MOTOR VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM

• US 20100256867A1
• Filed: 07/17/2008
• Published: 10/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZF CV Systems Europe BV (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Original Assignee: Wabco GmbH (Wabco Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kitterer, Hartmut, Dieckmann, Thomas, Breuer, Karsten
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,655 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0891 Video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

The invention relates to a control system for a motor vehicle (10), comprising: (a) at least one driving data sensor (20) for acquiring driving data characterising a driving state of the motor vehicle; (b) at least one camera (24, 30) for capturing images of the surroundings; (c) an accident recorder (28) that is designed to record the images of the surroundings in a buffer; and (d) an electric controller (26) for controlling the driving data sensor (20), the camera (24, 30), and the accident recorder (28). According to the invention, the electric controller (26) is designed to trigger an autonomous braking action of the motor vehicle (10) when predetermined driving data and/or images of the surroundings are provided.

Claims

1. A vehicle control system for a motor vehicle (10), comprising:

(a) at least one driving data sensor (20) for detecting driving data that characterize a driving state of the motor vehicle,

(b) at least one camera (24, 30) for detecting surrounding-area images,

(c) an accident data recorder (28) constructed and arranged for buffered recording of the surrounding-area images, and

(d) an electrical controller (26) for controlling the driving data sensor (20), the camera (24, 30) and the accident data recorder (28), characterized in that

(e) the electrical controller (26) is adapted to initiate autonomous braking of the motor vehicle (10) when predetermined driving data and/or surrounding-area images are present.

2. The vehicle control system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the camera is a lane-keeping camera (24) constructed and arranged to detect a driving lane marking (14, 16) during operation of the motor vehicle (10).

3. The vehicle control system as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterized by a reversing camera (30) for recording reversing images, wherein the accident data recorder (28) is constructed and arranged for buffered recording of the reversing images as well.

4. The vehicle control system as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that

a distance sensor (20) is disposed on the motor vehicle (10) and is constructed and arranged for detection of distance and relative speeds (A, DV) with respect to a preceding vehicle (22),

the accident data recorder (28) is constructed and arranged for buffered recording of the distance data, and

in that the electrical controller (26) is adapted to detect distance and yaw-rate sensor data as driving data.

5. The vehicle control system as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the system

comprises an acceleration sensor and/or a yaw-rate sensor and/or a steering-angle sensor,

the accident data recorder (28) is constructed and arranged for buffered recording of the data produced by these sensors, and

the electrical controller (26) is adapted to detect acceleration sensor data and/or yaw-rate sensor data and/or steering-angle sensor as driving data.

6. The vehicle control system as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the accident data recorder (28) is constructed and arranged to store 0.1 to 100 images per second.

7. A motor vehicle, characterized by a vehicle control system as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6, and/or comprising:

(a) a lane-keeping assistance system including

a lane-keeping camera (24) constructed and arranged to detect a driving lane marking (14, 16) on a roadway (12) during operation of the motor vehicle (10), and

an electrical assistance system controller adapted to output a lane-keeping signal on leaving the driving lane (12) during operation of the motor vehicle (10), and/or

(b) a distance assistance system including

a distance sensor (20) for detecting a distance (A) and a relative speed (DV) of the motor vehicle (10) with respect to a preceding vehicle (22) and

an electrical distance assistance controller adapted to output a distance warning signal when a predetermined minimum distance from the preceding vehicle (22) is undershot during operation of the motor vehicle (10), and

(c) an emergency braking system including an electrical emergency braking system controller adapted to autonomously brake the motor vehicle (10), wherein

(d) the electrical emergency braking system controller is connected to the lane-keeping camera (24) and to the distance sensor (20) such that they allow redundant detection of the preceding vehicle (22).

8. The motor vehicle (10) as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that the motor vehicle is a bus or a truck.

9. A method for operating a motor vehicle (10) including the steps of:

(a) detecting driving data,

(b) detecting surrounding-area images, and

(c) effecting buffered recording of the surrounding-area images in an accident data recorder (28),

characterized by the following step of;

(d) checking whether predetermined driving data and/or surrounding-area images are present in order, and if yes, initiating autonomous braking of the motor vehicle (10).

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

detecting reversing camera images from a reversing camera (30) mounted at the rear of the motor vehicle (10), and

effecting buffered recording of the reversing camera images by means of the accident data recorder (28).