Vehicle collision avoidance and mitigation system

• US 8,831,870 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2011
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visteon Global Technologies Incorporated (Visteon Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Visteon Global Technologies Incorporated (Visteon Corporation)
• Inventors: Whikehart, J William, Bezzina, Debra A
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Testardi, David
• Application Number:
  US13/286,419
• Publication Number:
  US 20130110309A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 Days
• Field of Search: 701/301
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/162 event-triggered
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A system which jointly reduces damage from an impending collision between multiple vehicles includes sensing devices, at least one processor, at least one memory, output devices, and communication devices. The sensing devices sense conditions near, around, in, or involving multiple vehicles. The at least one memory is in electronic communication with the at least one processor, and includes programming code for execution by the at least one processor. The programming code is configured to analyze the sensed conditions sensed by the sensing devices to jointly determine and output instructions to multiple vehicles for jointly reducing damage from an impending collision between them. The output devices output or implement the jointly determined output instructions to multiple vehicles. The communication devices communicate the sensed conditions from the sensing devices to the at least one processor, and communicate the jointly determined output instructions from the at least one processor to the output devices.

Claims

1. A system for reducing damage from an impending collision between multiple vehicles comprising:

sensing devices for sensing conditions near, around, in, or involving multiple vehicles;

at least one processor;

at least one database in electronic communication with the at least one processor;

at least one memory in electronic communication with the at least one processor, wherein the at least one memory comprises programming code for execution by the at least one processor, and the programming code is configured to analyze the sensed conditions sensed by the sensing devices and to analyze data contained in the at least one database to determine and output instructions to the multiple vehicles to reduce damage from an impending collision between them, wherein the data to be analyzed by the programming code which is contained in the at least one database comprises vehicle handling capabilities and vehicle impact data as to where ideal locations are for vehicle impact;

output devices for outputting or implementing the determined output instructions to the multiple vehicles in order to reduce the damage from the impending collision between the multiple vehicles; and

at least one communication device for communicating the sensed conditions from the sensing devices to the at least one processor and for communicating the determined output instructions from the at least one processor to the output devices.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the multiple vehicles comprise the sensing devices, the output devices, the at least one communication device, and the at least one processor.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the at least one processor comprises separate processors of each of the multiple vehicles communicating with one another and acting together to determine and output the instructions to the multiple vehicles to reduce the damage from the impending collision between them.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein each of the multiple vehicles comprises at least one of the sensing devices, at least one of the output devices, at least one of the communication device, and at least one of the at least one processor.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensing devices comprise at least one of a camera device, a laser device, or a radar device.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the conditions sensed by the sensing devices comprise a traffic light condition.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the conditions sensed by the sensing devices comprise a building location.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the conditions sensed by the sensing devices comprise a person location.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the conditions sensed by the sensing devices comprise a vehicle occupant location.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the conditions sensed by the sensing devices comprise vehicle air bag information.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the conditions sensed by the sensing devices comprise vehicle seat-belt information.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the determined output instructions comprise traffic light instructions.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one output device comprises a traffic light device.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one communication device comprises an internet.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the data contained in the at least one database comprises the vehicle handling capabilities for each of the multiple vehicles, and the vehicle impact data as to where the ideal locations are for the vehicle impact in each of the multiple vehicles.

16. A method for reducing damage from an impending collision between multiple vehicles comprising:

sensing conditions near, around, in, or involving multiple vehicles using sensing devices;

communicating the sensed conditions from the sensing devices to at least one processor using at least one communication device;

analyzing the sensed conditions communicated from the sensing devices to the at least one processor in conjunction with analyzing data contained in at least one database, the analyzed data comprising vehicle handling capabilities and vehicle impact data as to where ideal locations are for vehicle impact, using programming code stored in at least one memory and executed by the at least one processor, to determine output instructions for the multiple vehicles to reduce damage from an impending collision between them;

communicating the determined output instructions, using the at least one communication device or at least another communication device, from the at least one processor to output devices of the multiple vehicles; and

outputting the communicated determined output instructions, using the output devices of the multiple vehicles, to reduce damage from the impending collision between them.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the multiple vehicles comprise the sensing devices, the output devices, the communication devices, and the at least one processor.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the at least one processor comprises separate processors of each of the multiple vehicles communicating with one another and acting together to determine the output instructions to the multiple vehicles to reduce the damage from the impending collision between them.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein each of the multiple vehicles comprises at least one of the sensing devices, at least one of the output devices, at least one of the communication devices, and at least one of the at least one processor.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the sensing devices comprise at least one of a camera device, a laser device, or a radar device.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the determined output instructions comprise at least one of traffic light instructions.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein the output devices comprise at least one of a traffic light device.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein the communication devices comprise an internet.

24. The method of claim 16 wherein the conditions comprise at least one of a traffic light condition, a building location, a person location, a vehicle occupant location, vehicle air bag information, or vehicle seat-belt information.