicle 910 as a low risk vehicle. The device 100 may then identify the first safe distance 911, which is a safe distance for the low risk vehicle, and compare the first safe distance 911 with an actual distance 912 between the first vehicle 10 and the medium vehicle 910.

When the actual distance 912 is longer than the first safe distance 911, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the second lane to the first lane. When the actual distance 912 is shorter than the first safe distance 911, the apparatus 100 may determine not to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the second lane to the first lane. For example, when the first safe distance 911 is 50m and the actual distance 912 is 70m, the apparatus 100 may determine a lane change to the first vehicle 10 since the first vehicle 10 may safely change from the second lane to the first lane.

Referring to 900-2 of fig. 9, the apparatus 100 may perceive a bus 920 in a first lane driving behind the first vehicle 10 using sensing information and/or a precision map collected from at least one sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10. Because the risk of bus 920 (e.g., 2.0) is greater than a threshold (e.g., 1.5), device 100 may classify bus 920 as a high risk vehicle. Then, the device 100 may identify the second safe distance 921, which is a safe distance of the high-risk vehicle, and compare the second safe distance 921 with an actual distance 922 between the first vehicle 10 and the bus 920.

When the actual distance 922 is longer than the second safe distance 921, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the second lane to the first lane. When the actual distance 922 is shorter than the second safe distance 921, the device 100 may determine not to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the second lane to the first lane. For example, when the second safe distance 921 is 100m and the actual distance 922 is 70m, the device 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 keeps the current driving lane.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 is accelerating. When the first vehicle 10 accelerates and the actual distance 922 between the first vehicle 10 and the bus 920 is longer than the second safe distance 921, the apparatus 100 may determine a lane change to the first vehicle 10 since the first vehicle 10 may safely change from the second lane to the first lane.

Therefore, referring to fig. 9, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the external vehicle traveling behind the adjacent lane is 70m, the apparatus 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 keeps the current traveling lane when the external vehicle is the bus 920, and the apparatus 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 changes lanes when the external vehicle is the middle-sized vehicle 910. For example, since the braking force of the bus 920 is lower than that of the medium vehicle 910, when the bus 920 travels behind an adjacent lane, the apparatus 100 may allow the first vehicle 10 to attempt a lane change with a larger margin of space than when the medium vehicle 910 travels.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 based on the type of preceding vehicle according to the embodiment.

In operation S1010, the apparatus 100 may sense a fourth vehicle traveling in front of the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may use at least one sensor and/or a precision map mounted on the first vehicle 10 to sense the fourth vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may use, for example, but not limited to, an image sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, or the like, to sense the presence of the fourth vehicle and the type of the fourth vehicle. The device 100 may analyze a series of frames obtained by the image sensor to determine a speed of the fourth vehicle. The apparatus 100 may also use a distance sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10 to determine a relative distance between the first vehicle 10 and a fourth vehicle. The apparatus 100 may sense the current location of the first vehicle 10 using a location sensor (e.g., GPS), and may detect the current speed/direction of the first vehicle 10 using, for example, but not limited to, an inertial sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, and the like.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a current driving lane of the first vehicle 10, a current driving lane of the fourth vehicle, a stop line, a road condition, a road structure sign, and the like using the precision map.

The apparatus 100 may sense that the fourth vehicle is ahead of the first vehicle 10, the fourth vehicle is traveling in the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, and the type of the fourth vehicle using sensing information and/or a fine map collected from a sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10, but is not limited thereto.

In operation S1020, the apparatus 100 may determine whether the fourth vehicle is a high risk vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine the risk of the fourth vehicle based on a type of the fourth vehicle. The device 100 may then compare the risk of the fourth vehicle to a threshold to determine whether the fourth vehicle is a high risk vehicle. For example, when the risk of the fourth vehicle is greater than a threshold (e.g., 1.5), the apparatus 100 may determine that the fourth vehicle is a high risk vehicle. When the risk of the fourth vehicle is equal to or less than a threshold (e.g., 1.5), the apparatus 100 may determine that the fourth vehicle is a low risk vehicle.

In operations S1030 and S1050, when the fourth vehicle is not a high risk vehicle (e.g., when the fourth vehicle is a low risk vehicle), the device 100 may determine whether a distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is longer than the first safety distance. The first safety distance may be predefined. For example, the first safe distance may be a safe distance of the first vehicle 10 for a low risk vehicle.

According to an embodiment, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is equal to or less than the first safety distance, the apparatus 100 may determine to decelerate the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 such that the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle increases. On the other hand, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is longer than the first safety distance, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 to maintain the current speed of the first vehicle 10 or accelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle 10. When the first vehicle 10 is accelerated and the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is equal to or less than the first safe distance, the apparatus 100 may determine to decelerate the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 again.

In operations S1040 and S1050, when the fourth vehicle is a high risk vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine whether a distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is longer than a second safe distance. The second safety distance may be predefined. For example, the second safe distance may be a safe distance of the first vehicle 10 for a high risk vehicle. The second safe distance may be longer than the first safe distance, which is a safe distance of the first vehicle 10 for low risk vehicles.

According to the embodiment, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is equal to or less than the second safety distance, the apparatus 100 may determine to decelerate the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 such that the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle increases.

