Vehicle controlling system and method

• US 8,948,972 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2013
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., University of Michigan
• Original Assignee: Nissan North America Incorporated (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.), University of Michigan
• Inventors: Liu, Jiechao, Gordon, Timothy, Heft, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): Algahaim, Helal A
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMITH, JELANI A
• Application Number:
  US13/782,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20140249718A1
• Time in Patent Office: 704 Days
• Field of Search: 701/70, 701/47, 701/41, 701/36, 701/301, 701/118, 340/576, 340/436, 340/435, 340/425.5, 180/272
• US Class Current: 701/41
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/00 Safety devices for propulsion-unit control, specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles, e.g. preventing fuel supply or ignition in the event of potentially dangerous conditions for electrically-propelled vehicles B60L3/00; road vehicle drive control systems for purposes not related to the control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/00; drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A vehicle controlling method which includes detecting an engagement of a vehicle tire with a rumble strip of a road, and performing first and second vehicle controls. The first vehicle control includes operating a controller to control movement of the vehicle after the vehicle tire has disengaged from the rumble strip to bring the vehicle tire back into engagement with the rumble strip. The second vehicle control includes operating the controller to continue to control movement of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle tire in engagement with the rumble strip after the vehicle tire has been brought back into engagement with the rumble strip.

Claims

1. A vehicle controlling method comprising:

detecting an engagement of a vehicle tire with a rumble strip of a road;

performing a first vehicle control by operating a controller to control movement of the vehicle after the vehicle tire has disengaged from the rumble strip to bring the vehicle tire back into engagement with the rumble strip; and

performing a second vehicle control by operating the controller to continue to control movement of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle tire in engagement with the rumble strip after the vehicle tire has been brought back into engagement with the rumble strip.

2. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, wherein

the detecting includes performing a frequency analysis of a wheel speed signal representing a speed of the vehicle tire to determine whether the vehicle tire is engaging the rumble strip.

3. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, further comprising

detecting a driver awareness state of a driver of the vehicle;

and

operating the controller to refrain from performing the first and second vehicle control while the driver awareness state indicates an aware driver.

4. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 3, wherein

the detecting of the driver awareness state includes detecting a steering operation of the vehicle and determining the driver awareness state based on the detected steering operation.

5. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 4, wherein

the detecting of the steering operation includes detecting whether the steering operation corrects a trajectory of the vehicle;

and

the detecting of the driver awareness state determines that the driver awareness state is an aware driver state while the detecting of the steering operation detects that the steering operation corrects the trajectory.

6. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, wherein

the first vehicle control includes pulsing a steering of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 6, further comprising

determining reliability of a detected lateral position with respect to the rumble strip;

applying a tracking algorithm as the pulsing when the detected lateral position is determined to be reliable; and

applying a predetermined pulse as the pulsing when the detected lateral position is determined to be unreliable.

8. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, wherein

the second vehicle control includes performing a sliding mode control to control steering of the vehicle.

9. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 8, wherein

the sliding mode includes estimating a lateral offset of the vehicle based on a signal from a tracking camera at the vehicle, and controlling steering of the vehicle based on the estimated lateral offset.

10. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, wherein

the second vehicle control includes controlling movement of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle tire along one of an inside edge, an outside edge and a lateral center of the rumble strip.

11. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, wherein

the second vehicle control includes controlling movement of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle tire in substantially full engagement with the rumble strip.

12. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, further comprising

performing a third vehicle control by operating the controller to bring the vehicle to a stop after performing the first and second vehicle control.

13. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, further comprising

performing a warning control operation to issue a warning at the vehicle.

14. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 13, wherein

the warning control includes operating a vehicle horn to alert a driver of the vehicle.

15. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 13, wherein

the warning control includes operating a light system of the vehicle to flash to issue an alert external to the vehicle.

16. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, wherein

the first vehicle control includes determining a first heading angle of the vehicle with respect to the rumble strip, and controlling the movement of the vehicle after the vehicle tire has disengaged from the rumble strip to bring the vehicle tire back into engagement with the rumble strip at a second heading angle of the vehicle, different than the first heading angle, with respect to the rumble strip.

17. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 16, wherein

the second heading angle is less than the first heading angle.

18. The vehicle controlling method according to claim 1, wherein

the first vehicle control includes determining when the vehicle tire disengages from the rumble strip after crossing the rumble strip and controlling the movement of the vehicle after the vehicle tire has crossed the rumble strip to change a lateral direction of movement of the vehicle to bring the vehicle tire back into engagement with the rumble strip.

19. A vehicle control system comprising:

a detector configured to detect an engagement of a vehicle tire with a rumble strip of a road; and

a controller configured to perform a first vehicle control to control movement of the vehicle after the vehicle tire has disengaged from the rumble strip to bring the vehicle tire back into engagement with the rumble strip, and to perform a second vehicle control to continue to control movement of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle tire in engagement with the rumble strip after the vehicle tire has been brought back into engagement with the rumble strip.

20. The vehicle control system according to claim 19, wherein

the controller is further configured to perform a third vehicle control to bring the vehicle to a stop after performing the first and second vehicle control.