Coasting guidance timing and drive force adjustment

• US 10,189,453 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2016
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Payne, Joshua D., Bulpitt, Christopher M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Weber, Tamara L
• Application Number:
  US15/286,439
• Publication Number:
  US 20180093650A1
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/02 Active or adaptive cruise control system; Distance control
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2210/32 Vehicle surroundings
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2210/36 Global Positioning System [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2270/604 Merging friction therewith; Adjusting their repartition
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/22 initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle , or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/172 Determining control parameters used in the regulation, e.g. by calculations involving measured or detected parameters B60T8/17551 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus for adjusting coasting guidance and control. The coasting guidance system includes a user interface for displaying coasting information. The coasting guidance system includes an electronic control unit coupled to the user interface and configured to determine a location of a stop event. The electronic control unit is configured to determine a braking location and a target speed based on the location of the stop event. The electronic control unit is configured to determine an ideal coasting location based on the braking location and determine an actual coasting location. The actual coasting location is where the driver begins coasting. The electronic control unit is configured to control a deceleration drive force of the vehicle to decelerate the vehicle to the target speed at the braking location based on the braking location, the actual coasting location and the ideal coasting location.

Claims

1. A coasting guidance system for controlling a coasting deceleration drive force that affects a deceleration of a vehicle when the vehicle coasts, comprising:

an electronic control unit configured to;

determine a location of a stop event,

determine a braking location and a target speed where when a brake is depressed an applied braking power is less than or equal to a regenerative power limit and the brake stops the vehicle at the location of the stop event,

determine an ideal coasting location based on the braking location,

determine an actual coasting location where the vehicle begins coasting, and

determine the coasting deceleration drive force that affects the deceleration of the vehicle based on the braking location, the target speed, the actual coasting location, and the ideal coasting location; and

a transmission configured to decelerate the vehicle to the target speed at the braking location using the coasting deceleration force.

2. The coasting guidance system of claim 1, further comprising:

a global positioning system (GPS) configured to provide at least one of vehicle information or navigational map information, wherein the vehicle information includes a current speed of the vehicle and the navigational map information includes the location of the stop event.

3. The coasting guidance system of claim 1, further comprising:

a global positioning system (GPS) configured to obtain a current location of the vehicle; and

a memory configured to store a plurality of locations of stop events;

wherein to determine the location of the stop event the electronic control unit is configured to compare the current location of the vehicle to the plurality of locations of stop events stored in the memory.

4. The coasting guidance system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display for providing a notification to a driver;

wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to;

provide a notification to the display at or within a threshold distance or time of the ideal coasting location, wherein the notification indicates to the driver that the vehicle should begin to coast.

5. The coasting guidance system of claim 4, wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to:

adjust the threshold distance or time based on a driver response time previously stored in a memory.

6. The coasting guidance system of claim 1, wherein to determine the coasting deceleration drive force the electronic control unit is configured to:

calculate an ideal deceleration rate based on a distance that is between the ideal coasting location and the braking location and a difference between a current speed of the vehicle and the target speed;

associate the ideal deceleration rate to a pre-set deceleration drive force;

calculate an actual deceleration rate based on a distance that is between the actual coasting location and the braking location and the difference between the current speed of the vehicle and the target speed; and

determine an applied deceleration drive force based on the pre-set deceleration drive force and a ratio of the actual deceleration rate to the ideal deceleration rate.

7. The coasting guidance system of claim 1, further comprising:

a braking sensor that detects when the brake of the vehicle is depressed; and

an acceleration input sensor that detects when an accelerator of the vehicle is depressed;

wherein to determine the actual coasting location the electronic control unit is configured to determine when the brake and the accelerator are not depressed.

8. The coasting guidance system of claim 1, wherein the coasting deceleration drive force is further based on a current speed of the vehicle.

9. The coasting guidance system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more sensors configured to;

determine whether a surrounding vehicle is following the vehicle; and

determine a distance between the vehicle and the surrounding vehicle if the surrounding vehicle is following the vehicle.

10. The coasting guidance system of claim 9, wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to:

determine whether the distance between the vehicle and the surrounding vehicle is less than a threshold distance; and

adjust the ideal coasting location if the distance between the vehicle and the surrounding vehicle is less than the threshold distance.

11. A method for controlling a coasting deceleration drive force of a vehicle, comprising:

determining a location of a stop event;

determining a braking location and a target speed for maximizing an amount of regenerative energy captured when braking the vehicle to stop at the location of the stop event;

determining an ideal coasting location based on the braking location;

providing a notification to a display at or within a threshold distance or time of the ideal coasting location based on a driver response time associated with an identity of a driver and stored in memory;

determining an actual coasting location where the vehicle begins coasting; and

controlling the coasting deceleration drive force of the vehicle based on the target speed, the actual coasting location, the ideal coasting location and the braking location.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein controlling the coasting deceleration drive force includes:

calculating an ideal deceleration rate based on a distance that is between the ideal coasting location and the braking location and a difference between a current speed of the vehicle and the target speed;

associating the ideal deceleration rate to a pre-set deceleration drive force;

calculating an actual deceleration rate based on a distance that is between the actual coasting location and the braking location and the difference between the current speed of the vehicle and the target speed; and

determining an applied deceleration drive force based on the pre-set deceleration drive force and a ratio between the actual deceleration rate and the ideal deceleration rate, the applied deceleration drive force having a minimum limit and a maximum limit.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein associating the ideal deceleration rate to the pre-set deceleration drive force is based on a deceleration map.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the location of the stop event includes obtaining the location of the stop event from memory where the location of the stop event was previously stored.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the notification indicates that the driver should begin to coast.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the actual coasting location includes determining that an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal are not depressed for a threshold amount of time.

17. A coasting guidance system for a first vehicle, comprising:

one or more sensors for detecting a second vehicle within a threshold distance of the first vehicle;

an electronic control unit coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to;

determine an ideal coasting location based on a location of a stop event,

determine that the second vehicle is behind and within the threshold distance of the first vehicle,

adjust the ideal coasting location,

delay a timing of when a notification indicating that a driver of the first vehicle should begin coasting is provided to the driver due to the second vehicle being behind and within the threshold distance of the first vehicle and based on the adjusted ideal coasting location,

determine an actual coasting location where the vehicle begins coasting, and

determine a coasting deceleration drive force of the first vehicle to decelerate the first vehicle to the location of the stop event; and

a transmission configured to control the coasting deceleration drive force of the first vehicle.

18. The coasting guidance system of claim 17, further comprising:

a user interface for displaying coasting information including the notification, wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to provide the notification indicating that the driver of the first vehicle should begin coasting at the adjusted ideal coasting location to the user interface.

19. The coasting guidance of claim 17, wherein the delay of the timing of when the notification indicating that the driver of the first vehicle should begin coasting is provided to the driver is greater when a distance that the second vehicle is behind the first vehicle is a first distance than when the distance that the second vehicle is behind the first vehicle is a second distance, wherein the first distance is less than the second distance.