AUTOMATIC FORWARD PARKING IN PERPENDICULAR PARKING SPACES

• US 20120316732A1
• Filed: 11/23/2010
• Published: 12/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Auer, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 9,193,387 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/41
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0265 Automatic obstacle avoidance by steering
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space

Abstract

A method for forward parking a motor vehicle in a perpendicular parking space, wherein the motor vehicle has environment sensors for detecting environment data and obstacles in the environment of the motor vehicle, including pre-aligning the motor vehicle in front of the perpendicular parking space such that a target steering angle lies between a maximum steering angle δ_max and a minimum steering angle δ_min, iterative searching of the admissible steering angle range between the maximum steering angle δ_max and the minimum steering angle δ_min for a current steering angle δ_akt, during a forward maneuver of the vehicle into the perpendicular parking space, wherein the current steering angle δ_akt,i ensures a maximum free path length s_i, i=01 . . . , n into the perpendicular parking space without the vehicle hitting obstacles, and terminating the forward maneuver if the end of the parking operation has been reached or a reversing maneuver has to be carried out owing to an obstacle.

Claims

1. A method for the forward parking of a motor vehicle in a perpendicular parking space, the motor vehicle having environment sensors for determining environment data and obstacles in an environment of the motor vehicle, comprising:

prealigning the motor vehicle in front of the parking space in such a manner that a setpoint steering angle δ

_free is between a maximum steering angle δ

_max and a minimum steering angle δ

_min;

iteratively searching a permissible steering angle range between the maximum steering angle and the minimum steering angle for a current steering angle during a forward maneuvering movement of the motor vehicle into the perpendicular parking space, which steering angle enables coverage of a maximum free path length s_i, i ε

[0, . . . n], into the perpendicular parking space without hitting obstacles; and

terminating the forward maneuvering movement if the end of the parking operation has been reached or a reverse maneuvering movement must be carried out on account of an obstacle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein both obstacles which have been found and disappearing obstacles are recorded in a map of the environment or removed from a map of the environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a first iteration i=0 of the iterative search is carried out by scanning a predefined curvature range with a predefined curvature iteration size to determine an ideal curvature estimated value which corresponds to a current steering angle of the first iteration, and the forward maneuvering movement of the motor vehicle is carried out along the ideal curvature estimated value of the first iteration.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the predefined curvature range of the first iteration comprises the range κ

<sub>veh;

i=0</sub> of −

0.15 to 0.15, the first curvature iteration size being Δ

κ

₀=0.0005.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein, in a second iteration and subsequent iterations i=1, 2, . . . , n of the iteration, the curvature estimated value κ

_i-1 of the previous step is used as the initial value for the current iteration, scanning being carried out around the initial value with a current curvature iteration size Δ

κ

_i, which is a function of the maximum path length of the previous iteration, in order to determine the current curvature estimated value κ

_i, and the curvature range to be searched in the current iteration to determine the current curvature estimated value κ

_i being a function of the curvature iteration size of the current iteration, and the forward maneuvering movement of the motor vehicle is carried out along the current curvature estimated value of the second iteration and the subsequent iterations.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the curvature iteration size of the second iteration and the subsequent iterations is determined as

7. The method of claim 5, wherein, to determine the current curvature estimated value κ

_i, the curvatures κ

_search,j=κ

_i-1+(j−

3)Δ

κ

_i for j=0, 1, . . . , m are searched.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle alignment with respect to the parking space is determined by determining the distances between detected lateral obstacles and by placing a respective regression line through the left-hand and right-hand points, the distance between which is less than a predetermined distance value, the mean value of the angles relative to the vehicle axis, as defined by the two regression lines, forming a measure of the alignment of the motor vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the alignment is used to detect the positioning of the motor vehicle in the parking space with respect to the forward maneuvering movement and, for the reverse maneuvering movement, is used to determine a favorable starting position for the next forward maneuvering movement.

10. A method for the forward parking of a motor vehicle in a perpendicular parking space, the motor vehicle having environment sensors for determining environment data and obstacles in the environment of the motor vehicle, comprising:

measuring the perpendicular parking space by the environment sensors as the motor vehicle passes the perpendicular parking space;

calculating a parking trajectory for forward parking relative to the current location of the motor vehicle, the motor vehicle being aligned by a reverse movement in order to park in the perpendicular parking space with a subsequent forward movement.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, during the automatic parking operation, the environment sensors continuously measure the environment of the motor vehicle, and the parking trajectory is adapted to the measured environment data.

12. A driver assistance system for the automatic parking of a motor vehicle in a perpendicular parking space, comprising:

environment sensors for determining environment data relating to the motor vehicle;

a calculation unit for continuously calculating a parking trajectory from the environment data; and

a controller for moving the motor vehicle.

13. The driver assistance system of claim 12, wherein the calculation unit is configured to determine a setpoint steering angle δ

_free that is between a maximum steering angle max and a minimum steering angle δ

_min and iteratively search a permissible steering angle range between the maximum steering angle and the minimum steering angle for a current steering angle during a forward maneuvering movement of the motor vehicle into the perpendicular parking space, which steering angle enabling coverage of a maximum free path length s_i, iε

[0, . . . n], into the perpendicular parking space without hitting obstacles, and wherein the controller is configured to terminate the forward maneuvering movement if the end of the parking operation has been reached or a reverse maneuvering movement must be carried out on account of an obstacle.