Jerk reduction in transition between lane-centering and lane-keeping steering systems

• US 9,421,973 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2014
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Lee, Jin-Woo
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatib, Rami
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOOMER, JEFFREY C
• Application Number:
  US14/193,178
• Publication Number:
  US 20150248132A1
• Time in Patent Office: 907 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/10 Path keeping cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165
• 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: G05D 1/0055 with safety arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00

Abstract

A system and method of autonomously steering a vehicle responsively to failure of a lane-centering system through time-dependent steering angle correction to reduce jerk resulting from transition of steering control from a lane-centering system to a lane-keeping system or vise-versa.

Claims

1. A vehicular, autonomous steering-control system comprising:

at least one image capture device mounted on a vehicle;

a lane-centering system configured to maintain travel centered within a travel lane;

a lane-keeping system actuated responsively to failure of the lane-centering system, the failure detected as a front corner of the vehicle traversing a lane marker of the travel lane from image data captured by the image capture device, the lane-keeping system configured to generate a plurality of corrective steering commands restoring travel within the travel lane, one or more of the steering commands at least partially defined by a minimized cost function, the steering commands limited by a time-dependent, steering-angle limit increasing with time and

a steering system configured to implement the corrective steering commands.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more of the corrective steering commands is at least partially defined by a maximum rate-of-angle-change.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the maximum rate-of-angle-change is at least partially defined by one or more vehicle dynamic parameters.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the maximum rate-of-angle-change is at least partially defined by road curvature.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the lane-keeping system is further configured to transfer steering-control to the lane-centering system responsive to achievement of corrected path of travel.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the image capture device includes a sideward viewing sensor associated with the lane-keeping system, the sideward viewing sensor having a viewing range of 130-180 degrees.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the image capture device includes a sideward viewing sensor associated with the lane-keeping system, the rearward viewing sensor having a viewing range between 130-180 degrees.

8. A method for autonomously steering a vehicle comprising:

capturing image data of lane markers within which a vehicle travels with an image capture device;

using a lane-centering system to maintain travel of a vehicle within the lane markers;

actuating a lane-keeping system responsively to failure of the lane-centering system, the failure detected as a front corner of the vehicle traversing a lane marker of the travel lane from the image data of the lane markers;

generating a plurality of corrective steering commands restoring vehicle travel within the lane markers;

one or more of the steering commands at least partially defined by a minimized cost function, the steering commands limited by a time-dependent, steering-angle limit increasing with time; and

implementing the corrective steering commands through a steering system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more of the corrective steering commands is at least partially defined by a maximum rate-of-angle-change.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the maximum rate-of-angle-change is at least partiallydefined by one or more vehicle dynamics parameters.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the maximum rate-of-angle-change is at least partially defined by road curvature.

12. The method of claim 8, farther comprising transferring steering-control to the lane-centering system responsive to achievement of corrected a path of travel.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the image capture device includes a sideward viewing sensor associated with the lane-keeping system, the sideward viewing sensor having a viewing range of 130-180 degrees.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the image capture device includes a sideward viewing sensor associated with the lane-keeping system, the rearward viewing sensor having a viewing range between 130-180 degrees.