OBJECTIVE MEASURE OF DRIVING PERFORMANCE

• US 20120202176A1
• Filed: 02/08/2011
• Published: 08/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Dick, Timothy J., Fung, Kin
• Application Number:
  US13/023,323
• Publication Number:
  US 20120202176A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/65
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/105 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/125 Lateral acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles

Abstract

The embodiments describe vehicle system and method for evaluating driving performance of a driver of a vehicle. The vehicle system objectively evaluates a driver'"'"'s performance using latitudinal and longitudinal acceleration to determine the smoothness in which the driver operates the vehicle.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining driving performance for a driver operating a vehicle, the method comprising:

measuring driving forces that are exerted due to acceleration of the vehicle;

calculating a magnitude of the driving forces;

calculating a rate in which the magnitude of the driving forces changes over time;

comparing the calculated rate to a default rate of change of driving forces, the default rate of change indicative of typical driving performance of the driver of the vehicle; and

evaluating driving performance of the driver of the vehicle based on the comparison.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving real-time acceleration information describing the acceleration of the vehicle; and

measuring the driving forces based on the real-time acceleration information responsive to receiving the real-time acceleration information.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein receiving the real-time acceleration information comprises:

receiving latitudinal acceleration information that describes cornering information of the vehicle; and

receiving longitudinal acceleration information that describes acceleration and deceleration information of the vehicle.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein calculating the magnitude of the driving forces comprises calculating the magnitude according to the following equation:

DrivingForce(t)=√

{square root over ((LatG(t))²+(LongG(t))²)}{square root over ((LatG(t))²+(LongG(t))²)};

where;

t is time;

DrivingForce(t) is the magnitude of the driving forces at time t;

LatG(t) is lateral acceleration of the vehicle at time t; and

LongG(t) is longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle at time t.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein calculating the rate in which the magnitude of the driving forces changes over time comprises:

calculating a derivative of the magnitude of the driving forces with respect to time, the derivative of the magnitude indicative of a smoothness in which the driver operates the vehicle.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein calculating the default rate of change comprises:

calculating the default rate of change of driving forces during a defined duration of driver operation of the vehicle.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the duration comprises a week of the driver driving the vehicle.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the duration comprises a day of the driver driving the vehicle.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein comparing the calculated rate to a default rate of change of driving forces comprises:

comparing the calculated rate to the default rate at a predefined time interval during operation of the vehicle by the driver.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the default rate of change of driving forces to reflect current driving performance of the driver.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein evaluating the driving performance of the driver of the vehicle based on the comparison comprises:

determining whether the calculated rate exceeds a threshold value from the default rate of change of driving forces; and

responsive to the calculated rate exceeding the threshold indicative of an anomaly in the driving performance of the driver, outputting an indication to the driver of the anomaly.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable code for determining driving performance for a driver operating a vehicle, the code when executed performs the steps comprising:

measuring driving forces that are exerted due to acceleration of the vehicle;

calculating a magnitude of the driving forces;

calculating a rate in which the magnitude of the driving forces changes over time;

comparing the calculated rate to a default rate of change of driving forces, the default rate of change indicative of typical driving performance of the driver of the vehicle; and

evaluating driving performance of the driver of the vehicle based on the comparison.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the code when executed further performs the steps comprising:

receiving real-time acceleration information describing the acceleration of the vehicle; and

measuring the driving forces based on the real-time acceleration information responsive to receiving the real-time acceleration information.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein calculating the magnitude of the driving forces comprises calculating the magnitude according to the following equation:

DrivingForce(t)=√

{square root over ((LatG(t))²+(LongG(t))²)}{square root over ((LatG(t))²+(LongG(t))²)};

where;

t is time;

DrivingForce(t) is the magnitude of the driving forces at time t;

LatG(t) is lateral acceleration of the vehicle at time t; and

LongG(t) is longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle at time t.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein calculating the rate in which the magnitude of the driving forces changes over time comprises:

calculating a derivative of the magnitude of the driving forces with respect to time, the derivative of the magnitude indicative of a smoothness in which the driver operates the vehicle.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein evaluating the driving performance of the driver of the vehicle based on the comparison comprises:

determining whether the calculated rate exceeds a threshold value from the default rate of change of driving forces; and

responsive to the calculated rate exceeding the threshold indicative of an anomaly in the driving performance of the driver, outputting an indication to the driver of the anomaly.

17. A vehicle system for determining driving performance for a driver operating a vehicle, the system comprising:

a computer processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing executable code when executed by the computer processor performs the steps comprising;

measuring driving forces that are exerted due to acceleration of the vehicle;

calculating a magnitude of the driving forces;

calculating a rate in which the magnitude of the driving forces changes over time;

comparing the calculated rate to a default rate of change of driving forces, the default rate of change indicative of typical driving performance of the driver of the vehicle; and

evaluating driving performance of the driver of the vehicle based on the comparison.

18. The vehicle system of claim 17, the code when executed by the computer processor further performs the steps comprising:

receiving real-time acceleration information describing the acceleration of the vehicle; and

measuring the driving forces based on the real-time acceleration information responsive to receiving the real-time acceleration information.

19. The vehicle system of claim 17, wherein calculating the magnitude of the driving forces comprises calculating the magnitude according to the following equation:

DrivingForce(t)=√

{square root over ((LatG(t))²+(LongG(t))²)}{square root over ((LatG(t))²+(LongG(t))²)};

where;

t is time;

DrivingForce(t) is the magnitude of the driving forces at time t;

LatG(t) is lateral acceleration of the vehicle at time t; and

LongG(t) is longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle at time t.

20. The vehicle system of claim 19, wherein calculating the rate in which the magnitude of the driving forces changes over time comprises:

calculating a derivative of the magnitude of the driving forces with respect to time, the derivative of the magnitude indicative of a smoothness in which the driver operates the vehicle.