When the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is longer than the second safety distance, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 to maintain the current speed of the first vehicle 10 or accelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle 10. When the first vehicle 10 accelerates and the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the fourth vehicle is less than or equal to the second safe distance, the apparatus 100 may determine to decelerate the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 again.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the first vehicle 10 may travel a distance longer than a predefined safe distance depending on the risk of the vehicle in front. The operation of the apparatus 100 for planning the travel path of the first vehicle 10 according to the type of vehicle in front will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 11.

Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of determining the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 based on the type of the preceding vehicle according to the embodiment.

Referring to 1100-1 in fig. 11, when the device 100 senses a middle-sized vehicle 1101 traveling ahead of the same lane, the device 100 may determine the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 such that the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the middle-sized vehicle 1101 is longer than a first safe distance (e.g., 70m) 1110. Further, when the apparatus 100 senses the large vehicle 1102 traveling ahead of the same lane, the apparatus 100 may determine the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 such that the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the large vehicle 1102 is longer than a second safe distance (e.g., 100 m). Since the risk of the large vehicle 1102 is greater than the risk of the medium vehicle 1101, the second safe distance 1120 for the large vehicle 1102 may be defined to be longer than the first safe distance for the medium vehicle 1101.

For example, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the external vehicle traveling ahead of the same lane is 80m, the device 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 maintains the current speed when the external vehicle is the medium-sized vehicle 1101, and the device 100 may determine that the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 is decelerated such that the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the large-sized vehicle 1102 is 100m or more when the external vehicle is the large-sized vehicle 1102. For example, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the higher the risk of an external vehicle traveling ahead of the first vehicle 10, the greater the distance maintained between the first vehicle 10 and the vehicle ahead, thereby improving the stability of the travel of the first vehicle 10.

Referring to 1100-2 in fig. 11, when the apparatus 100 senses a general car 1103 traveling in front of the same lane, the apparatus 100 may determine a traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 such that a distance between the first vehicle 10 and the general car 1103 is longer than a first safe distance (e.g., 70m) 1110. When the device 100 senses a sports car 1104 traveling ahead of the same lane, the device 100 may determine the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 such that the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the sports car 1104 is longer than a second safe distance (e.g., 100m) 1120. For example, since the sports car 1104 has a better braking force than that of the general car 1103, when the sports car 1104 is suddenly braked, the first vehicle 10 traveling in the rear may not catch up with the braking force of the sports car 1104 and may be dangerous, and thus the second safe distance for the sports car 1104 may be defined to be longer than the first safe distance for the general car 1103.

For example, when the distance between the external vehicle traveling ahead of the same lane and the first vehicle 10 is 80m, the apparatus 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 maintains the current speed when the external vehicle is the ordinary sedan 1103, and the apparatus 100 may determine to decelerate the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 when the external vehicle is the sports car 1104 such that the distance between the first vehicle 10 and the sports car 1104 is 100m or more. For example, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the higher the braking force of an external vehicle traveling ahead of the first vehicle 10, the greater the distance maintained between the first vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle, thereby improving the stability of the travel of the first vehicle 10.

Although not shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 100 may define the safe distance of the first vehicle 10 for the preceding vehicle differently based on the price of the preceding vehicle. For example, the second safe distance for a high-cost preceding vehicle may be defined to be longer than the first safe distance for a low-cost preceding vehicle.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining a lane for the first vehicle 10 to stop (hereinafter referred to as a stop lane) based on the type of the surrounding vehicle, which is performed by the apparatus 100 according to the embodiment.

In operation S1210, the apparatus 100 may sense a fifth vehicle traveling behind a driving lane of the first vehicle 10 and at least one sixth vehicle traveling behind a lane different from the driving lane of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may use at least one sensor and/or a precision map mounted on the first vehicle 10 to sense the fifth vehicle and at least one sixth vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may determine the presence of a fifth vehicle, the presence of at least one sixth vehicle, the type of fifth vehicle, the type of at least one sixth vehicle, etc. using, for example, but not limited to, an image sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, etc. The apparatus 100 may analyze a series of frames obtained by the image sensor to determine a speed of a fifth vehicle and a speed of at least one sixth vehicle. The apparatus 100 may also use a distance sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10 to determine a relative distance between the first vehicle 10 and a fifth vehicle, a relative distance between the first vehicle 10 and at least one sixth vehicle, and so on. The apparatus 100 may sense the current position of the first vehicle 10 using a position sensor (e.g., GPS) and may sense the current position/direction of the first vehicle 10 using an inertial sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or the like.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a current driving lane of the first vehicle 10, a current driving lane of the fifth vehicle, a current driving lane of the at least one sixth vehicle, a stop line, a road condition, a road structure sign, and the like using the precision map.

The apparatus 100 may sense that a fifth vehicle and at least one sixth vehicle exist behind the first vehicle 10, that the fifth vehicle is traveling in the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, that the at least one sixth vehicle is traveling in a different lane from the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, and that the type of the fifth vehicle and the type of the at least one sixth vehicle are using sensing information and/or a precision map collected from a sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10.

In operation S1220, the device 100 may determine a risk of a fifth vehicle and a risk of at least one sixth vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine the risk of the fifth vehicle based on the type of the fifth vehicle. The apparatus 100 may determine the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle based on the type of the at least one sixth vehicle.

Since the operation S1220 corresponds to the operation S220 of fig. 2, a detailed description thereof will not be repeated here.

