BACKGROUND

1. Field

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to automotive devices, and more particularly to methods, messaging and apparatuses for use in or with an automotive device to facilitate vehicle maneuvering.

2. Information

Self-driving cars enable automated driving, to enhance the safety, efficiency and convenience of vehicular transportation. Path and maneuver planning for a vehicle to everything (V2X)-capable vehicle, here referred to as the ego vehicle, depends on knowing the capabilities and behavior of surrounding vehicles. The capabilities and behavior of surrounding vehicles helps determine, for example, safe intervehicle spacing and lane change maneuvering. The capabilities and behavior of surrounding vehicles will need to be communicated, for example, through V2X application-layer standards via a set of Data elements (DEs) for vehicles to exchange capability information. Using these data elements will enable vehicles to optimize times and distances for inter-vehicle spacing and maneuvers. It is understood that references to vehicle to everything (V2X) and cellular vehicle to everything (CV2X), as used herein, may apply to and encompass various communication embodiments and standards such as, but not limited to, 5G new radio (NR) communications standards, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), 802.11p, the Surface Vehicle Standard (SVS) from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) standards from the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), such as the Basic Safety Message or the Cooperative Awareness Message, and/or other vehicle to vehicle (V2V), cellular vehicle to everything (CV2X) and other vehicle to everything (V2X) communication embodiments as may exist or may be defined in the future.

SUMMARY

Some example techniques are presented herein which may be implemented in various methods and apparatuses in a vehicle to determine, send, receive and utilize data elements to determine inter-vehicle spacing, intersection priority, lane change behavior and spacing and other autonomous vehicle behavior.

In an embodiment, a method of vehicle coordination may comprise: receiving, at an ego vehicle, a first message from a first vehicle, wherein the first message comprises an identification data element for the first vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a combination thereof; receiving, at the ego vehicle, a second message from a second vehicle, wherein the second message comprises an identification data element for the second vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle or a braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; determining a target space based, at least in part, upon a size of the ego vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle, the braking distance data element for the first vehicle, or the braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; sending, from the ego vehicle, a third message to the first vehicle requesting the target space between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; sending, from the ego vehicle, a fourth message to the second vehicle requesting the target space between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; receiving at least one response in a fifth message from the first vehicle or in a sixth message from the second vehicle or a combination thereof; and maneuvering the ego vehicle into the target space between the first and the second vehicle based upon the at least one response.

In an embodiment, an ego vehicle, may comprise: one or more wireless transceivers; vehicle internal sensors; vehicle external sensors; a memory; and one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more wireless transceivers, the vehicle internal sensors, the vehicle external sensors, and the memory; wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receive, at the one or more wireless transceivers, a first message from a first vehicle, wherein the first message comprises an identification data element for the first vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a combination thereof; receive, at the one or more wireless transceivers, a second message from a second vehicle, wherein the second message comprises an identification data element for the second vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle or a braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; determine a target space based, at least in part, upon a size of the ego vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle, the braking distance data element for the first vehicle, or the braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; send, from the one or more wireless transceivers, a third message to the first vehicle requesting the target space between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; send, from the one or more wireless transceivers, a fourth message to the second vehicle requesting the target space between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; receive at least one response in a fifth message from the first vehicle or in a sixth message from the second vehicle or a combination thereof; and maneuver the ego vehicle into the target space between the first and the second vehicle based upon the at least one response.

In an embodiment, an ego vehicle, may comprise: means for receiving, at the ego vehicle, a first message from a first vehicle, wherein the first message comprises an identification data element for the first vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a combination thereof; means for receiving, at the ego vehicle, a second message from a second vehicle, wherein the second message comprises an identification data element for the second vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle or a braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; means for determining a target space based, at least in part, upon a size of the ego vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle, the braking distance data element for the first vehicle, or the braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; means for sending, from the ego vehicle, a third message to the first vehicle requesting the target space between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; means for sending, from the ego vehicle, a fourth message to the second vehicle requesting the target space between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; means for receiving at least one response in a fifth message from the first vehicle or in a sixth message from the second vehicle or a combination thereof; and means for maneuvering the ego vehicle into the target space between the first and the second vehicle based upon the at least one response.

