Safety of autonomous vehicles by remote support request

Abstract

A remote support system provides support to an autonomous drive system of a vehicle in response to a support request. The remote support may include guiding the autonomous drive system of the vehicle through a hazardous environment. A call to the remote support system may be initiated, for example, via a user interface control button or by scanning a bar code, QR code, or RFID associated with the vehicle on a device that sends the code with vehicle information to the remote support system. The remote support system may determine an urgency of the request to assess whether immediate support should be initiated or whether to first initiate a communication connection with a passenger. Furthermore, an emergency brake system of the vehicle may be triggered by the remote support system or in response to the vehicle losing a connection to the remote support system during a support request.

1 . A method for initiating a request for remote support for an autonomous drive system of a vehicle, the method comprising:
 receiving, from the vehicle at a remote support system, a request for remote support;   responsive to the request, initiating a support connection between the vehicle and the remote support system;   receiving, from the vehicle at the remote support system via the support connection, sensor information relating to a state of the vehicle;   analyzing the sensor information to determine an urgency metric associated with the state of the vehicle;   determining, if the urgency metric exceeds a predefined threshold;   responsive to determining that the urgency metric does not exceed the predefined threshold, initiating a communications connection accessible to a passenger of the vehicle;   receiving communications from the passenger via the communications connection;   determining based on the communications from the passenger, whether to initiate a remote guidance to guide the autonomous drive system of the vehicle; and   responsive to determining to initiate the remote drive guidance, providing the remote guidance to the vehicle.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 responsive to determining that the urgency metric exceeds the predefined threshold, provide the remote guidance to the vehicle.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 responsive to determining not to initiate the remote guidance based on the communications from the passenger, terminating the communications connection and the support connection with the vehicle.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the request for remote support comprises:
 receiving a code from a computer device relating to relating to a bar code, QR code, RFID tag, or other code visible on the vehicle, the code encoding identifying information associated with the vehicle.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 analyzing the state of the vehicle to determine whether to activate an emergency stop system of the vehicle; and   responsive to determining to activate the emergency stop, sending an emergency stop signal to the vehicle.   
     
     
         6 . A method for operating an autonomous drive system of a vehicle in communication with a remote support system, the method comprising:
 requesting, from the remote support system, support for the autonomous drive system of the vehicle;   setting a counter of the vehicle to a predefined value;   at a predefined time interval, checking if the vehicle received a keep alive signal from the remote support system;   responsive to failing to receive the keep alive signal in the predefined time interval, decrementing the counter of the vehicle; and   controlling a braking system of the vehicle to execute an emergency stop responsive to the counter reaching zero.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 responsive to receiving the keep alive signal, resetting the counter to the predefined value.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein controlling the braking system of the vehicle to execute the emergency stop comprises:
 detecting if a drive-by-wire system of the vehicle is enabled; and   responsive to the drive-by-wire system being enabled, controlling the braking system of the vehicle to execute the emergency stop by sending a command through the drive-by-wire system.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 receiving an emergency stop command from the remote support system to execute the emergency stop; and   controlling the braking system of the vehicle to execute the emergency stop responsive to the emergency stop command.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein requesting the support comprises:
 detecting selection of a user interface control within the vehicle to request the support; and   sending a request for the support in response to the selection.   
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor for initiating a request for remote support for an autonomous drive system of a vehicle, the instructions when executed causing the processor to perform steps comprising:
 receiving, from the vehicle at a remote support system, a request for remote support;   responsive to the request, initiating a support connection between the vehicle and the remote support system;   receiving, from the vehicle at the remote support system via the support connection, sensor information relating to a state of the vehicle;   analyzing the sensor information to determine an urgency metric associated with the state of the vehicle;   determining, if the urgency metric exceeds a predefined threshold;   responsive to determining that the urgency metric does not exceed the predefined threshold, initiating a communications connection accessible to a passenger of the vehicle;   receiving communications from the passenger via the communications connection;   determining based on the communications from the passenger, whether to initiate a remote guidance to guide the autonomous drive system of the vehicle; and   responsive to determining to initiate the remote drive guidance, providing the remote guidance to the vehicle.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , the instructions further causing the processor to perform steps including:
 responsive to determining that the urgency metric exceeds the predefined threshold, provide the remote guidance to the vehicle.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , the instructions further causing the processor to perform steps including:
 responsive to determining not to initiate the remote guidance based on the communications from the passenger, terminating the communications connection and the support connection with the vehicle.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein receiving the request for remote support comprises:
 receiving a code from a computer device relating to relating to a bar code, QR code, RFID tag, or other code visible on the vehicle, the code encoding identifying information associated with the vehicle.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , the instructions further causing the processor to perform steps including:
 analyzing the state of the vehicle to determine whether to activate an emergency stop system of the vehicle; and   responsive to determining to activate the emergency stop, sending an emergency stop signal to the vehicle.   
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor for operating an autonomous drive system of a vehicle in communication with a remote support system, the instructions when executed by the processor causing the processor to perform steps comprising:
 requesting, from the remote support system, support for the autonomous drive system of the vehicle;   setting a counter of the vehicle to a predefined value;   at a predefined time interval, checking if the vehicle received a keep alive signal from the remote support system;   responsive to failing to receive the keep alive signal in the predefined time interval, decrementing the counter of the vehicle;   controlling a braking system of the vehicle to execute an emergency stop responsive to the counter reaching zero.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , the instructions further causing the processor to perform steps including:
 responsive to receiving the keep alive signal, resetting the counter to the predefined value.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein controlling the braking system of the vehicle to execute the emergency stop comprises:
 detecting if a drive-by-wire system of the vehicle is enabled; and   responsive to the drive-by-wire system being enabled, controlling the braking system of the vehicle to execute the emergency stop by sending a command through the drive-by-wire system.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , the instructions further causing the processor to perform steps including:
 receiving an emergency stop command from the remote support system to execute the emergency stop; and   controlling the braking system of the vehicle to execute the emergency stop responsive to the emergency stop command.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein requesting the support comprises:
 detecting selection of a user interface control within the vehicle to request the support; and   sending a request for the support in response to the selection.