Vehicle with mode guidance

• US 10,131,363 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2016
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Schaffer, Daniel Mark, Miller, Kenneth James
• Primary Examiner(s): Melton, Todd M
• Application Number:
  US15/332,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20180111627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 757 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/04 including control of propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/22 including control of suspension systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0863 due to erroneous selection or response of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/408 Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/40 Coefficient of friction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/082 Selecting or switching between different modes of propelling
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention

Abstract

A vehicle includes: a motor, sensors, steering, a suspension, a terrain mode switch, processor(s) configured to: implement a selected terrain mode by tuning at least one of the motor, steering, and suspension; record selected terrain modes; compute a confidence factor based on the recorded selections; determine a road condition based on the sensors; display guidance based on the confidence factor and the road condition.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a motor, sensors, steering, a suspension, a terrain mode switch, and processor(s) configured to;

implement a selected terrain mode by tuning at least one of the motor, the steering, and the suspension;

record selected terrain modes;

place the recorded selections into first and second groups, the first group only including selections recorded within a first timespan, the second group only including selections recorded with a second timespan, the second timespan being longer than the first timespan;

compute a confidence factor based on the first and second groups of the recorded selections;

determine a road condition based on the sensors; and

display guidance based on the confidence factor and the road condition.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to not compute the confidence factor based on selections recorded outside a calculated timespan.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

assign a greater weight to the first group and a lesser weight to the second group when computing the confidence factor.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

compute the confidence factor when a sensed vehicle speed exceeds a predetermined speed.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the terrain mode switch enables user selection of one of a plurality of terrain modes, each of the plurality of terrain modes being associated with a different suspension tuning.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

determine the road condition based on a sensed yaw rate and a sensed steering angle.

7. A vehicle comprising:

processor(s) to;

implement a selected terrain mode by tuning at least one of a motor, steering, and a suspension;

record selected terrain modes;

compute a confidence factor based on the recorded selections;

determine a road condition based on vehicle sensors;

display guidance based on confidence factor and the road condition; and

not consider terrain modes selected between the computation of the confidence factor and the guidance display during future confidence factor computations.

8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the processor(s) are configured to place the recorded selections into first and second groups the first group only including selections recorded within a first timespan, the second group only including selections recorded with a second timespan.

9. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

compute the confidence factor based on the first and second groups of recorded selections and wherein the second timespan is longer than the first timespan.

10. A vehicle comprising:

a motor;

sensors;

steering;

a suspension;

a terrain mode switch that enables user selection of one of a plurality of terrain modes, each of the plurality of terrain modes being associated with a different suspension tuning, each of the plurality of terrain modes being mapped to a respective predetermined speed; and

processor(s) configured to;

implement a selected terrain mode by tuning at least one of the motor, the steering, and the suspension;

record selected terrain modes;

compute a confidence factor based on the recorded selections when a sensed vehicle speed exceeds the respective predetermined speed of the selected terrain mode;

determine a road condition based on the sensors; and

display guidance based on the confidence factor and the road condition.

11. A method of controlling a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a motor, sensors, steering, a suspension, a terrain mode switch, and processors, the method comprising, via the processors:

implementing a selected terrain mode by tuning at least one of the motor, steering, and suspension;

recording selected terrain modes;

placing the recorded selections into first and second groups, the first group only including selections recorded within a first timespan, the second group only including selections recorded with a second timespan, the second timespan being longer than the first timespan;

computing a confidence factor based on the first and second groups of the recorded selections;

determining a road condition based on the sensors;

displaying guidance based on the confidence factor and the road condition.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising:

not computing the confidence factor based on selections recorded outside a calculated timespan.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising:

assigning a greater weight to the first group and a lesser weight to the second group when computing the confidence factor.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising:

computing the confidence factor when a sensed vehicle speed exceeds a predetermined speed.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the terrain mode switch enables user selection of one of a plurality of terrain modes, each of the plurality of terrain modes being associated with a different tuning of the suspension, the steering, or the motor.

16. The method of claim 11, comprising:

determining the road condition based on a sensed yaw rate and a sensed steering angle.

17. A method comprising:

implementing a selected terrain mode by tuning at least one of a motor, steering, and suspension;

recording selected terrain modes;

computing a confidence factor based on the recorded selections;

determining a road condition based on vehicle sensors;

displaying guidance based on the confidence factor and the road condition; and

not considering terrain modes selected between the computation of the confidence factor and the guidance display during future confidence factor computations.

18. A method of controlling a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a motor, sensors, steering, a suspension, a terrain mode switch, and processors, the method comprising, via the processors:

implementing a selected terrain mode by tuning at least one of the motor, the steering, and the suspension, wherein the terrain mode switch enables user selection of one of a plurality of terrain modes, each of the plurality of terrain modes being associated with a different tuning of the suspension, the steering, or the motor, each of the plurality of terrain modes being mapped to a respective predetermined speed;

recording selected terrain modes;

computing a confidence factor based on the recorded selections when a sensed vehicle speed exceeds the respective predetermined speed of the selected terrain mode;

determining a road condition based on the sensors;

displaying guidance based on the confidence factor and the road condition.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising placing the recorded selections into first and second groups, the first group only including selections recorded within a first timespan, the second group only including selections recorded with a second timespan.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising:

computing the confidence factor based on the first and second groups of recorded selections, wherein the second timespan is longer than the first timespan.