In an embodiment, a method of vehicle coordination, may comprise receiving, at an ego vehicle, a first message from a first vehicle, wherein the first message comprises an identification data element for the first vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a combination thereof; receiving, at the ego vehicle, a second message from a second vehicle, wherein the second message comprises an identification data element for the second vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle or a braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; determining a first target space between the ego vehicle and the first vehicle based upon the autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status of the ego vehicle, the braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance of the ego vehicle or a combination thereof; determining a second target space between the ego vehicle and the second vehicle based upon the autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status of the ego vehicle, the braking distance data element for the second vehicle or the braking distance of the ego vehicle or a combination thereof; sending, from the ego vehicle, a third message to the first vehicle requesting the first target space between the first vehicle and the ego vehicle; sending, from the ego vehicle, a fourth message to the second vehicle requesting the second target space between the first and the second vehicle; receiving at least one response in a fifth message from the first vehicle or in a sixth message from the second vehicle or a combination thereof; and maneuvering the ego vehicle to create or maintain the first target space between the ego vehicle and the first vehicle and the second target space between the ego vehicle and the second vehicle, based on the received at least one response.

In an embodiment, an ego vehicle may comprise: one or more wireless transceivers; vehicle internal sensors; vehicle external sensors; a memory; and one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more wireless transceivers, the vehicle internal sensors, the vehicle external sensors, and the memory; wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receive, at the one or more wireless transceivers, a first message from a first vehicle, wherein the first message comprises an identification data element for the first vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a combination thereof; receive, at the one or more wireless transceivers, a second message from a second vehicle, wherein the second message comprises an identification data element for the second vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle or a braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; determine a first target space between the ego vehicle and the first vehicle based upon the autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status of the ego vehicle, the braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance of the ego vehicle or a combination thereof; determine a second target space between the ego vehicle and the second vehicle based upon the autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status of the ego vehicle, the braking distance data element for the second vehicle or the braking distance of the ego vehicle or a combination thereof; send, from the one or more wireless transceivers, a third message to the first vehicle requesting the first target space between the first vehicle and the ego vehicle; send, from the one or more wireless transceivers, a fourth message to the second vehicle requesting the second target space between the first and the second vehicle; receive, at the one or more wireless transceivers, an at least one response in a fifth message from the first vehicle or in a sixth message from the second vehicle or a combination thereof; and maneuver the ego vehicle to create or maintain the first target space between the ego vehicle and the first vehicle and the second target space between the ego vehicle and the second vehicle, based on the received at least one response

In an embodiment, an ego vehicle may comprise: means for receiving, at the ego vehicle, a first message from a first vehicle, wherein the first message comprises an identification data element for the first vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a combination thereof; means for receiving, at the ego vehicle, a second message from a second vehicle, wherein the second message comprises an identification data element for the second vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle or a braking distance data element for the second vehicle or a combination thereof; means for determining a first target space between the ego vehicle and the first vehicle based upon the autonomous vehicle status data element for the first vehicle, an autonomous vehicle status of the ego vehicle, the braking distance data element for the first vehicle or a braking distance of the ego vehicle or a combination thereof; means for determining a second target space between the ego vehicle and the second vehicle based upon the autonomous vehicle status data element for the second vehicle, the autonomous vehicle status of the ego vehicle, the braking distance data element for the second vehicle or the braking distance of the ego vehicle or a combination thereof; means for sending, from the ego vehicle, a third message to the first vehicle requesting the first target space between the first vehicle and the ego vehicle; means for sending, from the ego vehicle, a fourth message to the second vehicle requesting the second target space between the first and the second vehicle; means for receiving, at the ego vehicle, at least one response in a fifth message from the first vehicle or in a sixth message from the second vehicle or a combination thereof; and means for, maneuvering the ego vehicle to create or maintain the first target space between the ego vehicle and the first vehicle and the second target space between the ego vehicle and the second vehicle, based on the received at least one response.

