Automatic brake and steering system and method for a vehicle
First Claim
1. Automatic brake and steering system for a vehicle, comprising a sensor unit configured to sense vehicle state variables, vehicle characteristic variables and ambient conditions, a control unit configured to generate actuation signals as a function of the sensed vehicle state variables and the ambient conditions, actuation signals being feedable to actuation devices in the vehicle to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system, the system being configured to determine a distance between a current vehicle position and an obstacle, to automatically drive along an avoidance path for driving around the obstacle in accordance with a stored avoidance strategy, to determine obstacle distances between the current vehicle position and each further obstacle when further obstacles are located in front of the vehicle as well as a minimum distance needed to bring the vehicle to a standstill, to determine differences between said minimum distance and said obstacle distances, to select an alternative avoidance path with a smallest difference between said minimum distance and obstacle distances, and to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system to follow the alternative avoidance path selected.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automatic brake and steering system and method for a vehicle contains a sensor unit for sensing vehicle state and characteristic variables, and ambient conditions. Furthermore, a control unit and actuator devices are provided for setting the vehicle brake system and/or the vehicle steering system. In order to be able to carry out automatic avoidance maneuvers with maximum safety, an avoidance route is determined if there is an obstacle in the path of the vehicle. Thereby, if there is a further obstacle on the avoidance route, the strategy for determining the avoidance route is applied once more. If it is not possible to find a collision-free avoidance route, that route on which the difference between the remaining braking distance and the remaining distance from the obstacle is smallest is selected.
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Citations
43 Claims
- 1. Automatic brake and steering system for a vehicle, comprising a sensor unit configured to sense vehicle state variables, vehicle characteristic variables and ambient conditions, a control unit configured to generate actuation signals as a function of the sensed vehicle state variables and the ambient conditions, actuation signals being feedable to actuation devices in the vehicle to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system, the system being configured to determine a distance between a current vehicle position and an obstacle, to automatically drive along an avoidance path for driving around the obstacle in accordance with a stored avoidance strategy, to determine obstacle distances between the current vehicle position and each further obstacle when further obstacles are located in front of the vehicle as well as a minimum distance needed to bring the vehicle to a standstill, to determine differences between said minimum distance and said obstacle distances, to select an alternative avoidance path with a smallest difference between said minimum distance and obstacle distances, and to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system to follow the alternative avoidance path selected.
- 20. Automatic brake and steering method for a vehicle, comprising sensing vehicle state variables, vehicle characteristic variables and ambient conditions, generating actuation signals as a function of the sensed vehicle state variables and the ambient conditions, determining a distance between a current vehicle position and an obstacle, feeding the actuation signals to actuation devices in the vehicle to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system so as to automatically drive along an avoidance path for driving around the obstacle in accordance with a stored avoidance strategy, determining obstacle distances between the current vehicle position and each further obstacle when further obstacles are located in front of the vehicle as well as a minimum distance needed to bring the vehicle to a standstill, determining differences between said minimum distance and said obstacle distances, selecting an alternative avoidance path with a smallest difference between said minimum distance and obstacle distances, and operating the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system to follow the alternative avoidance path selected.
- 36. Automatic brake and steering system for a vehicle, comprising a sensor unit configured to sense vehicle state variables, vehicle characteristic variables and ambient conditions, a control unit configured to generate actuation signals as a function of the sensed vehicle state variables and the ambient conditions, actuation signals being feedable to actuation devices in the vehicle to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system, the system being configured to determine a distance between a current vehicle position and an obstacle as well as an expected braking distance in order to stop the vehicle when the obstacle is in the path of the vehicle, and to automatically drive along an avoidance path for driving around the obstacle in accordance with a stored avoidance strategy, and, in the event of a further obstacle lying in the avoidance path, the avoidance strategy is applied again to calculate an alternative avoidance path, such that, in the event of a collision-free avoidance path not being available, the alternative avoidance path is one on which a difference between a minimum distance needed to bring the vehicle to a standstill and a remaining distance from each obstacle on the respective avoidance path is the shortest is selected, wherein a width of the obstacle in a lateral direction of the vehicle is determined, and a minimum lateral component of the avoidance path is determined by adding half of the width of the obstacle determined and half of a vehicle width.
- 39. Automatic brake and steering method for a vehicle, comprising sensing vehicle state variables, vehicle characteristic variables and ambient conditions, generating actuation signals as a function of the sensed vehicle state variables and the ambient conditions, determining a distance between a current vehicle position and an obstacle as well as an expected braking distance in order to stop the vehicle when the obstacle is in the path of the vehicle, feeding the actuation signals to actuation devices in the vehicle to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system so as to automatically drive along an avoidance path for driving around the obstacle in accordance with a stored avoidance strategy, and, in the event of a further obstacle lying in the avoidance path, the avoidance strategy is applied again to calculate an alternative avoidance path, whereby, in the event of a collision-free avoidance path not being available, the alternative avoidance path is one on which a difference between a minimum distance needed to bring the vehicle to a standstill and a remaining distance from each obstacle on the respective avoidance path is the shortest is selected, determining a width of the obstacle in a lateral direction of the vehicle, and determining a minimum lateral component of the avoidance path by adding half of the width of the obstacle determined and half of a vehicle width.
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42. Automatic brake and steering system for a vehicle, comprising a sensor unit configured to sense vehicle state variables, vehicle characteristic variables and ambient conditions, a control unit configured to generate actuation signals as a function of the sensed vehicle state variables and the ambient conditions, actuation signals being feedable to actuation devices in the vehicle to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system, the system being configured to determine a distance between a current vehicle position and an obstacle as well as an expected braking distance in order to stop the vehicle when the obstacle is in the path of the vehicle, and to automatically drive along an avoidance path for driving around the obstacle in accordance with a stored avoidance strategy, and, in the event of a further obstacle lying in the avoidance path, the avoidance strategy is applied again to calculate an alternative avoidance path, such that, in the event of a collision-free avoidance path not being available, the alternative avoidance path is one on which a difference between a minimum distance needed to bring the vehicle to a standstill and a remaining distance from each obstacle on the respective avoidance path is the shortest is selected, wherein a lateral component y of the avoidance path is determined as follows:
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y=∫
(v2(t){dot over (Θ
)}(t)t2)/Ldtwhere v is the vehicle speed, t is time, {dot over (Θ
)} is steering speed, andL is the wheel base.
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43. Automatic brake and steering method for a vehicle, comprising sensing vehicle state variables, vehicle characteristic variables and ambient conditions, generating actuation signals as a function of the sensed vehicle state variables and the ambient conditions, determining a distance between a current vehicle position and an obstacle as well as an expected braking distance in order to stop the vehicle when the obstacle is in the path of the vehicle, feeding the actuation signals to actuation devices in the vehicle to operate the vehicle brake and the vehicle steering system so as to automatically drive along an avoidance path for driving around the obstacle in accordance with a stored avoidance strategy, and, in the event of a further obstacle lying in the avoidance path, the avoidance strategy is applied again to calculate an alternative avoidance path, whereby, in the event of a collision-free avoidance path not being available, the alternative avoidance path is one on which a difference between a minimum distance needed to bring the vehicle to a standstill and a remaining distance from each obstacle on the respective avoidance path is the shortest is selected, where a lateral component y of the avoidance path is determined as follows:
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y=∫
(v2(t){dot over (Θ
)}(t)t2)/Ldtwhere v is the vehicle speed, t is time, {dot over (Θ
)} is steering speed, andL is the wheel base.
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Specification