Collision avoidance assisting system for vehicle

• US 8,576,055 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2010
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Hosoda, Yuji, Koga, Masashi, Hara, Yoshitaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dorsey, Renee
• Application Number:
  US12/699,207
• Publication Number:
  US 20100201509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A collision avoidance assisting system for a vehicle, for expecting a risk of colliding upon a moving object (or a moving obstacle), including a pedestrian, more correctly, but without annoying a driver, excessively, by estimating the risk to be excessively high, comprises a moving object detecting means for detecting a moving object existing on periphery of the vehicle; a footway boundary detecting means for detecting a position and a configuration of a footway boundary object on periphery of the vehicle; a risk estimation means for estimating a risk that the moving object detected by said moving object detecting means collides on the vehicle; and an alarm means for calling an attention to a driver of the vehicle, upon basis of the risk of collision estimated by the risk estimation means, wherein the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by the moving object detecting means, and that vehicle is estimated by taking at least the position information of the moving object, the position information of the footway boundary object and conditions of the circumferences thereof.

Claims

1. A collision avoidance assisting system for estimating a risk of any impending collision for a moving vehicle while said moving vehicle is moving, comprising:

a moving object detecting means which is configured to detect, for an impending collision risk of said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, a moving object existing on a periphery of the vehicle;

a footway boundary detecting means which is configured to detect, for the impending collision risk of said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, a position and a configuration of a footway boundary object which is provided as a division between a driveway and a footway, located on the same periphery of said moving vehicle as said moving object;

a risk estimation means which is configured to estimate, for the impending collision risk of said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, a risk of collision that the moving object detected by said moving object detecting means will collide with said moving vehicle;

an alarm means which is configured to call an attention to a driver of said moving vehicle, upon a basis of the risk of collision estimated by said risk estimation means; and

a positional relationship analyzing means, which is configured to output at least a relative distance between said moving object and said footway boundary object and a relative distance between said moving object and said moving vehicle, which is detected by said moving object detection means, and position/configuration information of the footway boundary object which is detected by said footway boundary object detecting means, wherein

said risk estimation means estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, at least from the relative distance between said moving object and said footway boundary object, which is outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means, and the relative distance between said moving object and said moving vehicle, which is outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means;

said footway boundary detecting means further outputs a height of said footway boundary object, and

said risk estimation means further estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, by also considering the height of said footway boundary object, which is outputted from said footway boundary detecting means, in addition to considering the relative distance between said moving object and said footway boundary object and the relative distance between said moving object and said moving vehicle, which are outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means.

2. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 1, wherein

said positional relationship analyzing means further outputs a relative distance between said moving vehicle and said footway boundary object, and

said risk estimation means estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle, also including the relative distance between said moving vehicle and said footway boundary object, which is outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means, in addition to the relative distance between said moving object and said footway boundary object and the relative distance between said moving object and said moving vehicle, which are outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means.

3. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 1, further comprising a risk estimation parameter memory means, which is configured to memorize a risk estimation parameter therein, and said risk estimation parameter memory means changes said risk estimation parameter depending on a maintenance condition, including at least one of a driving capacity of said moving vehicle, a weather and a road.

4. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 1, wherein said footway boundary detecting means has an object attribute discrimination function for detecting an attribute, including either one of a kind or a material of the footway boundary object on the periphery of said moving vehicle, and said risk estimation means estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle, depending on the attribute of said footway boundary object, which is detected by the object attribute discrimination function provided by said footway boundary detecting means.

5. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 4, wherein the object attribute discrimination function provided by said footway boundary detecting means is for detecting the height of said footway boundary object, in addition to either one of the kind or the material of the object including the footway boundary object, whereby estimating the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle, depending on the detected height of said footway boundary object.

6. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 2, wherein as the footway boundary object on the periphery of said moving vehicle to be detected by said footway boundary detecting means is included a road facility, including any one of a road edge difference, or a guardrail, or a hedge, or a division line by a white line, and further said footway boundary detecting means detects the position and the configuration of said footway boundary object, and said positional relationship analyzing means has a moving object/footway boundary distance calculation means for calculating a distance between the moving object and the footway boundary object, a moving object/vehicle distance calculation means for calculating a distance between the moving object and the vehicle, and a vehicle/footway boundary distance calculation means for calculating a distance between the vehicle and the footway boundary object.

7. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 6, further comprising a video obtaining means for obtaining video information around the moving object, which exists on the periphery of the vehicle, wherein said moving object/footway boundary distance calculation means determines on whether the moving object is on a footway or not, with using the video information obtained by said video obtaining means, when said distance between the footway boundary object is near to zero (0), and corrects said distance between the moving object and the footway boundary object depending upon a result of said determination.

8. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 1, wherein said moving object detecting means further comprises a moving object moving direction detecting means for detecting a moving direction of the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said risk estimation means estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle, depending on the moving direction of said moving object, which is detected by said moving object moving direction detecting means.

9. A collision avoidance assisting system for estimating a risk of any impending collision for a moving vehicle while said moving vehicle is moving, comprising:

a moving object detecting means which is configured to detect, for an impending collision risk of said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, a moving object existing on a periphery of the vehicle;

a footway barrier detecting means which is configured to detect, for the impending collision risk of said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, a position and a configuration of a footway barrier object which is provided as a division between a driveway and a footway located on the same periphery of said moving vehicle as said moving object;

a risk estimation means which is configured to estimate, for the impending collision risk of said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, a risk of collision that the moving object detected by said moving object detecting means will collide with said moving vehicle;

an alarm means which is configured to call an attention to a driver of said moving vehicle, upon a basis of the risk of collision estimated by said risk estimation means; and

a positional relationship analyzing means, which is configured to output at least a relative distance between said moving object and said footway barrier object and a relative distance between said moving object and said moving vehicle, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and position/configuration information of the footway barrier object, which is detected by said footway barrier object detecting means, wherein

said risk estimation means estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, at least from the relative distance between said moving object and said footway barrier object, which is outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means, and the relative distance between said moving object and said moving vehicle, which is outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means;

said footway barrier detecting means further outputs a height of said footway barrier object, and

said risk estimation means further estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle while said moving object is moving, by also considering the height of said footway barrier object, which is outputted from said footway barrier detecting means, in addition to considering the relative distance between said moving object and said footway barrier object and the relative distance between said moving object and said moving vehicle, which are outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means.

10. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 9, wherein

said positional relationship analyzing means further outputs a relative distance between said moving vehicle and said footway barrier object, and

said risk estimation means estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle, also including the relative distance between said moving vehicle and said footway barrier object, which is outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means, in addition to the relative distance between said moving object and said footway barrier object and the relative distance between said moving object and said moving vehicle, which are outputted from said positional relationship analyzing means.

11. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 9, further comprising a risk estimation parameter memory means, which is configured to memorize a risk estimation parameter therein, and said risk estimation parameter memory means changes said risk estimation parameter depending on a maintenance condition, including at least one of a driving capacity of said moving vehicle, a weather and a road.

12. The collision avoidance assisting system described in the claim 9, wherein said footway barrier detecting means has an object attribute discrimination function for detecting an attribute, including either one of a kind or a material of the footway barrier object on the periphery of said moving vehicle, and said risk estimation means estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle, depending on the attribute of said footway barrier object, which is detected by the object attribute discrimination function provided by said footway barrier detecting means.

13. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 10, wherein as the footway barrier object on the periphery of said moving vehicle to be detected by said footway barrier detecting means is included a road facility, including any one of a road edge difference, or a guardrail, or a hedge, and further said footway barrier detecting means detects the position and the configuration of said footway barrier object, and said positional relationship analyzing means has a moving object/footway barrier distance calculation means for calculating a distance between the moving object and the footway barrier object, a moving object/vehicle distance calculation means for calculating a distance between the moving object and the vehicle, and a vehicle/footway barrier distance calculation means for calculating a distance between the vehicle and the footway barrier object.

14. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 13, further comprising a video obtaining means for obtaining video information around the moving object, which exists on the periphery of the vehicle, wherein said moving object/footway barrier distance calculation means determines on whether the moving object is on a footway or not, with using the video information obtained by said video obtaining means, when said distance between the footway barrier object is near to zero (0), and corrects said distance between the moving object and the footway barrier object depending upon a result of said determination.

15. The collision avoidance assisting system as described in the claim 9, wherein said moving object detecting means further comprises a moving object moving direction detecting means for detecting a moving direction of the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said risk estimation means estimates the risk of collision between the moving object, which is detected by said moving object detecting means, and said moving vehicle, depending on the moving direction of said moving object, which is detected by said moving object moving direction detecting means.