In operation S1230, the device 100 may determine whether the risk of the fifth vehicle is greater than the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle.

For example, when the fifth vehicle is a medium vehicle and the at least one sixth vehicle is a bus, the apparatus 100 may determine that the risk of the fifth vehicle is lower than the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle. When the fifth vehicle is a large truck vehicle and the at least one sixth vehicle is a small vehicle, the apparatus 100 may determine that the risk of the fifth vehicle is higher than the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle.

In operation S1240, the device 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 stops in the current driving lane when the risk of the fifth vehicle is lower than or equal to the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may determine that the stopped lane of the first vehicle 10 is the current driving lane.

In operation S1250, when the risk of the fifth vehicle is higher than the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle, the device 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 stops in a lane different from the current driving lane. For example, the apparatus 100 may determine that the stopped lane of the first vehicle 10 is a lane in which at least one sixth vehicle is traveling, other than the current traveling lane.

The operation of the apparatus 100 for determining the stopping lane of the first vehicle 10 based on the type of the rear vehicle will be described in more detail with reference to fig. 13.

Fig. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of the apparatus 100 for determining a stopping lane based on a risk of a rear vehicle according to the embodiment.

Referring to fig. 13, the apparatus 100 may sense a stop-line 1300 when the first vehicle 10 travels in the first lane. The stop-line 1300 may be an actual stop-line near a traffic light or may be a virtual stop-line when a preceding vehicle stops, but is not limited thereto.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may perceive a van 1301 traveling behind a first lane, a medium-sized vehicle 1302 traveling behind a second lane, and a large truck 1303 traveling behind a third lane based on sensing information and/or a fine map collected from at least one sensor.

The apparatus 100 may determine the risk of each of the outside vehicles based on the type of each of the outside vehicles. For example, the apparatus 100 may determine the risk of a van 1301 as 1.5, the risk of a medium vehicle 1302 as 1.0 and the risk of a large truck 1303 as 2.0.

The device 100 may then determine the safest lane in which the first vehicle 10 stops based on the risk of each of the outside vehicles. For example, the apparatus 100 may determine that the second lane in which the medium vehicle 1302 is traveling has a first priority, the first lane in which the van 1301 is traveling has a second priority, and the third lane in which the large truck 1303 is traveling has a third priority. For example, since the braking force of the medium vehicle 1302 is optimal, it may be safest that the first vehicle 10 stops in front of the medium vehicle 1302.

Because the second lane is determined to have the first priority, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the first vehicle 10 is changed from the first lane to the second lane. According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the first vehicle 10 may stop at the safest lane.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining a travel path of a vehicle at an intersection according to an embodiment.

In operation S1410, the apparatus 100 may sense a seventh vehicle turning right at an intersection ahead of the first vehicle 10 and merging into a lane adjacent to the lane in which the first vehicle 10 is traveling.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may use at least one sensor and/or a precision map mounted on the first vehicle 10 to sense the seventh vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may use, for example, but not limited to, an image sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, or the like, to sense the presence of the seventh vehicle and the type of the seventh vehicle. The device 100 may analyze a series of frames obtained by the image sensor to determine a speed of the seventh vehicle. The apparatus 100 may also determine the relative distance between the first vehicle 10 and the seventh vehicle using a distance sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10. The apparatus 100 may sense the current location of the first vehicle 10 using a location sensor (e.g., GPS), and may sense the current speed/direction of the first vehicle 10 using an inertial sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or the like.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a current driving lane of the first vehicle 10, a current driving lane of the seventh vehicle, a road condition, a road structure sign, and the like using the precision map.

Accordingly, the apparatus 100 may perceive, using sensing information and/or a precise map collected from sensors mounted on the first vehicle 10, that an intersection exists in front of the first vehicle 10, that the seventh vehicle is predicted to merge into an adjacent lane of a lane in which the first vehicle 10 is traveling when making a right turn, and the type of the seventh vehicle, but is not limited thereto.

In operation S1420, the device 100 may determine an intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle based on the type of the seventh vehicle. The intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle may refer to, for example, the turning radius of the outer wheels of the seventh vehicle.

According to embodiments, the intersection turning radius may increase from a small vehicle to a large vehicle. Therefore, when the seventh vehicle is a large vehicle, the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle may be larger than that when the seventh vehicle is a small vehicle.

In operation S1430, the device 100 may determine whether an intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle is greater than a threshold. Here, the threshold value may be a value of a turning radius of the seventh vehicle that can pass through the lane in which the first vehicle 10 is traveling.

In operation S1440, the apparatus 100 may determine to decelerate the current traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 or to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 when the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle is greater than the threshold.

According to an embodiment, when the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle is greater than the threshold, the seventh vehicle may turn right at the intersection and pass through the lane where the first vehicle 10 is currently traveling. Accordingly, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 to decelerate the current travel speed of the first vehicle 10 or to stop the first vehicle 10 in front of the intersection so that the first vehicle 10 does not collide with the seventh vehicle. The apparatus 100 may also determine to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 when the first vehicle 10 is able to change the lane to another lane.

In operation S1450, when the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle is less than or equal to the threshold value, the apparatus 100 may determine to maintain the current driving speed and the current driving lane of the first vehicle 10.

