VEHICLE AND METHOD FOR ADVISING DRIVER OF SAME

• US 20110106334A1
• Filed: 10/30/2009
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Prakah-Asante, Kwaku O., Tseng, Fling, Lu, Jianbo, Filev, Dimitar Petrov
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,365 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/50 for indicating other intentions or conditions, e.g. request for waiting or overtaking
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling

Abstract

A method for advising a driver of a vehicle may include monitoring driver torque requests, establishing categories of driver behavior based on a history of driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof, categorizing current driver behavior into one of the established categories based on current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof, and initiating an alert for the driver if the categorization is of a particular type.

Claims

1. A method for advising a driver of a vehicle comprising:

monitoring driver torque requests;

establishing categories of driver behavior based on a history of driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof;

categorizing current driver behavior into one of the established categories based on current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof; and

initiating an alert for the driver if the categorization is of a particular type.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing categories of driver behavior based on a history of driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof includes defining category thresholds based on a mean and standard deviation of the history of driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein categorizing current driver behavior into one of the established categories based on current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof includes calculating a determinant of a covariance matrix of the current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein categorizing current driver behavior into one of the established categories based on current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof further includes determining whether the determinant is greater than or less than at least one of the category thresholds.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the driver torque requests include at least one of positive torque requests and negative torque requests.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein categorizing current driver behavior into one of the established categories based on current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof is performed if vehicle speed is greater than a predefined threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein categorizing current driver behavior into one of the established categories based on current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof is performed if accelerator pedal position is greater than a predefined threshold.

8. A vehicle comprising:

an accelerator pedal having a position;

a brake pedal having a position; and

at least one controller configured to determine a gap time between the vehicle and another vehicle, to determine a variability of a rate of change of at least one of the accelerator and brake pedal positions, and to characterize a driver'"'"'s longitudinal control of the vehicle based on the gap time and the variability of the rate of change.

9. The vehicle of claim 8 further comprising a forward sensing system configured to detect a distance between the vehicles.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 wherein determining a gap time between the vehicle and another vehicle is based on the distance between the vehicles and a speed of the vehicle.

11. The vehicle of claim 9 wherein characterizing a driver'"'"'s longitudinal control of the vehicle based on the gap time and the variability of the rate of change includes classifying the gap time and the variability of the rate of change into fuzzy categories.

12. The vehicle of claim 11 wherein characterizing a driver'"'"'s longitudinal control of the vehicle based on the gap time and the variability of the rate of change further includes generating a driver index via a rule based evaluation of the classifications of the gap time and the variability of the rate of change.

13. The vehicle of claim 12 wherein a value of the driver index represents a type of longitudinal control of the vehicle.

14. A vehicle comprising:

a forward sensing system configured to determine a distance and relative speed between the vehicle and another vehicle;

a sensor configured to measure a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle; and

at least one controller configured to characterize a driver'"'"'s longitudinal control of the vehicle based on the distance and relative speed between the vehicles and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle.

15. The vehicle of claim 14 wherein characterizing a driver'"'"'s longitudinal control of the vehicle based on the distance and relative speed between the vehicles and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle includes determining a driver'"'"'s response time to changes in the distance between the vehicles.

16. The vehicle of claim 15 wherein characterizing a driver'"'"'s longitudinal control of the vehicle based on the distance and relative speed between the vehicles and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle further includes determining whether the driver'"'"'s response time is less than a predefined threshold.

17. The vehicle of claim 14 wherein characterizing a driver'"'"'s longitudinal control of the vehicle based on the distance and relative speed between the vehicles and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle includes determining a damping ratio associated with a driver'"'"'s control of the vehicle.

18. The vehicle of claim 17 wherein characterizing a driver'"'"'s longitudinal control of the vehicle based on the distance and relative speed between the vehicles and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle further includes determining whether the damping ratio is greater than a predefined threshold.