DRIVER ASSISTANCE SYSTEM

• US 20140172226A1
• Filed: 12/06/2013
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: GOERICK, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 9,446,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/28
• 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; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; 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; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/022 Collision avoidance systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/024 Collision mitigation systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/22 initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle , or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/095 Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/16 Tactile feedback to the driver, e.g. vibration or force feedback to the driver on the steering wheel or the accelerator pedal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

The invention provides a driver assistance method, comprising the steps of: sensing a vehicle'"'"'s state and the environment, on the basis of sensing output signals, determining whether a critical state of the vehicle is to be expected in the future, if yes, determining a total amount and a time duration of an activation of at least one vehicle actuator required in order to avoid occurrence of the critical state, the activation being of a nature which can be sensed by the driver of the vehicle, and partially performing, by a control module, the activation, i.e. for a portion of the amount and/or a portion of the time duration of the determined total amount and time duration.

Claims

1. Automated driver assistance method, the method using an artificial computing unit and one or more sensors, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing a vehicle'"'"'s state and the environment,

on the basis of sensing output signals, determining whether a critical state of the vehicle is to be expected in the future,

if yes, determining a total amount and a time duration of an activation of at least one vehicle actuator required in order to avoid occurrence of the critical state, the activation being of a nature which can be sensed e.g. acoustically, visually and/or haptically by the driver of the vehicle, and

partially performing the activation, i.e. for a portion of the amount and/or a portion of the time duration of the determined total amount and time duration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the critical state is determined to be critical based on a prediction and/or evaluation of a plurality of movement change parameters in the sensing output signals, e.g. in association with a sensed feature in the vehicle'"'"'s state and/or the environment derived from the sensing signals, preferably in association with a type of the sensed feature.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the activation of the at least one vehicle actuator is performed by actuating the at least one vehicle actuator for a predetermined time according to a movement command executed by the control unit.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the activation is performed based on a risk and/or utility analysis of the feature'"'"'s impact on movement of the vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the movement change command is executed without or in addition to at least a visual, auditory or haptic communication/feedback/information to the vehicle driver.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the at least one vehicle actuator performs at least one of a steering, a deceleration and an acceleration action of the vehicle when activated.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the execution of the movement change command is stopped when a command is received from the vehicle driver, e.g. a steering, breaking and/or acceleration action, especially, when it does not correspond to the action performed by the at least one car actuator.

10. A driver assistance system being programmed to perform a method according to claim 1.

8. Driver assistance system, comprising

a sensing module sensing a vehicle'"'"'s state and the environment outputting sensing signals,

a interpretation module processing the sensing output signals determining, on the basis of sensing output signals, whether a critical state of the vehicle is to be expected in the future,

an evaluation module determining, if a critical sate is determined, a total amount of a time duration of an activation of at least one car actuator required in order to avoid the occurrence of the critical state, the activation being of a nature which can be sensed by the driver of the vehicle,

a control module outputting a control signal in order to have the actuator partially perform the activation, i.e. for a portion of the amount and/or a portion of the determined time duration of the total amount and time duration.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the sensing module comprises at least one of a camera, a laser scanner, a radar sensor, an acceleration/deceleration sensor, a distance sensor, a speed sensor.

11. A vehicle comprising a system according to claims 8.