According to the embodiment, when the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle is less than or equal to the threshold value, the probability that the seventh vehicle may not pass through the lane in which the first vehicle 10 is currently traveling when turning right at the intersection is high. The apparatus 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 continues to travel in the current travel lane at the current travel speed.

The operation of the apparatus 100 for planning the travel path of the first vehicle 10 based on the intersection turning radius of the outside vehicles will be described in more detail with reference to fig. 15.

Fig. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of the apparatus 100 for determining a travel path of a vehicle based on the types of surrounding vehicles at an intersection according to the embodiment. In fig. 15, a case where the first vehicle 10 is traveling in the third lane will be described as an example.

Referring to 1500-1 of fig. 15, the apparatus 100 may sense a medium vehicle 1501 turning right at an intersection and merging into a fourth lane using sensing information and/or a fine map collected from at least one sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10.

The device 100 may determine whether the intersection turning radius of the medium vehicle 1501 is equal to or greater than a threshold turning radius. The threshold turning radius may refer to, for example, a turning radius at which a right-turn vehicle may pass through the third lane. For example, the intersection turning radius of the medium vehicle 1501 may be "7", and the threshold turning radius may be "10".

Since the intersection turning radius (e.g., 7) of the medium vehicle 1501 is less than the threshold turning radius (e.g., 10), the device 100 may determine that the medium vehicle 1501 is unlikely to cross the third lane when turning to the right. Accordingly, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the first vehicle 10 continues to travel in the third lane.

Referring to 1500-2 of FIG. 15, the apparatus 100 may use sensed information and/or a fine map collected from at least one sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10 to sense a large truck 1502 turning right at an intersection and merging into a fourth lane.

The apparatus 100 may determine whether the intersection turning radius of the large truck 1502 is greater than a threshold turning radius. For example, the intersection turning radius of the large truck 1502 may be "13" and the threshold turning radius may be "10". Because the intersection turning radius (e.g., 13) of the large truck 1502 is greater than the threshold turning radius, the apparatus 100 may determine that the large truck 1502 has a high probability of likely traversing the third lane when turning to the right. The apparatus 100 may determine to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 and may also determine that the first vehicle 10 stops in front of the intersection.

For example, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 from the third lane to the second lane. However, when it is difficult to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 because another external vehicle is traveling in the second lane, the apparatus 100 may plan the traveling path of the first vehicle 10 such that the first vehicle 10 stops ahead of the intersection.

Thus, according to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may plan a travel path of the first vehicle 10 entering the intersection in consideration of an intersection turning radius of an external vehicle turning right at a front intersection, thereby allowing the first vehicle 10 to safely travel at the intersection.

Fig. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of determining whether to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 based on the lane-change speed or the lane-change probability of the external vehicle according to an embodiment.

In operation S1610, when the first vehicle 10 changes the driving lane from the first lane to the second lane, the device 100 may sense an external vehicle driving in a third lane adjacent to the second lane.

For example, when the first vehicle 10 changes the lane of travel from the first lane to the second lane, the device 100 may sense an external vehicle traveling in a third lane. When the first vehicle 10 changes the driving lane from the fourth lane to the third lane, the apparatus 100 may sense an external vehicle driving in the second lane.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may use at least one sensor and/or a precision map mounted on the first vehicle 10 to sense an external vehicle traveling in the third lane. For example, the apparatus 100 may sense that the first vehicle 10 is traveling in the first lane, the external vehicle is traveling in the third lane, and the type of the external vehicle using sensing information and/or a precision map collected from a sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10.

In operation S1620, the device 100 may predict a lane change speed or a lane change probability of the external vehicle based on the type of the external vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the lane change speed or lane change probability of the external vehicle may be reduced from a small vehicle to a large vehicle. Therefore, when the type of the external vehicle is a large-sized vehicle, the lane change speed or the lane change probability may be lower than that when the type of the external vehicle is a small-sized vehicle.

In operations S1630 and S1640, when the lane-change speed or the lane-change probability of the external vehicle is greater than the threshold, the apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the travel lane of the first vehicle 10 is maintained as the first lane. However, the device 100 may monitor the state of the external vehicle, and when the external vehicle does not change the traveling lane from the third lane to the second lane within a predetermined time, the device 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane.

In operations S1630 and S1650, when the lane change speed or the lane change probability of the external vehicle is equal to or less than a threshold value, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane. This is because when the lane change speed or the lane change probability of the external vehicle is equal to or less than the threshold value, the device 100 may determine that the probability that the external vehicle changes the traveling lane from the third lane to the second lane is low when the first vehicle 10 changes the traveling lane from the first lane to the second lane.

The operation of the apparatus 100 for planning the travel path of the first vehicle 10 in consideration of the lane change speed or the lane change probability of the external vehicle will be described in more detail with reference to fig. 17.

Fig. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of determining whether to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 based on the lane-change speed or the lane-change probability of the external vehicle according to the embodiment. In fig. 17, a case where the first vehicle 10 travels in the first lane will be described as an example.

