HITCHING MANEUVER

• US 20200130582A1
• Filed: 10/15/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Wong, Xue Iuan, Nariyambut murali, Vidya, Brooks-Lehnert, Shannon, Chen, Lihui
• Granted Patent: US 11,433,812 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60D 1/26 for remote control, e.g. for releasing
• CPC Class Codes: B60D 1/36 for facilitating connection, e.g. hitch catchers , visual guide means, signalling aids B60D1/465 takes precedence; vehicle signalling in general B60Q; optical arrangements specially adapted for viewing trailer-hitches B60R1/003
• CPC Class Codes: B60D 1/62 involving supply lines, electric circuits, or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/003 for viewing trailer hitches
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2300/14 Tractor-trailers, i.e. combinations of a towing vehicle and one or more towed vehicles, e.g. caravans; Road trains
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/22 Articulation angle, e.g. between tractor and trailer
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18036 Reversing
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 13/06 for backing a normally drawn trailer
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically

Abstract

Upon initiation of trailer-hitching, an image is obtained of an area behind and in a horizontal plane with respect to a vehicle, the area including a rearwardly extending trailer hitch, with a hitch ball mounted thereto, mounted to the vehicle. The hitch ball is located in the image. An overshoot zone, having a length extending from a vehicle rear bumper to a nearest point on the vehicle hitch ball and having a width that is a sum of a diameter of the hitch and two times a lateral offset, is defined within the area, as is a misaligned zone having a border extending from the vehicle rear bumper to a line tangent to a rearmost point of the hitch ball. A vehicle action is caused upon determining that the trailer coupling is detected in the overshoot zone or the misaligned zone.

Claims

1. A computer, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:

upon initiation of a trailer-hitching procedure, obtain image data of an area that is in a horizontal plane with respect to a vehicle and behind the vehicle, the area including a trailer hitch mounted to, and extending rearwardly from, the vehicle, wherein a vehicle hitch ball is mounted to the vehicle hitch;

locate the hitch ball in the image data;

define, within the area, an overshoot zone having a length extending from a vehicle rear bumper to a nearest point on the vehicle hitch ball and having a width that is a sum of a diameter of the hitch and two times a lateral offset;

define, within the area, a misaligned zone that has a border extending a misaligned zone length from the vehicle rear bumper to a line tangent to a rearmost point of the hitch ball; and

cause a vehicle action upon determining that a trailer coupling is detected in the overshoot zone or the misaligned zone, the action including at least one of updating a display, actuating a vehicle actuator to stop the vehicle, and actuating a vehicle actuator to restart a hitching maneuver.

2. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to:

define the overshoot zone and the misaligned zone includes defining an initial overshoot zone and an initial misaligned zone according to stored data, and

then define the overshoot zone and the misaligned zone by updating the initial overshoot zone and the initial misaligned zone based on the image data.

3. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to:

detect the trailer coupling based on an output of a trailer coupling classifier, wherein the trailer coupling classifier is trained based on data including a plurality of trailer shapes and a plurality of trailer coupling shapes; and

upon determining that the trailer coupling is within a specified distance of the hitch ball, initiate the trailer-hitching procedure.

4. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine that the trailer coupling is in the misaligned zone or the overshoot zone based on longitudinal and lateral location coordinates of the trailer coupling.

5. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to:

define, within the area, an aligned zone that is an area including a center point of the vehicle hitch ball and that shares two borders with the misaligned zone and one border with the overshoot zone, and a fourth border of the aligned zone is tangent to the rearmost point of the hitch ball; and

upon determining that the trailer coupling is the aligned zone, continue tracking a movement of the trailer coupling.

6. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to, upon determining based on the obtained image data whether a trailer coupling height from a ground surface is less than a hitch ball height from the ground surface, actuate the vehicle actuator to stop the vehicle.

7. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine the lateral offset based on comparing a yaw angle to a yaw angle threshold for hitching, wherein the yaw angle is an angle between a first longitudinal axis of a vehicle hitch bar and a second longitudinal axis of the trailer and the yaw angle threshold is a maximum operable yaw angle that is mechanically feasible while the trailer coupling and the hitch ball are mechanically coupled.

8. The computer of claim 7, wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine the lateral offset based on a multiplier determined based on a trigonometric function of the yaw angle threshold.

9. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to, upon determining at least one of (i) receiving a stop request from a vehicle user interface, (ii) receiving a brake actuation request, or (iii) receiving a stop command from autonomous hitching controller, actuate the vehicle to stop and ending a tracking of the vehicle hitch.

10. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine that the trailer coupling is in one of the misaligned zone and the overshoot zone upon determining that a projection point of a trailer coupling reference point on the horizontal plane is in within the respective zone and a height of the trailer coupling reference point from a ground surface is greater than a respective projection point height from the ground surface.

11. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to:

cause the vehicle to stop upon determining that the trailer coupling is detected in the overshoot zone; and

output a message to a user interface upon determining that the trailer coupling is detected in the misaligned zone.

12. The computer of claim 1, wherein the instructions to define the misaligned zone further include instructions to define a right misaligned zone on a right side of the overshoot zone and a left misaligned zone on a left side of the overshoot zone.

13. A method, comprising:

upon initiation of a trailer-hitching procedure, obtaining image data of an area that is in a horizontal plane with respect to a vehicle and behind the vehicle, the area including a trailer hitch mounted to, and extending rearwardly from, the vehicle, wherein a vehicle hitch ball is mounted to the hitch;

locating the hitch ball in the image data;

defining, within the area, an overshoot zone having a length extending from a vehicle rear bumper to a nearest point on the vehicle hitch ball and having a width that is a sum of a diameter of the hitch and two times a lateral offset;

defining, within the area, a misaligned zone that has a border extending a misaligned zone length from the vehicle rear bumper to a line tangent to a rearmost point of the hitch ball; and

causing a vehicle action upon determining that the trailer coupling is detected in the overshoot zone or the misaligned zone, the action including at least one of updating a display, actuating a vehicle actuator to stop the vehicle, and actuating a vehicle actuator to restart a hitching maneuver.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining that the trailer coupling is in the misaligned zone or the overshoot zone based on longitudinal and lateral location coordinates of the trailer coupling.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

defining, within the area, an aligned zone that is an area including a center point of the vehicle hitch ball and that shares two borders with the misaligned zone and one border with the overshoot zone, and a fourth border of the aligned zone is tangent to the rearmost point of the hitch ball; and

upon determining that the trailer coupling is the aligned zone, continuing tracking a movement of the trailer coupling.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining the lateral offset based on comparing a yaw angle to a yaw angle threshold for hitching, wherein the yaw angle is an angle between a first longitudinal axis of a vehicle hitch bar and a second longitudinal axis of the trailer and the yaw angle threshold is a maximum operable yaw angle that is mechanically feasible while the trailer coupling and the hitch ball are mechanically coupled.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining the lateral offset based on a multiplier determined based on a trigonometric function of the yaw angle threshold.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising, upon determining at least one of (i) receiving a stop request from a vehicle user interface, (ii) receiving a brake actuation request, or (iii) receiving a stop command from autonomous hitching controller, actuating the vehicle to stop and ending a tracking of the vehicle hitch.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining that the trailer coupling is in one of the misaligned zone and the overshoot zone upon determining that a projection point of a trailer coupling reference point on the horizontal plane is in within the respective zone and a height of the trailer coupling reference point from a ground surface is greater than a respective projection point height from the ground surface.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

causing the vehicle to stop upon determining that the trailer coupling is detected in the overshoot zone; and

outputting a message to a user interface upon determining that the trailer coupling is detected in the misaligned zone.