METHOD FOR OPERATING A SAFETY SYSTEM OF A MOTOR VEHICLE AND MOTOR VEHICLE

• US 20130261869A1
• Filed: 09/21/2012
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Hantschke, Christopher, Brenneis, Oliver, Freyer, Jm
• Granted Patent: US 9,254,802 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/23
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2030/082 Vehicle operation after collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0881 Seat occupation; Driver or passenger presence
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/02 Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/08 Active safety systems predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision or attempting to minimise its consequences
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/085 Taking automatic action to adjust vehicle attitude in preparation for collision, e.g. braking for nose dropping
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0205 Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0225 Failure correction strategy
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention

Abstract

A method for operating a safety system of a motor vehicle includes the steps of determining a target trajectory of the motor vehicle to be realized with the safety system after an unavoidable collision, wherein the target trajectory is assigned to a target position of the motor vehicle, which target position is safe with regard to secondary collisions, and performing at least one autonomous and/or supporting driving intervention in the form of at least one of a longitudinally guiding intervention and a transverse guiding intervention after the collision for realizing the target trajectory.

Claims

1. A method for operating a safety system of a motor vehicle comprising the steps of:

after an unavoidable collision, determining a target trajectory of the motor vehicle to be realized with the safety system, wherein the target trajectory is assigned to a target position of the motor vehicle, which target position is safe with regard to secondary collisions; and

performing at least one autonomous and/or supporting driving intervention in the form of at least one of a longitudinally guiding intervention and a transverse guiding intervention after the collision for realizing the target trajectory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the safety system is a system for mitigating consequences of the unavoidable collision.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the target trajectory is determined by using environmental data regarding an environment of the motor vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the target trajectory is determined before the unavoidable collision, and wherein the unavoidable collision is influenced as a function of the target trajectory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the target trajectory is determined by taking an environmental model into account, wherein different standstill positions in a vicinity of the motor vehicle are each assigned a value which is commensurate with a safety of the standstill position with regard to secondary collisions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining possible static and/or moving collision partners by detecting an environment of the motor vehicle, wherein for determining the safety of the target position and/or a standstill position of the motor vehicle the static and/or moving collision partners are taken into account.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of a type, an actual dynamic and a predicted trajectory of the possible collision partner is taken into account for determining the safety of the target position and/or the standstill position of the motor vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising

continuously monitoring systems of the motor vehicle to be controlled;

and when the target position and/or the target trajectory cannot be reached and the systems to be controlled at least partially fail,

recalculating the target position and/or the target trajectory and/or taking the at least partial failure into account when cyclically recalculating the target position and/or the target trajectory into account,

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the systems of the motor vehicle to be controlled are continuously monitored after the unavoidable collision.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the systems of the motor vehicle to be controlled include at least one member selected from the group consisting of a braking system, a motor and a steering.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting a message regarding the at least partial failure of the systems to be controlled via at least one communication means for communicating with other road users.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the systems of the motor vehicle to be controlled include at least one member selected from the group consisting of a braking system, a motor, a steering system, an ESP-system, an active chassis system, an active suspension system, an active stabilizer system, a raisable hood, and a system for adjusting a trim position.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein for determining the target position and/or the target trajectory information regarding a member selected from the group consisting of a seat occupation, a loading state of the motor vehicle, a structure of the motor vehicle, a deformation potential of a particular region of the motor vehicle, and regions of the motor vehicle which are critical in case of collisions.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the information regarding the deformation potential of the particular region includes information regarding previous damage to the particular region and/or damage to the particular region caused by the unavoidable collision.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with other road users via at least one communication means for coordinating an evasive and/or placement strategy and/or transmitting data which describe the secondary collision to a central server.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the central server is a traffic control center.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein for determining the target position and/or the target trajectory, data of at least one member selected from the group consisting of a yawing sensor, a roll angle sensor, a pitch angle sensor, a steering angle sensor, a friction coefficient sensor, a longitudinally guiding driver assist system, a camera, a laser scanner, a radar sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, a LIDAR-sensor, a GPS-sensor, a communication means for communicating with other road users and a crash sensor.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising, assisting a driver of the motor vehicle in attaining the safe target position.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the driver is assisted in attaining the safe target position by amplifying and/or attenuating a longitudinally guiding and/or transverse guiding intervention carried out by the driver, and/or by displaying the target position and/or a target location and/or a target orientation of the target position.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the target position and/or the target location and/or the target orientation of the target position is displayed on a Head-Up-Display.

21. A motor vehicle, comprising a control device for implementing the method of claim 1.