Safety critical systems control in autonomous vehicles

• US 10,434,883 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2016
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Berels, David Jeffeory
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnie, Rexford N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Willoughby, Terrence R
• Application Number:
  US15/277,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20180086210A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,106 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/00 Supplying electric power to auxiliary equipment of vehicles circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/02 to electric heating circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/10 DC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/50 using propulsion power supplied by batteries or fuel cells
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/20 having different nominal voltages
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/18 Braking system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/20 Steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/10 Path keeping cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

The health and integrity of safety critical vehicle systems of a vehicle can be determined by energizing the safety critical vehicle systems with a first power source, determining a first voltage of the first power source, and then determining a second voltage of a second power source. Comparing the first and second voltages can determine the health and integrity of safety critical vehicle systems.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

energizing one or more vehicle electrical systems with a first power source of two or more power sources, each power source capable of independently energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical, wherein the one or more vehicle electrical systems comprises at least one of a vehicle brake system, a vehicle steering system, or a vehicle powertrain system;

determining a voltage of the first power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems;

determining a voltage of a second power source of the two or more power sources while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems; and

determining that a combined voltage of the first power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems and voltage of the second power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems is within a first predetermined tolerance of a first predetermined voltage.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

de-energizing the first power source;

energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems with the second power source;

determining a voltage of the first power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems;

determining a voltage of the second power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems; and

determining that a combined voltage of the first power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems and voltage of the second power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems is within a second predetermined tolerance of a second predetermined voltage.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining that the vehicle electrical systems are energized to within the first predetermined tolerance of the first predetermined voltage under one or more fault conditions including failure of the second power source.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle electrical systems are safety critical vehicle electrical systems.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems to within the first predetermined tolerance of the first predetermined voltage with the first power source alone.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein a portion of loads associated with one or more of the vehicle electrical systems are turned off before energizing the vehicle electrical systems.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein energizing the vehicle electrical systems includes energizing one or more DC-DC converters.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory including instructions to be executed by the processor to;

energize one or more vehicle electrical systems with a first power source of two or more power sources, each power source capable of independently energizing the one or more vehicle electrical system;

determine a voltage of the first power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems;

determine a voltage of a second power source of the two or more power sources while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems; and

determine that a difference between the voltage of the first power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems and the voltage of the second power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems are within a first predetermined tolerance of a first predetermined voltage.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the memory includes instructions to:

de-energize the first power source;

energize one or more of the vehicle electrical systems with the second power source;

determine a voltage of the first power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems;

determine a voltage of the second power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems; and

determine that a difference between the voltage of the first power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems and the voltage of the second power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems are within a second predetermined tolerance of a second predetermined voltage.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the memory includes instructions to determine that one or more of the vehicle electrical systems are energized to within the first predetermined tolerance of the first predetermined voltage under one or more fault conditions including failure of the second power source.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the vehicle electrical systems are safety critical vehicle electrical systems.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the memory includes instructions to energize one or more of the vehicle electrical systems to within the first predetermined tolerance of the first predetermined voltage with the first power source alone.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the memory includes instructions to turn off a portion of loads associated with one or more of the vehicle electrical systems before energizing the vehicle electrical systems.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the memory includes instructions to energize one or more DC-DC converters as the vehicle electrical systems.

15. A vehicle, comprising:

a computing device including a processor; and

a memory, the memory including instructions to be executed by the processor to;

energize one or more vehicle electrical systems with a first power source of two or more power sources, each power source capable of independently energizing the one or more vehicle electrical system;

determine a voltage of the first power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems;

determine a voltage of a second power source of the two or more power sources while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems; and

determine that a combined voltage of the first power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems and voltage of the second power source while the first power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems is within a first predetermined tolerance of a first predetermined voltage.

16. The vehicle of claim 15 wherein the memory includes instructions to:

de-energize the first power source;

energize one or more of the vehicle electrical systems with the second power source;

determine a voltage of the first power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems;

determine a voltage of the second power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems; and

determine that a difference between the voltage of the first power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems and the voltage of the second power source while the first power source is de-energized and while the second power source is energizing one or more of the vehicle electrical systems are within a second predetermined tolerance of a second predetermined voltage.

17. The vehicle of claim 16 wherein the memory includes instructions to determine that one or more of the vehicle electrical systems are energized to within the first predetermined tolerance of the first predetermined voltage under one or more fault conditions including failure of the second power source.

18. The vehicle of claim 15 wherein the vehicle electrical systems are safety critical vehicle electrical systems.