Constructing the domain ontology for driving scenarios involves considering the standardization of domain terms, the broad applicability of conceptual categories, the hierarchical structure of abstract concepts in the domain, and defining the relevant attributes of each concept and the relationships between concepts [
29]. First, existing domain ontologies were examined. Among them, the terminology of the A.U.T.O. ontology, open-sourced by Westhofen et al. [
20], was more standardized. Therefore, based on the reuse of the A.U.T.O. ontology, further extensions and adjustments were made for a full-scenario perspective based on the domain knowledge obtained in this chapter. Additionally, during the subsequent knowledge extraction from structured data, the ontology was updated based on the fusion results of the small-scale knowledge graph, making it not only conform to the domain consensus but also adaptable for describing and representing full-scenario knowledge.
3.2.1. Definition of Classes and Their Hierarchical Structure
Referring to the widely applicable six-layer scene hierarchical concept, this chapter also divides the knowledge system of intelligent connected vehicle driving scenarios into six concept classes: Basic Road, Roadside Facility, Temporary Change, Dynamic Object, Environmental Condition, and Digital Information. Among them, the Basic Road provides the foundational support for all scenario elements; the Roadside Facility is built upon the road structure; the Temporary Change describes transient adjustments within the Basic Road and Roadside Facility ; the Dynamic Object acts as an intermediate layer, connecting static and dynamic scenario elements; the Environmental Condition characterizes the environmental elements of the scenario and their impacts on the aforementioned concept and vehicle functions; and the Digital Information describes all digital data-based information related to vehicles, infrastructure, or both. These concept classes are constructed hierarchically from the bottom layer to the top layer, forming a complete architecture. Each concept class contains specific subclasses, forming a parent-child inheritance relationship among them. The concept classes and their associated attributes together construct the process of abstracting from functional scenes, logical scenes to concrete scenes. The following briefly explains the core concept classes of the domain ontology of driving scenarios and their subclasses:
(1) Basic Road : Describes the road network and all permanent objects required for road traffic guidance. It can be divided into Road Topology, Road Surface Condition, and Traffic Markings.
Road Topology can be mapped to the road network and lanes. For complex road topologies such as intersections and roundabouts, they are recorded using a "road network + lanes" approach to avoid redundant descriptions caused by direct classification of road structures. The road network consists of segments and connections, while lanes contain records of actual roads within each segment.
Road Surface Condition is divided into Road Surface Material and Road Surface Irregularity. The material of the road surface describes its physical characteristics, including features of materials such as asphalt, concrete, gravel, etc. Road surface irregularity describes whether the road surface has manholes, potholes, cracks, faults, depressions, speed bumps, etc., affecting driving conditions.
Traffic markings are traffic indications drawn on the road surface, which can be divided into directional markings, prohibition markings, and warning markings based on their functions. Directional markings indicate markings on facilities such as roadways, directions of travel, road edges, and sidewalks. Prohibition markings indicate special regulations such as adherence to, prohibition, and restriction of road traffic, which drivers and pedestrians must strictly adhere to. Warning markings prompt drivers and pedestrians to understand special situations on the road, increase vigilance, and prepare for contingency measures.
(2) Roadside Facility : Describes all static objects usually placed near the road space rather than on the road. These static objects can be further decomposed into Urban Infrastructure, Traffic Infrastructure, Traffic Control Facilities, and Traffic Information Facilities. Urban infrastructure includes buildings, vegetation, streetlights, fire hydrants, etc.; Traffic infrastructure includes fences, tunnels, bridges, etc.; Traffic control facilities include traffic lights and roadblocks; Traffic information facilities include traffic signs and information display screens.
(3) Temporary Change : Describes the non-persistent temporary changes of entities within the Basic Road and Roadside Facility layers in specific scenarios. This layer does not introduce any new entity classes defined in the preceding layers but consists of temporary modifications of elements from layers 1 and 2. This layer categorizes temporary road events into Road Condition Changes and Road Surface Changes. For each type of temporary event, information such as the lane position, starting point, and end point of the event is specified. Based on the description of the first layer, changes in road conditions can be divided into changes in road curvature, slope, coverage, lane width, number, centerline, etc. In addition to these temporary events closely related to the first layer of road structure, it also includes road surface changes caused by changes in weather conditions, such as dryness, moisture, icing, or reflective road surfaces.
(4) Dynamic Object : Describes dynamic objects in the scenario that affect the occurrence of events. Dynamic objects can be classified from the perspective of vehicles, people, animals, and other objects. The movement of these objects evolves over time and can be described through trajectories.
(5) Environmental Condition : Describes the natural environment in which the traffic scene is located. Weather conditions include weather conditions, temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, visibility, etc. Lighting conditions include the position of light sources, the type of light sources, the intensity of light, the direction of light, and whether there is reflected light, etc.
(6) Digital Information : Describes all information based on digital data between vehicles, infrastructure, or both, including digital signals from information devices such as roadside units and edge computing units. The description of roadside units includes the change status of traffic signs and traffic lights. It is noteworthy that this layer describes the change status of traffic signs and traffic lights, but is limited to the description of changeable information, while the respective objects themselves have already been placed in layer 1. The description of edge computing units includes the change information of perception and control.