ADAPTIVE EMERGENCY BRAKE AND STEER ASSIST SYSTEMS BASED ON DRIVER FOCUS

• US 20140195120A1
• Filed: 01/06/2014
• Published: 07/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Autonomous Mobility US LLC (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Inventors: McClain, Jeremy Jason, Bolton, Zachary Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 9,472,102 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/41
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/12 for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/184 with wheel brakes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/009 Priority selection
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0094 of control units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• 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 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/001 the torque NOT being among the input parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 13/02 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08

Abstract

An automotive vehicle includes a driver analyzer and a driver assistance system, both of which are coupled to a controller. The controller includes a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions for causing the controller to determine a level of attentiveness of a driver of the automotive vehicle and to adapt a response of the driver assistance system in response to the determined level of attentiveness.

Claims

1. An automotive vehicle comprising:

a driver analyzer communicatively coupled to a controller;

a driver assistance system communicatively coupled to the controller; and

the controller including a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions for causing the controller to determine a level of attentiveness of a driver of the automotive vehicle and to adapt a response of the driver assistance system in response to the determined level of attentiveness.

2. The automotive vehicle of claim 1, wherein the driver assistance system is at least one of a brake assist system, a steering assist system, a warning system, an electronic stability control system, an adaptive cruise control system, a collision warning system and a lane departure warning system.

3. The automotive vehicle of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory storage medium further stores instructions for causing said driver assistance system to determine a direction of the driver'"'"'s focus based at least in part on data from the driver analyzer.

4. The automotive vehicle of claim 1, wherein the driver analyzer is one of a monocular camera, a binocular camera, and an array of cameras.

5. The automotive vehicle of claim 1, wherein the driver analyzer is mounted to a steering column of the automotive vehicle.

6. The automotive vehicle of claim 1, wherein one of the driver analyzer and the controller include a driver recognition module, and wherein the driver recognition module is operable to interpret data from said driver analyzer and thereby determine a specific driver of the vehicle.

7. The automotive vehicle of claim 1, wherein the driver assistance system is a module of said controller.

8. The automotive vehicle of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory storage medium further includes at least one collision avoidance chart, and wherein the collision avoidance chart includes at least a last point to brake data entry and a last point to steer data entry.

9. A method of controlling an automotive vehicle comprising:

determining a level of a driver'"'"'s attentiveness by interpreting data from a driver analyzer using a controller; and

adjusting a response of a driver assistance system based at least partially on the driver'"'"'s level of attentiveness.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the driver assistance system is at least one of a brake assist system, a steering assist system, a warning system, an electronic stability control system, an adaptive cruise control system, a collision warning system and a lane departure warning system.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

identifying a specific driver using the controller based on data from the driver analyzer; and

loading a specific driver profile from a controller memory, the specific driver profile corresponding to the identified specific driver.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising adjusting the driver assistance system in response to the specific driver profile.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying a specific driver using the controller based on data from the driver analyzer comprises identifying the specific driver using facial recognition.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the level of the driver'"'"'s attentiveness by interpreting data from the driver analyzer using a controller comprises:

capturing at least one image of the driver using a camera;

identifying at least one facial feature of the driver; and

determining a facing of the driver relative to a direction of motion of the vehicle based on the position of the at least one facial feature in the at least one image.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one identified facial feature is at least one of an eye, mouth and nose.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a high level of attentiveness is determined in response to the driver'"'"'s facing substantially matching one of the direction of travel of the vehicle and a potential collision object external to the vehicle.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a low level of attentiveness is determined in response to at least one of the driver'"'"'s facing and focus direction substantially deviating from at least one of the direction of travel of the vehicle and a potential collision object external to the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein adjusting a response of a driver assistance system comprises at least one of delaying a warning point in response to determining a high level of attentiveness and increasing a time period between the warning point and a first of a brake point and a steering point in response to determining a low level of attentiveness.

19. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

loading a collision avoidance chart using said driver assistance system, wherein the collision avoidance chart includes compensation for at least one condition external to the vehicle; and

wherein adjusting a response of a driver assistance system based at least partially on the driver'"'"'s level of attentiveness comprises adjusting at least one of a warning point, brake point, steering point, warning intensity and warning location in response to a determined level of driver attentiveness.