Referring to 1700-1 in FIG. 17, the device 100 may sense a medium vehicle 1701 traveling in a third lane when changing the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10. The device 100 may determine that the lane-change speed or the lane-change probability of the medium vehicle 1701 is greater than a threshold. In this case, when the first vehicle 10 changes the traveling lane from the first lane to the second lane, the device 100 may determine not to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 because the first vehicle 10 has a high probability of colliding with the medium-sized vehicle 1701 changed from the third lane to the second lane. The device 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 maintains the current driving lane, and may monitor the state of the medium-sized vehicle 1701. When the medium vehicle 1701 does not change the traveling lane from the third lane to the second lane within a predetermined time (e.g., 30 seconds), the device 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane.

Referring to 1700-2 in FIG. 17, the apparatus 100 may sense a bus 1702 traveling in a third lane while changing the lane of travel of the first vehicle 10. The apparatus 100 may determine that the speed of lane change or the probability of lane change of the bus 1702 is less than a threshold. Since the probability of the bus 1702 generally traveling in the third lane or in the exclusive bus lane is high, the probability of the bus 1702 changing lanes may be low. Further, the lane change speed of the bus 1702 may not be high.

When the first vehicle 10 changes the traveling lane from the first lane to the second lane, the apparatus 100 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane because the probability of the first vehicle 10 colliding with the bus 1702 changed from the third lane to the second lane is low.

According to the embodiment, since the lane change speed and the lane change probability of the medium-sized vehicle 1701 are higher than those of the bus 1702, the apparatus 100 can carefully determine the lane change of the first vehicle 10 when the medium-sized vehicle 1701 travels instead of the bus 1702, thereby increasing the traveling stability of the first vehicle 10.

Fig. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of planning a travel path of a vehicle based on a blind spot of an outside vehicle driver according to an embodiment.

In operation S1810, the apparatus 100 may sense at least one external vehicle traveling in a lane different from a traveling lane of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may use at least one sensor and/or a precision map mounted on the first vehicle 10 to sense the external vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may use, for example, but not limited to, an image sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, or the like to sense the presence of and the type of the outside vehicle. The device 100 may analyze a series of frames obtained by the image sensor to determine the speed of the external vehicle. Further, the apparatus 100 may use a distance sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10 to determine the relative distance between the first vehicle 10 and the external vehicle. The apparatus 100 may sense the current position of the first vehicle 10 using a position sensor (e.g., GPS), and may detect the current speed/direction of the first vehicle 10 using an inertial sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or the like.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may sense a current driving lane of the first vehicle 10, a current driving lane of an external vehicle, a stop line, a road condition, a road structure sign, etc. using a precision map.

Accordingly, the apparatus 100 may sense the presence of the external vehicle around the first vehicle 10, the external vehicle being driven in a lane different from a driving lane of the first vehicle 10, and the type of the external vehicle using sensing information and/or a precision map collected from a sensor mounted on the first vehicle 10, but is not limited thereto.

In operation S1820, the apparatus 100 may predict a blind zone of a driver of the at least one external vehicle based on the type of the at least one external vehicle.

A blind zone may refer to an area where, for example, a driver of a vehicle may not recognize an adjacent vehicle, road, obstacle, etc. due to obstacle factors, and may generally include a side area behind the vehicle. The blind area may be formed differently based on the type of the vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may predict the blind zone of the driver of the at least one external vehicle using blind zone data based on previously stored vehicle types.

In operation S1830, the apparatus 100 may determine a traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 based on a blind area of a driver of at least one outside vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may accelerate or decelerate the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 when it is determined that the first vehicle 10 is currently in the driver's blind spot.

According to the embodiment, the apparatus 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 maintains the current traveling speed when there is a blind zone of the driver of at least one external vehicle ahead of the first vehicle 10. The apparatus 100 may accelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 faster than the threshold speed to plan a travel path of the first vehicle 10 where the first vehicle 10 quickly passes through the blind area.

Fig. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of the apparatus 100 for predicting a blind area according to the type of an external vehicle according to the embodiment.

Referring to 1900-1 in FIG. 19, a first vehicle 10 may travel in a first lane. The apparatus 100 may use at least one sensor and/or a precision map to sense the medium vehicle 1901 traveling in the second lane. The device 100 may predict a blind spot 1910 of the driver of the medium vehicle 1901. When it is determined that the current position of the first vehicle 10 is within the blind zone 1910, the apparatus 100 may determine to accelerate or decelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle 10. The apparatus 100 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 such that the first vehicle 10 quickly escapes the driver's blind spot 1910 of the medium vehicle 1901, thereby increasing the travel stability of the first vehicle 10.

Referring to 1900-2 in FIG. 19, the first vehicle 10 may travel in the third lane. The apparatus 100 may use at least one sensor and/or a precision map to sense a large truck 1902 traveling in a second lane. The apparatus 100 may predict a blind spot 1920 for the driver of the large truck 1902.

When it is determined that there is a blind zone 1920 ahead of the first vehicle 10, the apparatus 100 may determine to maintain the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 at the current speed or to decelerate so that the first vehicle 10 does not approach the blind zone 1920. For example, when the travel speed of the large truck 1902 is 70km/h and the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 is 70km/h, the apparatus 100 may determine that the first vehicle 10 continues to travel at 70 km/h.

The apparatus 100 may accelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 faster than the threshold speed to plan a travel path of the first vehicle 10 that the first vehicle 10 quickly passes through the blind zone 1920. For example, when the travel speed of the large truck 1902 is 70km/h, the apparatus 100 may accelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 to 100km/h or more to plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 that the first vehicle 10 quickly passes through the blind area 1920.

