DE102023105646A1 - Method for transporting dangerous and/or sensitive cargo by means of an autonomous vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for transporting dangerous and/or sensitive cargo by means of an autonomous vehicle (1), wherein a database (2) with restrictions and/or requirements for categories of cargo is created and/or used, wherein the vehicle (1) or an autonomous driving system (3) of the vehicle (1) retrieves the restrictions and/or requirements relevant for a specific category of cargo to be transported on a planned route, wherein the vehicle (1) or the autonomous driving system (3) proactively monitors compliance with the restrictions and/or requirements during transport.

Description

The invention relates to a method for transporting dangerous and/or sensitive cargo by means of an autonomous vehicle according to the preamble of claim 1.

Sensitive and dangerous goods are often transported by land. There are strict rules and guidelines from various authorities for the transport of such goods, for example ADR (Accord relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route), recommendations for the transport of dangerous goods (Orange Book) of the United Nations or the United States Department of Transportation.

According to the guidelines and restrictions imposed, certain categories of goods can only be transported in accordance with local laws and regulations. This includes not only restrictions on speed and acceleration, but also on the routes to be used and the actions to be taken in the event of an accident.

While traditional freight transport requires drivers to be sufficiently trained to know and execute the rules, an autonomous vehicle, especially an autonomous commercial vehicle, requires the driving system to be informed about the category of goods, the required restrictions and guidelines and the emergency measures to be taken depending on the situation. This may also include special route planning, for example to avoid tunnels, where required by law.

• - Fahrzeuge werden immer von Menschen gefahren.
• - Eine Warnung kann reaktiv erfolgen, nachdem bestimmte Schwellwerte überschritten wurden, ohne dass bereits Schaden verursacht wird.
• - Menschliche Fahrer können problemlos alle Parameter korrigieren, einschließlich Beschleunigung und Geschwindigkeit, wenn diese bereits über den Schwellwerten liegen.

Known systems for monitoring the transport of dangerous and sensitive goods are based on the following assumptions:

• - Vehicles are always driven by people.
• - A warning can be given reactively after certain thresholds have been exceeded without causing any damage.
• - Human drivers can easily correct all parameters, including acceleration and speed, if they are already above the thresholds.

• - Das Fahrzeug mit der Ladung wird von einem autonomen Fahrsystem gefahren.
• - Die Bedingungen erlauben dem Fahrer nicht, die Fahrparameter reaktiv zu korrigieren. Wenn beispielsweise ein anderes Fahrzeug mit hoher Geschwindigkeit nachfolgt, dann kann der Fahrer nicht sicher sofort abbremsen, auch wenn das Fahrzeug bereits oberhalb der Schwellwerte für Beschleunigung oder Geschwindigkeit betrieben wird.
• - Dem menschlichen Fahrer kann ein Fehler unterlaufen, beispielsweise Unaufmerksamkeit oder Fehlinterpretation der Warnungen.

These assumptions do not apply in the following cases:

• - The vehicle with the load is driven by an autonomous driving system.
• - The conditions do not allow the driver to reactively correct the driving parameters. For example, if another vehicle is following at high speed, the driver cannot safely brake immediately, even if the vehicle is already operating above the threshold values for acceleration or speed.
• - The human driver may make a mistake, such as inattention or misinterpretation of the warnings.

EN 10 2021 001 391 A1 describes a method for adapting the route of an autonomously driving vehicle, preferably an autonomously driving transport vehicle, in which the route to be taken by the vehicle is changed when a dangerous situation occurs on the planned route by adapting the route depending on the dangerous situation. In a method in which the safety of the vehicle is improved when dangerous situations occur, the danger to the vehicle caused by the dangerous situation is assessed by the vehicle depending on the load to be transported by the vehicle and, based on the assessment, measures to secure the load are automatically initiated.

The invention is based on the object of specifying a novel method for transporting dangerous and/or sensitive cargo by means of an autonomous vehicle.

The object is achieved according to the invention by a method for transporting dangerous and/or sensitive cargo by means of an autonomous vehicle having the features of claim 1.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are the subject of the subclaims.

In a method for transporting dangerous and/or sensitive cargo using an autonomous vehicle, a database with restrictions and/or requirements for categories of cargo is created and/or used. According to the invention, the vehicle or an autonomous driving system of the vehicle retrieves the restrictions and/or requirements relevant to a specific category of cargo to be transported on a planned route from the database, wherein the vehicle or the autonomous driving system proactively monitors compliance with the restrictions and/or requirements during transport.

In one embodiment, in the event of an accident or incident, relevant cargo information is transmitted from the vehicle or autonomous driving system to a competent authority.

