# US 11,305,775 B2 · Apparatus and method for changing lane of autonomous vehicle

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 11,305,775 B2
- Document ID: US11305775B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/570,523
- Filed: 2019-09-13
- Published: 2020-03-12
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2019-08-16
- Assignees: LG Electronics Inc.
- Applicants: LG Electronics Inc.
- Inventors: Jun Young Yu; Soo Jung Jeon; Dae Geun Ha
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11305775B2

## CPC

- B60W 30/18163: {Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres}
- B60W 60/001: {Planning or execution of driving tasks}
- B60W 40/105: Speed
- G06N 3/008: based on physical entities controlled by simulated intelligence so as to replicate intelligent life forms, e.g. based on robots replicating pets or humans in their appearance or behaviour
- G06N 3/04: Architecture, e.g. interconnection topology
- G06N 3/0499: Feedforward networks
- G06N 3/088: Non-supervised learning, e.g. competitive learning
- G06N 3/09: Supervised learning
- G06N 20/00: Machine learning
- G06V 20/56: exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
- G06V 20/584: {of vehicle lights or traffic lights}
- G06V 20/588: {Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road}
- H04W 4/40: for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
- B60W 2554/80: Spatial relation or speed relative to objects
- B60W 2556/50: of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
- B60W 2556/65: Data transmitted between vehicles
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- G06N: COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a lane changing apparatus of an autonomous vehicle configured to change a driving lane in consideration of a congested situation includes a controller configured to determine whether an expected driving lane is congested based on driving information, and a communicator configured to receive the driving information. At least one among an autonomous driving vehicle, a user terminal, and a server according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be associated or integrated with an artificial intelligence module, a drone (unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)), a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, and a 5G service related device.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A lane changing apparatus of an autonomous vehicle configured to change a driving lane in consideration of a congested situation, the lane changing apparatus comprising:
a controller configured to:
determine whether an expected driving lane is congested based on driving information,
search for a first space and a second space, which are vehicle enterable spaces in the expected driving lane, and determine a space to be entered based on a comparison result between a characteristic of the first space and a characteristic of the second space based on determination that the expected driving lane is congested, and control the autonomous vehicle to change lanes along a lane changing route leading to the space to be entered; and
a communicator configured to receive the driving information, and
wherein the comparison result between the characteristic of the first space and the characteristic of the second space comprises a result of comparing a size of the first space and a size of the second space,
wherein the driving information comprises a driving lane speed which is a chassis speed of the autonomous vehicle, and an expected driving lane speed which is a chassis speed of a vehicle moving along the expected driving lane, and
when the driving lane speed exceeds the expected driving lane speed, the controller determines that the expected driving lane is congested.

### Claim 2

A lane changing apparatus of an autonomous vehicle configured to change a driving lane in consideration of a congested situation, the lane changing apparatus comprising:
a controller configured to:
determine whether an expected driving lane is congested based on driving information,
search for a first space and a second space, which are vehicle enterable spaces in the expected driving lane, and determine a space to be entered based on a comparison result between a characteristic of the first space and a characteristic of the second space based on determination that the expected driving lane is congested, and control the autonomous vehicle to change lanes along a lane changing route leading to the space to be entered; and
a communicator configured to receive the driving information, and
wherein the comparison result between the characteristic of the first space and the characteristic of the second space comprises a result of comparing a size of the first space and a size of the second space, and
wherein the driving information comprises lane marker information, and when the number of solid lines of the lane marker between the driving lane on which the autonomous vehicle is driving and the expected driving lane decreases based on the lane marker information, the controller determines that the expected driving lane is congested.

### Claim 3

A lane changing apparatus of an autonomous vehicle configured to change a driving lane in consideration of a congested situation, the lane changing apparatus comprising:
a controller configured to:
determine whether an expected driving lane is congested based on driving information,
search for a first space and a second space, which are vehicle enterable spaces in the expected driving lane, and determine a space to be entered based on a comparison result between a characteristic of the first space and a characteristic of the second space based on determination that the expected driving lane is congested, and control the autonomous vehicle to change lanes along a lane changing route leading to the space to be entered; and
a communicator configured to receive the driving information, and
wherein the comparison result between the characteristic of the first space and the characteristic of the second space comprises a result of comparing a size of the first space and a size of the second space, and
wherein the driving information comprises surrounding image information, and the controller detects surrounding vehicles from the surrounding image, extracts a time and space feature vector from an image frame including the detected surrounding vehicles, determines a number of vehicles which show a cutting-in tendency through a deep learning artificial neural network using the extracted time and space feature vector, and when the number of determined vehicles exceeds a predetermined threshold number, determines that the expected driving lane is congested.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The lane changing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the comparison result between the characteristic of the first space and the characteristic of the second space further comprises a result of comparing an increase rate of the size of the first space and an increase rate of the size of the second space.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The lane changing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a communicator configured to communicate with a vehicle which is driving in the expected driving lane,
wherein when the controller determines that the expected driving lane is congested, the controller generates a yield request signal for changing lanes, and transmits the yield request signal to the vehicle which is driving in the expected driving lane through the communicator.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The lane changing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller periodically updates the comparison result between the characteristic of the first space and the characteristic of the second space, and changes the space to be entered based on the updated comparison result, while not changing the space to be entered when a wheel of the autonomous vehicle has crossed a lane marker between the driving lane on which the autonomous vehicle is driving and the expected driving lane.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The lane changing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the controller determines that a vehicle which is driving behind the first space is a non-yielding vehicle which is approaching the lane marker between the driving lane on which the autonomous vehicle is driving and the expected driving lane, the controller reduces the size of the first space in accordance with a predetermined ratio before comparing the characteristic of the first space and the characteristic of the second space.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The lane changing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the communicator receives the driving information based on a downlink grant of a 5G network connected to drive the autonomous vehicle in an autonomous driving mode.