When the first vehicle 10 is in autonomous travel, the apparatus 100 may automatically control the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 such that the first vehicle 10 avoids the blind zones 1910 and 1920. When the first vehicle 10 is not in autonomous travel, the apparatus 100 may output warning messages for the blind areas 1910 and 1920. The operation of the apparatus 100 for outputting a warning message will be described in more detail with reference to fig. 20.

Fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example operation of the apparatus 100 for outputting a warning message for a blind area according to an embodiment.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may display the position of the first vehicle 10 and the position of the external vehicle on a map, and may display an indication 2010 indicating that the first vehicle 10 is located in a blind area of a driver of the external vehicle on a display, thereby visually providing a warning message for the blind area to the driver of the first vehicle 10.

The device 100 may output a voice message 2020 indicating that the first vehicle 10 is located in a blind spot by a driver of the outside vehicle. For example, the apparatus 100 may output a voice message 2020 "you are in a blind zone adjacent to the vehicle, speeding up" to guide the driver of the first vehicle 10 to adjust the speed of the first vehicle 10.

Fig. 21 is a block diagram illustrating an example configuration of the apparatus 100 according to the embodiment.

Referring to fig. 21, the apparatus 100 may include a sensing unit (e.g., including a sensor and/or sensing circuitry) 110, a processor (e.g., including processing circuitry) 120, a communicator (e.g., including communication circuitry) 130, a driving unit (e.g., including processing circuitry and/or executable program elements) 140, an output interface (e.g., including output circuitry) 150, a memory 160, and an input interface (e.g., including input circuitry) 170. However, all the components shown in fig. 21 are not indispensable components of the apparatus 100. The apparatus 100 may be implemented with more components than shown in fig. 21 or with fewer components than shown in fig. 21. For example, as shown in fig. 1, the apparatus 100 may include a sensing unit 110, a processor 120, and a communicator 130, and as shown in fig. 22, the apparatus may include the sensing unit 110 and the processor 120. The components will be described in order.

The sensing unit 110 may include a plurality of sensors and/or sensing circuits configured to sense information about the surroundings of the first vehicle 10. For example, but not limited to, the sensing unit 110 may include a position sensor 101 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS), a differential GPS (dgps), and an Inertial Navigation System (INS)), an IMU sensor 102, a lidar sensor 103, a radar sensor 104, an image sensor 105 (e.g., a camera, a stereo camera, a monocular camera, a wide-angle camera, a panoramic camera, a 3D vision sensor, etc.), an ultrasonic sensor 106, an infrared sensor 107, a distance sensor 108, a temperature/humidity sensor 109, an RGB sensor 111, and a travel path sensing unit 112, but is not limited thereto. For example, the sensing unit 110 may include an air pressure sensor and a dust sensor.

The travel path sensing unit 112 may sense the movement of the first vehicle 10, and may include, for example, but not limited to, a geomagnetic sensor 113, an acceleration sensor 114, and a gyro sensor 115.

According to an embodiment, the image sensor 105 may include a plurality of cameras. The plurality of cameras may be arranged at a plurality of locations inside or outside the first vehicle 10. For example, three cameras may be arranged in a front portion of the first vehicle 10, one camera may be arranged in a rear portion, two cameras may be arranged in a left portion, and two cameras may be arranged in a right portion, although the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

The sensing unit 110 may also be configured as a combination of the image sensor 105 and the radar sensor 104 or a combination of the image sensor 105 and the lidar sensor 103. The function of each sensor can be intuitively deduced from the name by those skilled in the art, and thus a detailed description thereof is not provided herein.

According to an embodiment, when the sensing unit 110 may sense at least one external vehicle located within a predetermined distance from the first vehicle 10, the sensing unit 110 may transmit the sensed information about the at least one external vehicle to the processor 120.

Processor 120 may include various processing circuitry and may generally control the overall operation of device 100. The processor 120 may control the sensing unit 110, the communicator 130, the output interface 150, the memory 160, and the input interface 170 by, for example, executing programs stored in the memory 160.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may include various processing circuits, such as, but not limited to, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) processor. The processor 120 may identify the type of the outside vehicle and determine the risk of the outside vehicle, etc., using, for example, a learning network model of the AI system. Further, the processor 120 may plan the travel path of the first vehicle 10 using the learning network model of the AI system.

The AI processor may be manufactured, for example, in the form of an AI-specific hardware chip or may be manufactured as part of an existing general-purpose processor (e.g., CPU or application processor) or graphics-specific processor (e.g., GPU) and installed on the device 100, although the disclosure is not limited thereto.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may sense at least one outside vehicle located within a predetermined distance from the first vehicle 10 using at least one sensor included in the sensing unit 110. According to another embodiment, the processor 120 may perceive at least one external vehicle located within a predetermined distance from the first vehicle 10 using the sensing information and the accuracy map transmitted from the sensing unit 110. The step of sensing the at least one outside vehicle may include sensing not only the presence of the at least one outside vehicle but also a type of the at least one outside vehicle, a driving lane of the at least one outside vehicle, a driving speed of the at least one outside vehicle, but is not limited thereto.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may determine the risk of the at least one outside vehicle according to the type of the at least one outside vehicle. The processor 120 may plan a travel path for the first vehicle 10 based on the risk of the at least one outside vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may sense a high risk second vehicle traveling behind the same lane as the first vehicle 10. When the distance between the second vehicle traveling behind and the first vehicle 10 is shorter than a safety distance predefined according to the risk of the second vehicle, the processor 120 may determine to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 or increase the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may sense a third vehicle traveling behind a second lane adjacent to the first lane, which is the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10. Based on the distance between the third vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane and the first vehicle 10 and the type of the third vehicle, the processor 120 may determine whether to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may sense a fourth vehicle traveling ahead of the same lane as the first vehicle 10. At this time, when the distance between the first vehicle 10 and a fourth vehicle traveling ahead of the first vehicle 10 is shorter than a safety distance defined in advance according to the risk of the fourth vehicle, the processor 120 may determine to decrease the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10.

