Method for Parking or Exiting a Parking Bay and for Avoiding a Collision of a Vehicle, and Corresponding Assistance Systems and Vehicle

• US 20110301814A1
• Filed: 05/03/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Wuttke, Ulrich, Hueger, Philipp, Terkes, Mehmet, Bruening, Stefan
• Granted Patent: US 8,712,642 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/41
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/027 Parking aids, e.g. instruction means
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically

Abstract

An obscured state of a vehicle, in which a distance measuring sensor of an assistance system is obscured by a part of the vehicle, is automatically detected. If the obscured state is present, a steering intervention of the assistance system into a steering system of the vehicle during a parking or parking-bay-exiting process of the vehicle using the assistance system is automatically deactivated or prevented. Furthermore, to avoid a collision of the vehicle using the assistance system, a notification of an obscured state is automatically generated when the obscured state is present.

Claims

1. Method for parking a vehicle or driving the vehicle out of a parking bay using an assistance system,

an obscured state of the vehicle, in which a distance measuring sensor of the assistance system is obscured by a part of the vehicle, being automatically detected, and

a steering intervention of the assistance system into a steering system of the vehicle being automatically deactivated or prevented when the obscured state is present.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that, if it is automatically detected that the obscured state of the vehicle is no longer present, an automatic parking process is carried out by means of the assistance system taking into consideration an item of information regarding a parking bay detected when the vehicle was in the obscured state.

3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that a measurement of a parking bay during the course of a parking process of the assistance system is automatically carried out by means of at least one further distance measuring sensor even when the obscured state of the vehicle is present.

4. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that, if it is automatically detected that the obscured state of the vehicle is no longer present, an automatic parking process is carried out by means of the assistance system taking into consideration an item of information regarding a parking bay detected when the vehicle was in the obscured state.

5. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that, after an automatic deactivation of the steering intervention during a parking process or a parking-bay-exiting process of the assistance system on account of the detection of the obscured state, the steering intervention is reactivated as a function of a manual actuation in order to continue the parking process or the parking-bay-exiting process if it is automatically detected that the obscured state of the vehicle is no longer present.

6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the steering intervention is reactivated only if the method is in a first maneuvering step of the parking process.

7. Method for avoiding a collision of a vehicle using an assistance system,

an obscured state of the vehicle, in which a distance measuring sensor of the assistance system is obscured by a part of the vehicle, is automatically detected, and

a notification of the obscured state is automatically generated if the obscured state is present.

8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the notification comprises an item of information regarding that edge region of the vehicle for which a collision can be avoided only to a restricted extent because the distance measuring sensor is obscured.

9. Assistance system for a vehicle, the assistance system comprising

a controller, a plurality of distance measuring sensors for measuring an environment of the vehicle, and at least one state detecting sensor,

the at least one state detecting sensor being designed to detect an obscured state of the vehicle in which one of the distance measuring sensors is obscured by a part of the vehicle, and

the controller being designed such that, if the controller detects the obscured state by means of the at least one state detecting sensor, said controller deactivates a steering intervention of the assistance system into a steering system of the vehicle if the steering intervention is active, or does not activate said steering intervention if the steering intervention is not active.

10. Assistance system according to claim 9, characterized in that the assistance system is designed to carry out the method for parking a vehicle or driving the vehicle out of a parking bay using an assistance system,

an obscured state of the vehicle, in which a distance measuring sensor of the assistance system is obscured by a part of the vehicle, being automatically detected, and

a steering intervention of the assistance system into a steering system of the vehicle being automatically deactivated or prevented when the obscured state is present.

12. Assistance system according to claim 10, characterized in that the assistance system is designed to carry out the method for avoiding a collision of a vehicle using an assistance system,

an obscured state of the vehicle, in which a distance measuring sensor of the assistance system is obscured by a part of the vehicle, is automatically detected, and

a notification of the obscured state is automatically generated if the obscured state is present.

11. Assistance system for a vehicle, the assistance system comprising

a device for generating a notification, a controller, a plurality of distance measuring sensors and at least one state detecting sensor,

the at least one state detecting sensor being designed to detect an obscured state of the vehicle in which one of the distance measuring sensors is obscured by a part of the vehicle, and

the controller being designed to generate the notification of the obscured state by means of the device if the controller detects the obscured state by means of the at least one state detecting sensor.