METHOD FOR EXECUTING AN AT LEAST SEMI-AUTONOMOUS PARKING PROCESS OF A VEHICLE AND PARKING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE

• US 20120072067A1
• Filed: 06/07/2010
• Published: 03/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valeo Schalter und Sensoren GmbH (Valeo SE)
• Original Assignee: Valeo Schalter und Sensoren GmbH (Valeo SE)
• Inventors: Jecker, Nicolas, Grimm, Oliver, Geiger, Tobias
• Granted Patent: US 9,174,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/25
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for executing an at least semi-autonomous parking process of a vehicle (13) by means of a parking assistance system (15), in which ambient conditions of the vehicle (13) are sensed as it travels past a potential parking space (3), and a parking path is determined as a function of the ambient conditions and of the parking space (3), wherein the ambient conditions comprise at least one obstacle (18, 18′, 18″) which is external to the parking space and does not directly bound the parking space (3) and is detected as near to the vehicle and is taken into account in the determination of the parking path (3), wherein the parking process is executed in a plurality of manoeuvres (26, 27, 29; 34, 38, 39), and at least one manoeuvre (26, 27, 29; 34, 38, 39) which is executed with an autonomous steering intervention is determined in terms of its profile as a function of the obstacle (18, 18′, 18″). The invention also relates to a parking assistance system (15) for a vehicle (13).

Claims

1. A method for executing an at least semi-autonomous parking process of a vehicle using a parking assistance system, the method comprising:

sensing ambient conditions of the vehicle as the vehicle travels past a potential parking space; and

determining a parking path as a function of the ambient conditions and of the parking space, wherein the ambient conditions comprise at least one obstacle which is external to the parking space and does not directly bound the parking space, and wherein the at least one obstacle is detected as near to the vehicle and is taken into account in the determination of the parking path,

wherein the parking process is executed in a plurality of maneuvers, and wherein at least one maneuver which is executed with an autonomous steering intervention is determined in terms of a corresponding profile as a function of the obstacle.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least two maneuvers are executed with the autonomous steering intervention in a steering device of the vehicle, and at least one of the at least two maneuvers is determined in terms of a corresponding profile as a function of the obstacle.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the at least one maneuver which is executed with the autonomous steering intervention is determined in terms of the corresponding profile as a function of the obstacle, and a further maneuver which is executed with the autonomous steering intervention is determined as a function of the at least one maneuver.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein reverse parking is executed as the parking process.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is parked into a transverse parking space.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein a carriageway which adjoins the parking space is bounded in a driving direction by at least one first obstacle and is bounded on a longitudinal side of the vehicle facing away from the parking space by at least one second obstacle.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein a first distance of the at least one first obstacle from a lateral boundary of the parking space which faces the at least one first obstacle is less than or equal to 1.5 times a length of the vehicle.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein a second distance of the at least one second obstacle from a boundary which faces the at least one second obstacle and separates the parking space from the carriageway is less than 1.5 times the length of the vehicle.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein, before the parking process starts, the vehicle is positioned with the vehicle'"'"'s longitudinal direction at an angle which is larger than 40°

and smaller than 130°

, with respect to a longitudinal direction of the parking space, and wherein the parking process is executed in three maneuvers comprising a first maneuver, a second maneuver, and a third maneuver.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein at least the second maneuver and the third maneuver are executed with the autonomous steering intervention, wherein during the second maneuver, steerable wheels of the vehicle are locked in a first direction, and during the third maneuver, the steerable wheels are locked in a second direction which is opposed to the first direction.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the parking path is determined so that the parking process is executed in a collision-free fashion in three maneuvers which are executed with the autonomous steering intervention, and wherein the parking process is not started if a collision-free parking path cannot be determined.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein, before the parking process starts, the vehicle is positioned with the vehicle'"'"'s longitudinal direction at an angle which is, larger than 40°

and smaller than 130°

, with respect to a longitudinal direction of the parking space, wherein before the parking process starts a maximum possible veering out distance during the parking process is determined as a function of a distance between two obstacles of the vehicle which are detected near the vehicle on and on opposite sides of the vehicle.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein in a first maneuver of the parking process an arcuate path is travelled along and a curvature of the arcuate path is determined as a function of the maximum possible veering out distance.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein a length of the first maneuver of the parking process and a length of a second maneuver parking process are determined as a function of the maximum possible veering out distance.

15. A parking assistance system for executing an at least semi-autonomous parking process of a vehicle, comprising:

a detector device for sensing ambient conditions of the vehicle as the vehicle travels past a potential parking space, wherein the ambient conditions comprise at least one obstacle which is external to the parking space, does not directly bound the parking space, and is detected as being near the vehicle; and

a control and evaluation unit for determining a parking path is at least as a function of the at least one obstacle and of the parking space.

wherein the parking process is formed from a plurality of maneuvers, and at least one maneuver which is executed with an autonomous steering intervention, by the parking assistance system, onto a steering device of the vehicle is determined in terms of a corresponding profile as a function of the at least one obstacle.