LANE CHANGE ASSIST INFORMATION VISUALIZATION SYSTEM

• US 20140067250A1
• Filed: 05/20/2011
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Winner, Hermann, Habenicht, Stefan, Bone, Sven, Selinski, Jewgeni
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,987 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A lane change assist information visualization system allows a vehicle driver to change lanes with minimum effort and stress by displaying a lane change option that suits the particular lane changing situation in an intuitively understandable manner, and information on the surrounding vehicles adequate for the vehicle driver to make a reasonable decision in changing lanes. The system includes a lane change program computing device (9) that computes at least (a) a lane change possibility, (b) a time period that has to elapse before a lane change is allowed if a lane change possibility does not currently exists, or a time period in which a lane change should be made if a lane change possibility currently exists, and (c) a need for acceleration or deceleration, and a display unit (10) for displaying this information.

Claims

1. A lane change assist information visualization system, comprising:

an ego vehicle sensing device (4) configured to detect a velocity of an ego vehicle;

a object vehicle sensing device (2) configured to detect at least a distance to the ego vehicle and a velocity of a surrounding vehicle;

a driver intention detecting device (5) configured to detect a driver'"'"'s intention to change lanes;

a lane change program computing device (9) for computing, according to signals from the ego vehicle sensing device, object vehicle sensing device and driver intention detecting device,

(a) a lane change possibility,

(b) a time period that has to elapse before a lane change is allowed if a lane change possibility does not currently exists, or a time period in which a lane change should be made if a lane change possibility currently exists; and

(c) a need for acceleration or deceleration; and

a display unit (10) configured to indicate the lane change possibility, the time period and the need for acceleration or deceleration computed by the lane change program computing device.

2. The lane change assist information visualization system according to claim 1, wherein the lane change program computing device is configured to compute a position of an object vehicle, and the display unit is configured to indicate the position of the object vehicle in relation to the ego vehicle.

3. The lane change assist information visualization system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit indicates the existence and absence of the current lane change possibility in different colors.

4. The lane change assist information visualization system according to claim 1, wherein the time period is indicated by a length of a bar displayed on the display unit.

5. The lane change assist information visualization system according to claim 1, wherein the need for acceleration, need for deceleration and absence of the need for acceleration or deceleration are indicated by different graphics.

6. The lane change assist information visualization system according to claim 1, wherein the position of the object vehicle in relation to the ego vehicle is indicated by a plan view graphics.

7. The lane change assist information visualization system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit further displays a lane marker that changes appearance depending on the lane change possibility.

8. The lane change assist information visualization system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is consolidated with a display unit for an adaptive cruise control system or a lane keeping system.