Vehicle collision warning system and method of operating the same

• US 8,577,592 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2011
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Chatterjee, Aamrapali, Zagorski, Chad T., Williams, Paul R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW
• Application Number:
  US13/111,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20120293314A1
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/301, 701/300
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2900/30 Lamps commanded by wireless transmissions
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/008 for anti-collision purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A vehicle collision warning system and method may be used to detect a potential or impending collision with another vehicle and to send a corresponding warning to the driver. In an exemplary embodiment, the collision warning system uses one or more target vehicle readings (e.g., a relative velocity reading (Δv), a target vehicle acceleration reading (a_TAR), and a relative distance reading or range (Δd)) to solve a unified collision warning algorithm. If the unified collision warning algorithm determines that there is a potential collision with the target vehicle, then the system sends a corresponding warning to the driver.

Claims

1. A method for use with a vehicle collision warning system, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving one or more reading(s) from a target vehicle sensor and retrieving one or more previously stored value(s) from an electronic memory device including a host vehicle response value (R_HOST), a gap setting value (G_SETTING), or both (R_HOST) and (G_SETTING), wherein (R_HOST) is an estimated deceleration capability of a host vehicle based on driver braking and (G_SETTING) is a distance between a host vehicle and a target vehicle that influences when a warning is sent to the driver;

(b) using the reading(s) in conjunction with the previously stored value(s) to solve a unified collision warning algorithm with a control module, wherein the unified collision warning algorithm detects a potential collision without continuously switching between different algorithms in response to dynamic conditions; and

(c) sending a warning to a driver if the unified collision warning algorithm determines that a potential collision exists.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises receiving a relative velocity reading (Δ

v) that is representative of the difference between host and target vehicle velocities; and

step (b) further includes using the relative velocity reading (Δ

v) to solve the unified collision warning algorithm.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises retrieving the host vehicle response value (R_HOST) from the electronic memory device, wherein (R_HOST) is an estimated deceleration capability of a host vehicle based on driver braking;

and step (b) further includes using the host vehicle response value (R_HOST) to solve the unified collision warning algorithm.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the host vehicle response value (R_HOST) is stored in the electronic memory device and varies by vehicle type.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein step (a) further comprises receiving a target vehicle acceleration reading (a_TAR);

and step (b) further includes subtracting the target vehicle acceleration reading (a_TAR) from the host vehicle response value (R_HOST) to solve the unified collision warning algorithm.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises receiving a relative distance reading (Δ

d) that is representative of the distance between the host and target vehicles; and

step (b) further includes using the relative distance reading (Δ

d) to solve the unified collision warning algorithm.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein step (a) further comprises retrieving the gap setting value (G_SETTING);

and step (b) further includes subtracting the gap setting value (G_SETTING) from the relative distance reading (Δ

d) to solve the unified collision warning algorithm.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the unified collision warning algorithm does not contain any terms that can result in a division-by-zero scenario or a negative-square-root scenario.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the unified collision warning algorithm uses input from only one target vehicle sensor.

10. A method for use with a vehicle collision warning system, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving one or more reading(s) from a target vehicle sensor;

(b) using the reading(s) to solve a unified collision warning algorithm with a control module, wherein the unified collision warning algorithm detects a potential collision without continuously switching between different algorithms in response to dynamic conditions; and

(c) sending a warning to a driver if the unified collision warning algorithm determines that a potential collision exists, wherein the unified collision warning algorithm includes the following expression;

Δ

v²+2(R_HOST−

a_TAR)(Δ

d−

G_SETTING)>

0.

11. A method for use with a vehicle collision warning system, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving one or more reading(s) from a target vehicle sensor;

(b) using the reading(s) to evaluate an expression with a control module, wherein the expression includes at least one of the following terms;

a first term having a square of a relative velocity reading (Δ

v), a second term having a difference between a host vehicle response value (R_HOST) and a target vehicle acceleration reading (a_TAR), and a third term having a difference between a relative distance reading (Δ

d) and a gap setting value (G_SETTING), wherein (R_HOST) is an estimated deceleration capability of a host vehicle based on driver braking and (G_SETTING) is a distance between a host vehicle and a target vehicle that influences when a warning is sent to the driver; and

(c) sending a warning to a driver if the evaluation of the expression suggests a potential collision.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein step (a) further comprises receiving a relative velocity reading (Δ

v) that is representative of the difference between host and target vehicle velocities; and

step (b) further includes using the relative velocity reading (Δ

v) to evaluate the expression, which includes the first term.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein step (a) further comprises receiving the host vehicle response value (R_HOST) that is an estimated deceleration capability of a host vehicle based on driver braking and a target vehicle acceleration reading (a_TAR);

and step (b) further includes using the host vehicle response value (R_HOST) and the target vehicle acceleration reading (a_TAR) to evaluate the expression, which includes the second term.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the host vehicle response value (R_HOST) is stored in an electronic memory device and varies by vehicle type.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein step (a) further comprises receiving a relative distance reading (Δ

d) that is representative of the distance between the host and target vehicles and the gap setting value (G_SETTING); and

step (b) further includes using the relative distance reading (Δ

d) and the gap setting value (G_SETTING) to evaluate the expression, which includes the third term.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the expression does not contain any terms that can result in a division-by-zero scenario or a negative-square-root scenario.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the expression includes the following unified collision warning algorithm:

Δ

v²+2(R_HOST−

a_TAR)(Δ

d−

G_SETTING)>

0.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the expression is evaluated with input from only one target vehicle sensor.

19. A vehicle collision warning system, wherein the system is mounted on a host vehicle and detects a potential collision with a target vehicle, comprising:

one or more target vehicle sensor(s) being mounted on the host vehicle and reflecting electromagnetic signals off of the target vehicle; and

a control module being electronically coupled to the target vehicle sensor(s) and receiving target vehicle readings from the sensor(s), wherein the control module is configured to use the target vehicle readings in conjunction with one or more previously stored value(s) from an electronic memory device to solve a unified collision warning algorithm that detects a potential collision with the target vehicle without continuously switching between different algorithms in response to dynamic conditions, the one or more previously stored value(s) includes;

a host vehicle response value (R_HOST) that is an estimated deceleration capability of a host vehicle based on driver braking, a gap setting value (G_SETTING) that is a distance between a host vehicle and a target vehicle that influences when a warning is sent to a driver, or both (R_HOST) and (G_SETTING).