Inter-vehicle warnings

• US 10,262,539 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2016
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Miller, Kenneth J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin
• Application Number:
  US15/380,580
• Publication Number:
  US 20180174458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 852 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/095 Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A host vehicle includes: motor(s), sensors, processor(s) configured to: (a) iterate a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof; (b) associate a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle; (c) determine whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the blindspot; (d) if so, transmit a message to the second vehicle including a message activation time.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

motor(s), sensors, processor(s) configured to;

iterate a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associate a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

responsive to a future position of the first vehicle occupying the blindspot,

transmit a message to the second vehicle;

adjust a dimension of the blindspot based on a future property of the first vehicle.

2. A host vehicle comprising:

motor(s), sensors, processor(s) configured to;

iterate a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associate a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determine whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the blindspot;

if so, transmit a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time;

adjust a dimension of the blindspot based on a future property of the first and second vehicle.

3. A host vehicle comprising:

motor(s), sensors, processor(s) configured to;

iterate a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associate a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determine whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the blindspot;

if so, transmit a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time,

wherein the blindspot is associated with a third iterated future position of the second vehicle;

adjust a dimension of the blindspot based on a future property of the first vehicle at a second iterated future position of the first vehicle.

4. A host vehicle comprising:

motor(s), sensors, processor(s) configured to;

iterate a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associate a first blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determine whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the first blindspot;

if so, transmit a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time;

associate a second, different blindspot with the iterated future position of the second vehicle.

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

adjust a dimension of the first blindspot, but not the second blindspot, based on a future property of the first vehicle.

6. A host vehicle comprising:

motor(s), sensors, processor(s) configured to;

iterate a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associate a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determine whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the blindspot;

if so, transmit a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time;

generate the predicted occupation time based on a future time when the first vehicle is predicted to occupy the blindspot.

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

generate the predicted occupation time based on the future time by subtracting a predetermined amount from the future time.

8. The host vehicle of claim 7, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

calculate the subtracted predetermined amount based on a future property of the first vehicle.

9. The host vehicle of claim 8, wherein the future property of the first vehicle is a predicted speed of the first vehicle during an iteration preceding the iteration where the first vehicle occupies the blindspot.

10. A method of controlling a host vehicle, the host vehicle comprising motor(s), sensors, processor(s), the method comprising, via the processor(s):

iterating a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associating a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determining whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the blindspot;

if so, transmitting a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time;

adjusting a dimension of the blindspot based on a future property of the first vehicle.

11. A method of controlling a host vehicle, the host vehicle comprising motor(s), sensors, processor(s), the method comprising, via the processor(s):

iterating a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associating a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determining whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the blindspot;

if so, transmitting a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time;

adjusting a dimension of the blindspot based on a future property of the first and a future property of the second vehicle.

12. A method of controlling a host vehicle, the host vehicle comprising motor(s), sensors, processor(s), the method comprising, via the processor(s):

iterating a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associating a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determining whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the blindspot;

if so, transmitting a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time, wherein the blindspot is associated with a third iterated future position of the second vehicle;

adjusting a dimension of the blindspot based on a future property of the first vehicle at a second iterated future position of the first vehicle.

13. A method of controlling a host vehicle, the host vehicle comprising motor(s), sensors, processor(s), the method comprising, via the processor(s):

iterating a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associating a first blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determining whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the first blindspot;

if so, transmitting a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time;

associating a second, different blindspot with the iterated future position of the second vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising adjusting a dimension of the first blindspot, but not the second blindspot, based on a future property of the first vehicle.

15. A method of controlling a host vehicle, the host vehicle comprising motor(s), sensors, processor(s), the method comprising, via the processor(s):

iterating a series of future properties, comprising future positions, of nearby first and second vehicles based on determined current properties thereof;

associating a blindspot with an iterated future position of the second vehicle;

determining whether a future position of the first vehicle occupies the blindspot;

if so, transmitting a message to the second vehicle including a predicted occupation time;

generating the predicted occupation time based on a future time when the first vehicle is predicted to occupy the blindspot.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising generating the predicted occupation time based on the future time by subtracting a predetermined amount from the future time.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising calculating the subtracted predetermined amount based on a future property of the first vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the future property of the first vehicle is a predicted speed of the first vehicle during an iteration preceding the iteration where the first vehicle occupies the blindspot.