According to an embodiment, when the processor 120 changes the driving lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane, the processor 120 may sense an external vehicle driving in a third lane adjacent to the second lane. At this time, the processor 120 may predict a lane change speed or a lane change probability of the external vehicle based on the type of the external vehicle traveling in the third lane, and may determine whether to change the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 from the first lane to the second lane based on the predicted lane change speed or the predicted lane change probability of the external vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may sense a fifth vehicle traveling behind the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 and at least one sixth vehicle traveling behind a different lane than the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10. The processor 120 may determine a risk of a fifth vehicle traveling behind the same lane as the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 and a risk of at least one sixth vehicle traveling behind a different lane than the traveling lane of the first vehicle 10, and determine a lane for the first vehicle 10 to stop based on the risk of the fifth vehicle and the risk of the at least one sixth vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may sense a seventh vehicle turning right at an intersection ahead of the first vehicle 10 and merging into a lane adjacent to the lane in which the first vehicle 10 is traveling. The processor 120 may determine an intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle and determine whether to decelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 or to change the lane of the first vehicle 10 based on the intersection turning radius of the seventh vehicle.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may predict a blind zone of a driver of at least one external vehicle traveling in a lane different from a traveling lane of the first vehicle 10 based on a type of the at least one external vehicle. At this time, the processor 120 may determine the traveling speed of the first vehicle 10 based on the predicted blind area. For example, when it is determined that the first vehicle 10 is within the predicted blind zone, the processor 120 may accelerate or decelerate the travel speed of the first vehicle 10 to avoid the blind zone.

According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may output information for directing the travel path of the first vehicle 10 through the output interface 150 or control the travel path of the first vehicle 10 based on a result of planning the travel path of the first vehicle 10.

The communicator 130 may include various communication circuits including at least one antenna for wirelessly communicating with another device (e.g., an external vehicle or an external server). For example, the communicator 130 may include one or more components that allow communication between the first vehicle 10 and an external vehicle or between the first vehicle 10 and a server. For example, the communicator 130 may include various communication circuits such as, for example, but not limited to, a short-range wireless communicator (e.g., including a short-range wireless communication circuit) 131, a mobile communicator (e.g., including a mobile communication circuit) 132, and a broadcast receiver (e.g., including a broadcast receiving circuit) 133.

The short-range wireless communicator 131 may include various communication circuits such as, but not limited to, a bluetooth communicator, a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communicator, a near field communicator/radio frequency identification communicator (NFC/RFID), a WLAN communicator, a Zigbee communicator, an infrared data association (IrDA) communicator (not shown), a Wi-Fi direct (WFD) communicator, an ultra-wideband (UWB) communicator, an Ant + communicator, a microwave (uWave) communicator (not shown), and the like.

The mobile communicator 132 may transmit and receive wireless signals to and from at least one of a base station, an external terminal, and a server on a mobile communication network. The wireless signal may include various types of data transmitted and received according to a voice call signal, a video call signal, or a text/multimedia message.

The broadcast receiver 133 may receive a broadcast signal and/or broadcast-related information from the outside through a broadcast channel. The broadcast channel may include a satellite channel and a terrestrial channel. According to an implementation example, the apparatus 100 may not include the broadcast receiver 133.

According to an embodiment, the communicator 130 may perform vehicle-to-vehicle communication with a second vehicle located within a predetermined distance from the first vehicle 10, or perform vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (V2I) with an infrastructure located within a predetermined distance from the first vehicle 10. For example, the communicator 130 may broadcast or advertise a package including identification information, location, speed, etc. of the first vehicle 10. Further, the communicator 130 may receive a packet broadcast or advertised by a second vehicle.

The driving unit 140 may include a configuration for driving (running) the first vehicle 10 and for operating devices inside the first vehicle 10. The driving unit 140 may include various circuits such as, but not limited to, at least one of a power supply unit 141, a propulsion unit 142, a travel unit 143, and a peripheral device unit 144.

The peripheral unit 144 may include various circuits such as, for example, but not limited to, a navigation system, lights, turn signal lights, wipers, interior lights, heaters, and air conditioners. The navigation system may be a system configured to determine a travel route of the first vehicle 10. The navigation system may be configured to dynamically update the travel route as the first vehicle 10 travels. For example, the navigation system may utilize data collected by a GPS module to determine the route of travel of the first vehicle 10.

The output interface 150 may include various output circuits and is used to output an audio signal, a video signal, or a vibration signal. Output interface 150 may include, for example, but is not limited to, a display 151, a sound output interface 152, a vibration motor 153, and the like.

