VEHICLE OPERATION ASSISTANCE

• US 20180253977A1
• Filed: 05/08/2018
• Published: 09/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Oshida, Kei, Bai, Xue, Saigusa, Shigenobu, Sugimoto, Yoichi, Al-Stouhi, Samir K.
• Granted Patent: US 10,657,825 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/215 Selection or confirmation of options
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/229 Attention level, e.g. attentive to driving, reading or sleeping
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/165 Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar"
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3407 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0295 by at least one leading vehicle of the fleet
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles

Abstract

Embodiments, systems, and techniques for vehicle operation assistance are provided herein. Vehicle operation assistance may be provided by monitoring characteristics of an occupant of a vehicle and determining an emergency status for the occupant based on characteristics of the occupant, transmitting a request for help based on the emergency status indicating the occupant of the vehicle is experiencing an emergency, receiving a “follow me” request from a potential leader vehicle, enabling follower mode such that vehicle is a follower vehicle and the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle, establishing a connection with the leader vehicle and receiving navigation instructions from the leader vehicle based on the vehicle being in follower mode, generating driving action commands based on navigation instructions, and executing respective driving action commands in an autonomous fashion based on the vehicle being in follower mode.

Claims

1. A system for vehicle operation assistance comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory, storing processor-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, perform;

automatically transmitting a request for help based on an emergency status of an occupant of a vehicle;

receiving a “

follow me”

request from a potential leader vehicle in response to the request for help;

placing the system in a follower mode based on an acceptance of the “

follow me”

request by establishing a connection with the potential leader vehicle, wherein in follower mode the vehicle is a follower vehicle and the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle;

wirelessly receiving a navigation instruction from the leader vehicle; and

executing a driving maneuver in an autonomous fashion based on the navigation instruction from the leader vehicle.

2. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the emergency status of the occupant of the vehicle is determined by the processing unit based on a body temperature, a pulse, a pulse rate, a respiration rate, a perspiration rate, a blood pressure, eye movement, body movement, head movement, or carbon dioxide output of the occupant of the vehicle.

3. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the emergency status of the occupant of the vehicle is determined by the processing unit based on an absence of operating actions from the occupant of the vehicle and an expected operating action.

4. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the processing unit initiates communication with a help center based on the emergency status of the occupant.

5. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the processing unit implements an emergency response action based on the emergency status of the occupant.

6. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 5, wherein the emergency response action includes automatically pulling the vehicle over via one or more automated driving maneuvers, automatically engaging hazard lights of the vehicle, or automatically navigating to a meeting location via one or more automated driving maneuvers.

7. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the connection between the follower vehicle and the leader vehicle is established based on vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications, vehicle to motorcycle (V2M) communications, vehicle to cloud communications, dedicated short range communications (DSRC), or a cellular network.

8. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the processing unit transmits a location of the follower vehicle, a driving maneuver to be executed by the follower vehicle, an anticipated route, an anticipated destination, or a vehicle parameter of the follower vehicle to a third party.

9. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 8, wherein the third party or the processing unit of the follower vehicle generate a leader score for the leader vehicle based on the leader vehicle'"'"'s interactions with the follower vehicle.

10. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the processing unit transmits a request to the leader vehicle to wait for the follower vehicle based on an obstacle.

11. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 10, wherein the processing unit places the system in an emergency mode and terminates the connection with the leader vehicle based on no response to the request to wait for the follower vehicle from the leader vehicle.

12. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the acceptance of the “

follow me”

request is based on a leader score associated with the leader vehicle indicative of the potential leader vehicle'"'"'s previous interactions with other follower vehicles.

13. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein there is a fee arrangement between the leader vehicle and the follower vehicle.

14. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 1, wherein the leader vehicle is equipped with another system for vehicle operation assistance.

15. A system for vehicle operation assistance comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory, storing processor-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, perform;

receiving a request for help based on an emergency status of an occupant of a potential follower vehicle;

transmitting a “

follow me”

request to the potential follower vehicle in response to the request for help;

placing the system in a leader mode based on an acceptance of the “

follow me”

request by establishing a connection with the potential follower vehicle, wherein in leader mode, a vehicle equipped with the system for vehicle operation assistance is a leader vehicle and the potential follower vehicle is a follower vehicle; and

wirelessly transmitting a navigation instruction to the follower vehicle which causes execution of a driving maneuver on the follower vehicle in an autonomous fashion.

16. The system for vehicle operation assistance of claim 15, wherein the follower vehicle is equipped with another system for vehicle operation assistance.

17. A method for vehicle operation assistance comprising:

automatically transmitting, using a transmitter, a request for help based on an emergency status of an occupant of a vehicle;

receiving, using a receiver, a “

follow me”

request from a potential leader vehicle in response to the request for help;

placing the vehicle in a follower mode, using a processing unit, based on an acceptance of the “

follow me”

request by establishing a connection with the potential leader vehicle, wherein in follower mode the vehicle is a follower vehicle and the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle;

wirelessly receiving, using the receiver, a navigation instruction from the leader vehicle; and

executing a driving maneuver in an autonomous fashion, using the processing unit, based on the navigation instruction from the leader vehicle.

18. The method for vehicle operation assistance of claim 17, comprising determining, using the processing unit, the emergency status of the occupant of the vehicle based on a body temperature, a pulse, a pulse rate, a respiration rate, a perspiration rate, a blood pressure, eye movement, body movement, head movement, or carbon dioxide output of the occupant of the vehicle.

19. The method for vehicle operation assistance of claim 18, wherein the body temperature, the pulse, the pulse rate, the respiration rate, the perspiration rate, the blood pressure, the eye movement, the body movement, the head movement, or the carbon dioxide output of the occupant are detected by a sensor.

20. The method for vehicle operation assistance of claim 17, comprising determining, using the processing unit, the emergency status of the occupant of the vehicle based on an absence of operating actions from the occupant of the vehicle and an expected operating action.