In one embodiment, restrictions and/or requirements include permitted acceleration, permitted speed, permitted transport period, route restrictions, contact information to competent authorities in case of emergency, specific parameters regarding the condition of the goods and/or temperature and/or pressure limits for that category of goods.

In one embodiment, in order to prepare a journey of the vehicle, the category of goods to be transported is fed as input to the autonomous driving system.

In one embodiment, the autonomous driving system plans the trip according to the category of cargo to be transported.

In one embodiment, the database contains vehicle-related and transport-specific parameters extracted from legal or regulatory requirements for the respective category, including regional variations of the categories of goods and the parameters or restrictions required therefor.

In one embodiment, to prepare the autonomous vehicle for travel, information regarding a destination and/or information regarding the cargo and optionally a trailer or semi-trailer are passed as input to the autonomous driving system.

In one embodiment, the information regarding the restrictions and/or requirements for the selected category of cargo specific to at least one geographic region in which the route runs is obtained from the database, fed to the autonomous driving system and taken into account when planning the trip.

In one embodiment, the autonomous driving system alerts a remote monitoring center when a threshold of the restrictions and/or requirements is violated and the autonomous vehicle cannot correct this condition itself, in particular when a temperature of the cargo exceeds a limit despite running cooling systems.

In one embodiment, in the event of an emergency situation, cargo-specific information is transmitted to the authority along with product-specific emergency response information.

According to the present invention, a pre-configured setup is used. The autonomous driving system is informed of the type of dangerous or sensitive cargo and the required regulations for transporting this cargo in a certain geographical area. The autonomous vehicle can then drive according to the required regulations, including route planning, behavior and driving parameters, so that the required conditions are proactively met. The autonomous vehicle can also alert the relevant authorities in the event of an emergency and proactively transmit the required documents and information.

The inventive solution proactively complies with all required restrictions and regulations for the transport of dangerous and sensitive goods. There is therefore never a risk of exceeding the safety thresholds. The inventive solution can be deployed in any geographical location without the need for additional steps or training, provided that the legal restrictions and regulations are available.

Embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail below with reference to drawings.

• 1 eine schematische Ansicht eines autonomen Fahrzeugs und einer Datenbank, und
• 2 eine schematische Ansicht eines Verfahrens zum Betrieb des autonomen Fahrzeugs.

Showing:

• 1 a schematic view of an autonomous vehicle and a database, and
• 2 a schematic view of a method for operating the autonomous vehicle.

Corresponding parts are provided with the same reference numerals in all figures.

1 is a schematic view of an autonomous vehicle 1, for example a commercial vehicle, and a database 2.

According to the present invention, a method is provided in which a database 2 with categories of dangerous and/or sensitive goods and restrictions for their respective transport is created or used. The database 2 can be located in the vehicle 1 or outside the vehicle 1, for example in a cloud. For example, such restrictions can be: permitted acceleration, permitted speed, permitted running time, route restrictions, contact information for the relevant authorities in the event of an emergency.

During the preparation of a journey of the vehicle 1, a type or category of goods to be transported is selected in a step S1 and fed into an autonomous driving system 3 of the vehicle 1.

The autonomous driving system 3 extracts the restrictions for these specific goods to be transported from the above-mentioned database 2 and plans the journey accordingly.

During the journey, the vehicle 1 or its autonomous driving system 3 monitors and proactively complies with all requirements for the transport of dangerous and/or sensitive goods to the destination.

In the event of an accident or an unplanned incident during the journey, legally relevant data is detected by the vehicle 1 or its autonomous driving system 3 and, if necessary, transmitted to the responsible authority.

The information on dangerous and/or sensitive goods in Database 2, in particular regulations and requirements for transport, storage, packaging and handling of dangerous and/or sensitive goods, is defined by specific regulatory authorities in different geographical areas. For example, for most of Europe, ADR generally defines nine types of dangerous classes of goods, each type being assigned a four-digit UN number with the associated requirements. The information on route restrictions is also present in Database 2. For example, all major tunnels in Europe are divided into different classes, from A (least restricted) to E (most restricted). Certain goods are not allowed to be transported in certain classes of tunnels. Database 2 is therefore intended to contain vehicle-related and transport-specific parameters extracted from such regulations. This includes regional variations in the types of goods and the parameters or restrictions required for them, for example journey-specific parameters, acceleration and/or speed restrictions, route restrictions, contact information and data to be provided to the competent authorities in the event of an emergency for each type of goods, specific parameters relating to the condition of the goods, temperature and/or pressure limits for that type of goods. Database 2 may be configured to add further parameters if necessary for safe operation and compliance.

