Method and system to detect and mitigate customer dissatisfaction with performance of automatic mode selection system

• US 9,333,975 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2013
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Szwabowski, Steven Joseph, Filev, Dimitar Petrov, Lu, Jianbo, Tseng, Finn, Prakah-Asante, Kwaku O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kiswanto, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US14/034,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20140025259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0083 Setting, resetting, calibration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0095 Automatic control mode change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/05 Type of road, e.g. motorways, local streets, paved or unpaved roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/40 Coefficient of friction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/406 Traffic density
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for

Abstract

A method for controlling a vehicle includes automatically activating a first mode of operation of a vehicle, determining if a driver does not prefer the automatically activated first mode of operation, and automatically transitioning to a second mode of operation based on the determination.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a vehicle, comprising:

automatically activating a first mode of operation of the vehicle;

counting, with a forgetting factor, a number of transitions to a second mode of operation that occur after automatically activating the first mode of operation; and

automatically transitioning to the second mode of operation based on the number of transitions exceeding a threshold value indicative of driver dissatisfaction with automatically activating the first mode of operation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically transitioning to the second mode based on behavior of a driver that is inconsistent with the automatically activated first mode of operation.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising inhibiting a switch to the first mode of operation when the threshold value is exceeded.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing the threshold value based on whether a driver is repeatedly dissatisfied with the first mode of operation.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically transitioning to the second mode of operation based on whether activation of the first mode of operation is consistently followed by a deactivation of an automatic mode selection or by a manual selection of a mode that is different from the first mode of operation.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically transitioning to the second mode of operation based on whether a driver operates an accelerator in a manner that is inconsistent with the first mode of operation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first mode of operation and the second mode of operation are each one of a normal mode, a comfort mode, and a sport mode.

8. A mode-shifting system for a vehicle, comprising a controller configured to:

automatically establish a mode of operation;

count, with a forgetting factor, a number of transitions to a different mode of operation that occur after automatically establishing the mode of operation; and

automatically switch to the different mode in response to the number of transitions exceeding a threshold value indicative of driver dissatisfaction with the automatically established mode of operation.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to automatically switch to the different mode of operation based on driver behavior that is inconsistent with the automatically established mode of operation.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to inhibit automatically establishing the mode of operation when the threshold value is exceeded.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to change the threshold value based on whether a driver is repeatedly dissatisfied with the automatically established mode of operation.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to automatically switch to the different mode of operation based on whether establishment of the mode of operation is consistently followed by a deactivation of an automatic mode selection or by a manual selection of a mode that is different from the automatically established mode of operation.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to automatically switch to the different mode of operation based on whether a driver operates an accelerator in a manner that is inconsistent with the first mode of operation.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly embodying computer-executable instructions comprising:

automatically activating a first mode of operation of a vehicle;

counting, with a forgetting factor, a number of transitions to a second mode of operation that occur after automatically activating the first mode of operation; and

automatically transitioning to the second mode of operation based on the number of transitions exceeding a threshold value indicative of driver dissatisfaction with automatically activating the first mode.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, the instructions further comprising automatically transitioning to the second mode of operation based on driver behavior that is inconsistent with the automatically activated first mode of operation.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, the instructions further comprising automatically transitioning to the second mode of operation based on whether activation of the first mode of operation is consistently followed by a deactivation of an automatic mode selection or by a manual selection of a mode that is different from the first mode of operation.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, the instructions further comprising automatically transitioning to the second mode of operation based on whether a driver operates an accelerator in a manner that is inconsistent with the first mode of operation.