Apparatus and method for providing a crash prevention control functionality for a vehicle

• US 9,037,379 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2013
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: Shin, Min Yong, Lee, Si Hyoung
• Primary Examiner(s): Olszewski, John R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Whittington, Jess
• Application Number:
  US13/903,928
• Publication Number:
  US 20140188366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/96
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/025 Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation B62D1/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

An apparatus for providing crash prevention control functionality to a vehicle includes: a dangerous situation determining unit determining whether a dangerous situation is developing with respect to a side approaching vehicle based on information relating to the vehicle approaching from a side direction; a lane keeping assist system (LKAS) control area calculation unit calculating a control area to apply to a LKAS so as to avoid the approaching vehicle when the approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation; a smart cruise control (SCC) control value calculation unit calculating a control value to apply to an SCC system so as to avoid the approaching vehicle when the approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation; and a drive control unit configured to output a control signal to at least one of the LKAS and the SCC system according to the calculation results.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing crash prevention control functionality to a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

a dangerous situation determining unit configured to determine whether a dangerous situation is developing with respect to a side approaching vehicle based on information relating to the side approaching vehicle approaching the vehicle from a side direction;

a lane keeping assist system (LKAS) control area calculation unit configured to calculate a control area to apply to an LKAS to cause the vehicle to move in a direction transverse to a direction of travel of the vehicle while remaining in a current lane of the vehicle to avoid the side approaching vehicle when it is determined that the side approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation according to the determination result;

a smart cruise control (SCC) control value calculation unit configured to calculate a control value to apply to an SCC system to avoid the side approaching vehicle when it is determined that the side approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation according to the determination result;

and a drive control unit configured to determine at least one of the LKAS and the SCC system to which a control signal should be output based on the result of determining whether the side approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation, and to selectively output the control signal to the determined at least one of the LKAS and the SCC system according to the result of determining whether the side approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation;

wherein the LKAS is configured to perform a proportional-integral-derivative CPID)-based feedback control to maintain the vehicle on or near a reference line R to be followed by the vehicle, wherein the PID-based feedback control is performed based on a steering angle α and

a distance ε

the center of the vehicle measured relative to the reference line R;

wherein the LKAS is further configured to perform a feed-forward control in response to determining a road curvature or a reference line R curvature, wherein the feed-forward control includes maintaining PID feedback control based on the steering angle α

while suspending the PID feedback control based on the distance ε

to the center of the vehicle until the vehicle direction is stabilized.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the LKAS control area calculation unit and the SCC control value calculation unit respectively calculate the control area and the control value based on at least one of:

a velocity of the vehicle in a longitudinal direction, a distance between the vehicle and the side approaching vehicle, and a relative velocity of the vehicles.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the LKAS control area calculation unit expands the control area for the vehicle in a range that does not extend beyond boundaries of a current lane of the vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the LKAS control area calculation unit calculates an expansion value to expand the control area in a direction in which the side approaching vehicle approaches the vehicle.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SCC control value calculation unit increases or decreases a SCC set speed for the vehicle according to the relative location of the approaching vehicle.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the SCC control value calculation unit decreases the SCC set speed when the approaching vehicle approaches in a sideways direction from a front of the vehicle, and increases the SCC set speed when the dangerous vehicle approaches in a sideways direction from a rear of the vehicle.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SCC control value calculation unit increases or decreases a distance between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle according to the relative location of the approaching vehicle.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the SCC control value calculation unit increases the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle when the approaching vehicle approaches in a sideways direction from the front and decreases the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle when the approaching vehicle approaches in a sideways direction from the rear.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drive control unit outputs the control signal to only the LKAS in situations in which the side approaching vehicle is determined to cause a dangerous situation to cause the vehicle to move in a direction transverse to a direction of travel of the vehicle to avoid the side approaching vehicle.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drive control unit outputs the control signal to both the LKAS and the SCC system when the side approaching vehicle is determined to cause a dangerous situation to cause the vehicle to move in a direction transverse to a direction of travel of the vehicle to avoid the side approaching vehicle and to cause the vehicle to accelerate or decelerate to avoid the side approaching vehicle.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the LKAS control area calculation unit calculates the control area based on a distance between the vehicle and the side approaching vehicle, and a relative velocity of the vehicles.

11. A method for providing crash prevention control functionality to a vehicle, the method comprising:

determining whether a dangerous situation is developing with respect to a side approaching vehicle based on information relating to the side approaching vehicle approaching the vehicle from a side direction;

calculating a control area to apply to a lane keeping assist system (LKAS) to cause the vehicle to move in a direction transverse to a direction of travel of the vehicle while remaining in a current lane of the vehicle, and a control value to apply to a smart cruise control (SCC) system, to avoid the side approaching vehicle when it is determined that the side approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation according to the determination result;

determining at least one of the LKAS and the SCC system to which a control signal should be output based on the result of determining whether the side approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation;

and selectively outputting the control signal to the determined at least one of the LKAS and the SCC system according to the result of determining whether the side approaching vehicle is causing a dangerous situation;

and performing a proportional-integral-derivative (PID)-based feedback control in the LKAS to maintain the vehicle on or near a reference line R to be followed by the vehicle, wherein the PID based feedback control is performed based on a steering angle α and

a distance ε

to the center of the vehicle measured relative to the reference line R;

and performing a feed-forward control in the LKAS in response to determining a road curvature or a reference line R curvature, wherein the performing of the feed-forward control includes maintaining PID feedback control based on the steering angle ε

while suspending the PID feedback control based on the distance ε

to the center of the vehicle until the vehicle direction is stabilized.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating the control area and the control value comprises calculating the control area and the control value based on at least one of:

a velocity of the vehicle in a longitudinal direction, a distance between the vehicle and the side approaching vehicle, and a relative velocity of the vehicles.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating the control area comprises expanding the control area of the LKAS in a range that does not extend beyond boundaries of a current lane of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein calculating the control area comprises calculating an expansion value to expand the control area in a direction in which the side approaching vehicle approaches the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating the control area comprises increasing or decreasing the SCC set speed for the vehicle according to the relative location of the approaching vehicle.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating the control area comprises increasing or decreasing a distance between a preceding vehicle and the vehicle according to the relative location of the approaching vehicle.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein outputting the control signal comprises outputting the control signal to both the LKAS and the SCC system when the side approaching vehicle is determined to cause a dangerous situation to cause the vehicle to move in a direction transverse to a direction of travel of the vehicle to avoid the side approaching vehicle and to cause the vehicle to accelerate or decelerate to avoid the side approaching vehicle.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating the control area to apply to the LKAS comprises calculating the control area based on a distance between the vehicle and the side approaching vehicle, and a relative velocity of the vehicles.