When preparing the autonomous vehicle 1 for a journey, information regarding the destination is passed as input to the autonomous driving system 3. In special cases, information regarding the cargo and optionally a trailer or semi-trailer is also passed as input to the autonomous driving system 3. For dangerous and/or sensitive cargo, the class of the goods is also passed as input to the autonomous driving system 3. The information regarding the special restrictions and regulations for these goods for the respective particular geographical region is then obtained from the above-mentioned database 2 and fed to the autonomous driving system 3, where it is then used to plan the journey. In this phase, special instructions can also optionally be provided, for example to avoid even small potholes in the case of extremely sensitive cargo.

While the autonomous vehicle 1 is transporting the cargo to its destination, the autonomous vehicle 1 or its autonomous driving system 3 monitors all required parameters by means of a number of appropriately configured sensors (for example, at least one accelerometer, temperature gauge, pressure gauge and/or inclinometer as in US7391311B2 , CN201909965U , CN102069769B which are hereby fully incorporated by reference into the present application) and proactively complies with all relevant safety guidelines and regulations, for example with regard to acceleration, deceleration, vibration (e.g. as described in DE102020003213A1 which is hereby fully incorporated by reference into the present application), speed limits or route restrictions. The autonomous driving system 3 can, if necessary, alert a remote monitoring center if a threshold value is violated and it cannot correct this condition itself, for example if the temperature of the cargo exceeds a limit value despite the cooling systems running.

There are special protocols for specific dangerous and/or sensitive goods in the event of an accident or a potentially dangerous incident. For example, the Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform Safety Act in the USA requires that information such as shipping documents together with product-specific emergency response information be handed over to the authority in the event of an emergency situation. For the autonomous vehicle 1, this information has already been extracted from the database 2 described above, so that in the event of a detected collision or accident, all required information can be immediately transmitted to the responsible authority.

2 is a schematic view of the method according to the invention. In step S1, the type or category of goods to be transported is selected and fed into the autonomous driving system 3 of the vehicle 1.

In a step S2, the autonomous driving system 3 checks whether information is available in the database 2 for the selected type or category of goods. If this is not the case, an error message is issued in a step S3, for example in the vehicle 1, on a mobile device or to the remote monitoring center. If the above information is available in the database 2, it is extracted from the database 2 in a step S4 and fed to the autonomous driving system 3 in a step S5.

QUOTES INCLUDED IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of documents listed by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA accepts no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• DE 102021001391 A1 [0007]
• US 7391311 B2 [0034]
• CN 201909965 U [0034]
• CN 102069769 B [0034]
• DE 102020003213 A1 [0034]

Claims (10)

Method for transporting dangerous and/or sensitive cargo by means of an autonomous vehicle (1), wherein a database (2) with restrictions and/or requirements for categories of cargo is created and/or used, characterized in that the vehicle (1) or an autonomous driving system (3) of the vehicle (1) retrieves the restrictions and/or requirements relevant for a specific category of cargo to be transported on a planned route, wherein the vehicle (1) or the autonomous driving system (3) proactively monitors compliance with the restrictions and/or requirements during transport. Procedure according to Claim 1 , characterized in that in the event of an accident or incident, relevant information on the cargo is transmitted from the vehicle (1) or from the autonomous driving system (3) to a competent authority. Procedure according to Claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that the restrictions and/or requirements used are a permitted acceleration, a permitted speed, a permitted running time, route restrictions, contact information for competent authorities in the event of an emergency, specific parameters relating to the condition of the goods and/or temperature and/or pressure limits for this category of goods. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that , in order to prepare a journey of the vehicle (1), the category of the goods to be transported is fed to the autonomous driving system (3) as an input. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the autonomous driving system (3) plans the journey according to the category of cargo to be transported. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the database (2) contains vehicle-related and transport-specific parameters extracted from legal or regulatory provisions for the respective category, including regional variations of the categories of goods and the parameters or restrictions and/or requirements required therefor. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that , in order to prepare the autonomous vehicle (1) for the journey, information regarding a destination and/or information regarding the cargo and optionally a trailer or semi-trailer are passed on as input to the autonomous driving system (3). Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the information regarding the restrictions and/or requirements for the selected category of freight is obtained from the database (2) specifically for at least one geographical region in which the route runs, fed to the autonomous driving system (3) and taken into account when planning the journey. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the autonomous driving system (3) alerts a remote monitoring center if there is a violation of a threshold value with regard to the restrictions and/or requirements and it cannot correct this condition itself, in particular if a temperature of the cargo exceeds a limit value despite running cooling systems. Procedure according to one of the Claims 2 until 9 , characterized in that in the event of an emergency situation, cargo-specific information is transmitted to the authority together with product-specific emergency response information.

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