Vehicle and method of advising a driver therein

• US 8,258,934 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2009
• Issued: 09/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Filev, Dimitar Petrov, Lu, Jianbo, Prakah-Asante, Kwaku O., Tseng, Fling, Pilutti, Thomas Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Crosland, Donnie
• Application Number:
  US12/609,467
• Publication Number:
  US 20110102166A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,040 Days
• Field of Search: 340/435
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/106 Rate of change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/20 Road profile, i.e. the change in elevation or curvature of a plurality of continuous road segments
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/30 Road curve radius
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/106 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/02 Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18145 Cornering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention

Abstract

A vehicle may include a driver interface and at least once controller operatively arranged with the interface. The at least one controller may be configured to categorize a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type, determine a target speed of a road curvature, and determine a speed of the vehicle. The at least one controller may be further configured to determine a threshold distance based on the type, determine a distance between the vehicle and the curvature, and generate an alert for the driver if the distance is less than the threshold and the speed is greater than the target.

Claims

1. A method for advising a driver of a vehicle comprising:

categorizing the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type;

determining a target speed of a road curvature;

determining a speed of the vehicle;

determining a threshold distance based on the type;

determining a distance between the vehicle and the curvature; and

generating an alert for the driver if the distance is less than the threshold and the speed is greater than the target.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein categorizing a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type includes measuring a plurality of parameters representing the vehicle'"'"'s current handling condition and the vehicle'"'"'s limit handling condition and determining a margin between the vehicle'"'"'s current handling condition and limit handling condition, and wherein the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle is categorized by type based on the margin.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein categorizing a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type includes monitoring driver torque requests, establishing types of driver behavior based on a history of driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof, and assigning current driver behavior into one of the established types based on current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle includes an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal each having positions, wherein categorizing a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type includes determining a gap time between the vehicle and another vehicle, determining a variability of a rate of change of at least one of the accelerator and brake pedal positions, and wherein the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle is categorized by type based on the gap time and the variability of the rate of change.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein categorizing a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type includes determining a distance and relative speed between the vehicle and another vehicle and measuring a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle, and wherein the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle is categorized by type based on the distance and relative speed between the vehicles and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle includes a haptic driver interface and wherein generating an alert for the driver if the distance is less than the threshold and the speed is greater than the target includes activating the haptic driver interface.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a threshold distance based on the type includes selecting a target deceleration based on the type.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold distance is further based on the speed of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold distance is further based on the target speed of the road curvature.

10. A vehicle comprising:

a driver interface; and

at least one controller operatively arranged with the interface and configured to categorize a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type, to determine a target speed of a road curvature, to determine a speed of the vehicle, to determine a threshold time based on the type, to determine a time until the vehicle enters the road curvature, and to generate an alert for the driver via the interface if the time is less than the threshold and the speed is greater than the target.

11. The vehicle of claim 10 wherein the interface is a haptic driver interface.

12. A method of advising a driver of a vehicle comprising:

categorizing the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type;

determining a threshold distance based on the type;

determining a distance between the vehicle and a road intersection; and

generating an alert for the driver if the distance is less than the threshold distance.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein categorizing a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type includes measuring a plurality of parameters representing the vehicle'"'"'s current handling condition and the vehicle'"'"'s limit handling condition and determining a margin between the vehicle'"'"'s current handling condition and limit handling condition, and wherein the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle is categorized by type based on the margin.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein categorizing a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type includes monitoring driver torque requests, establishing types of driver behavior based on a history of driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof, and assigning current driver behavior into one of the established types based on current driver torque requests and associated rates of change thereof.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the vehicle includes an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal each having positions, wherein categorizing a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type includes determining a gap time between the vehicle and another vehicle, determining a variability of a rate of change of at least one of the accelerator and brake pedal positions, and wherein the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle is categorized by type based on the gap time and the variability of the rate of change.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein categorizing a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type includes determining a distance and relative speed between the vehicle and another vehicle and measuring a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle, and wherein the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle is categorized by type based on the distance and relative speed between the vehicles and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the vehicle includes a haptic driver interface and wherein generating an alert for the driver if the distance is less than the threshold distance includes activating the haptic driver interface.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein determining a threshold distance based on the type includes selecting a target deceleration based on the type.

19. A vehicle comprising:

a driver interface;

at least one controller operatively arranged with the interface and configured to categorize a driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type, to determine a threshold time based on the type, to determine a time until the vehicle enters a road intersection, and to generate an alert for the driver via the interface if the time is less than the threshold.

20. A method for advising a driver of a vehicle comprising:

categorizing the driver'"'"'s dynamic control of the vehicle by type;

determining a target speed of a road curvature;

determining a speed of the vehicle;

determining a distance between the vehicle and the curvature;

determining an alert condition based on the type, target speed, speed, and a threshold distance; and

generating an alert in response to the alert condition.