The display 151 may display and output information processed in the apparatus 100. For example, the display 151 may display a map including a travel path, display the location of an external vehicle, display a blind spot of a driver of the external vehicle, or display information for guiding a current speed, a remaining amount of fuel, a travel route, etc., of the first vehicle 10, but is not limited thereto. The display 151 may display a User Interface (UI) or a Graphical User Interface (GUI) associated with a call in a call mode.

In addition, when the display 151 and the touch pad have a layer structure and are configured as a touch screen, the display 151 may be used as an input device in addition to an output device. The display 151 may include, for example, but not limited to, at least one of a liquid crystal display, a thin film transistor liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, a flexible display, a three-dimensional (3D) display, an electrophoretic display, and the like. Depending on the implementation of the apparatus 100, the apparatus 100 may comprise two or more displays 151.

According to an embodiment, the display 151 may include a transparent display. The transparent display may be implemented, for example, but not limited to, a projection type as well as a transparent Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) type, a transparent thin film electroluminescent panel (TFEL) type, a transparent OLED type, and the like. The projection type may refer to a method of projecting and displaying an image on a transparent screen such as a head-up display (HUD), for example.

The sound output interface 152 may include various sound output circuits and output audio data received from the communicator 130 or stored in the memory 160. In addition, the sound output interface 152 may output an acoustic signal related to a function performed in the first vehicle 10. For example, the sound output interface 152 may output a voice message for directing the travel path of the first vehicle 10. The sound output interface 152 may include various sound output circuits such as, for example, but not limited to, a speaker, a buzzer, and the like.

The vibration motor 153 may output a vibration signal. For example, the vibration motor 153 may output a vibration signal in correspondence with the output of audio data or video data (e.g., a warning message, etc.).

The memory 160 may store a program for processing and controlling the processor 120 and may store input/output data (e.g., image information of an external vehicle, road condition information, characteristic information according to the type of vehicle, risk/safe distance information according to the type of external vehicle, etc.). The memory 160 may include at least one type of storage medium such as, but not limited to, a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (e.g., SD or XD memory), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a Read Only Memory (ROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), a magnetic memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, and the like. In addition, the apparatus 100 may operate a network storage or a cloud server that performs a storage function on the internet.

The input interface 170 may refer to, for example, a unit for a user to input data for controlling the first vehicle 10. For example, the input interface 170 may include various input circuits such as, but not limited to, a keyboard, a dome switch, a touch pad (a contact type capacitive type, a pressure type resistive type, an infrared ray detection type, a surface ultrasonic conduction type, a bulk tension measurement type, a piezoelectric effect type, etc.), a jog wheel switch, and the like.

Fig. 22 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of a vehicle according to the embodiment.

Referring to fig. 22, the first vehicle 10 may include a device 100 and a travel device 200. In fig. 22, only components related to the present embodiment are shown. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the first vehicle 10 may also include common components other than those shown in FIG. 22.

The apparatus 100 may include a sensing unit 110 and a processor 120. The apparatus 100 is described in detail with reference to fig. 21, and thus redundant description of the apparatus 100 will not be repeated here.

The traveling device 200 may include a brake unit 221, a steering unit 222, and a throttle 223.

The brake unit 221 may be a combination of mechanisms configured to decelerate the first vehicle 10. For example, the brake unit 221 may use friction to reduce the speed of the wheel/tire.

The steering unit 222 may be a combination of mechanisms configured to adjust the direction of the first vehicle 10.

The throttle 223 may be a combination of mechanisms configured to control the operating speed of the engine/transmitter to control the speed of the first vehicle 10. Further, the throttle valve 223 can adjust the amount of the fuel-gas mixture flowing into the engine/transmitter by adjusting the throttle opening amount. Power and thrust may be controlled by adjusting throttle opening.

The processor 120 may plan a travel path of the first vehicle 10 based on the information sensed by the sensing unit 110. The processor 120 may then control the braking unit 221, the steering unit 222, and the throttle 223 according to the planned travel path. Thus, according to the embodiment, the first vehicle 10 can perform lane change or speed adjustment by itself without driver intervention.

The method according to the embodiment may be embodied as program commands executable by various computer apparatuses and may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer readable recording medium may include program commands, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program command to be recorded on the computer-readable recording medium may be specially designed and configured for the embodiments of the present disclosure, or may be well known to and used by those having ordinary skill in the computer software art. Examples of the computer readable recording medium include magnetic media such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, or a magnetic tape, optical media such as a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) or a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), magneto-optical media such as a floppy disk, and hardware devices such as a ROM, a RAM, or a flash memory that are specially configured to store and execute program commands. Examples of the program command are a high-level language code or the like executable by a computer using an interpreter, and a code generated by a compiler.

Some embodiments may be implemented as a recording medium including computer-readable instructions, such as computer-executable program modules. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by the computer and examples of computer readable media include all volatile and nonvolatile media and removable and non-removable media. Moreover, examples of computer readable media may include computer storage media and communication media. Examples of computer storage media include all volatile and nonvolatile, and removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, other data in a modulated data signal or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. Furthermore, some embodiments may be implemented as a computer program or computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions, such as a computer program executed by a computer.

It should be understood that the various example embodiments described herein should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each embodiment should generally be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other embodiments.

While one or more example embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope as defined, for example, by the following claims.