Autonomous vehicle emergency braking method

• US 9,428,163 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2010
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZF CV Systems Europe BV (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Original Assignee: Wabco GmbH (Wabco Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Breuer, Karsten, Dieckmann, Thomas, Hoffmann, Guido
• Primary Examiner(s): Kan, Yuri
• Application Number:
  US13/377,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20120095660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,311 Days
• Field of Search: 701/70, 701/301, 701/408, 701/498, 701/22, 701/28, 701/82, 701/428, 104/88.01, 382/104, 303/9, 303/193, 303/122.09, 340/995.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/02 Active or adaptive cruise control system; Distance control
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/024 Collision mitigation systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2210/36 Global Positioning System [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2250/04 Vehicle reference speed; Vehicle body speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2270/413 Plausibility monitoring, cross check, redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/18 operated by wayside apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/22 initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle , or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/172 Determining control parameters used in the regulation, e.g. by calculations involving measured or detected parameters B60T8/17551 takes precedence

Abstract

A method for autonomous emergency braking in a road vehicle to avoid or reduce the severity of an accident includes measuring the speed of the vehicle during autonomous emergency braking and additionally determining vehicle speed independent of the wheel rotational speeds of the vehicle. In this way, the vehicle speed can be determined sufficiently accurately even in the cases in which, as a result of sharp autonomous braking, the vehicle speed is higher than the wheel rotational speeds.

Claims

1. A method for autonomous emergency braking in a road vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a roadway sped of the vehicle based on wheel speeds measured using wheel sensors of the vehicle;

detecting, using a collision mitigation electronic system, a potential hazard to the vehicle;

effecting, by the collision mitigation electronic system, autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle in response to the detected hazard; and

during the autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle;

monitoring the space in front of the vehicle using at least one distance sensor of the vehicle;

determining, using the collision mitigation electronic system, the roadway speed of the vehicle independently of the wheel speeds measured using the wheel sensors by evaluating signals of the at least one distance sensor; and

controlling the autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle by operating the collision mitigation electronic system based at least in part on the roadway speed of the vehicle determined by evaluating the signals of the at least one distance sensor to avoid incorrect evaluation of the detected hazard and premature termination of the autonomous emergency braking that might otherwise occur if the collision mitigation electronic system were operated exclusively based on the roadway speed determined based on the wheel speeds measured using the wheel sensors.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one distance sensor comprises a RADAR sensor.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one distance sensor comprises a LIDAR sensor.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring step is further effected using a video camera.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining the roadway speed of the vehicle is further effected using an optical sensor mounted on the vehicle, the optical sensor being configured to scan the vehicle roadway in a contactless manner.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining the roadway speed of the vehicle is further effected using a GPS sensor.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising the step of evaluating phase shifts of carrier frequencies of GPS signals.

8. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the step of determining the roadway speed of the vehicle includes evaluating the images of the video camera.

9. A road vehicle, equipped to effect a method for autonomous emergency braking, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a roadway speed of the vehicle based on wheel speeds measured using wheel sensors of the vehicle;

detecting, using a collision mitigation electronic system, a potential hazard to the vehicle;

effecting, by the collision mitigation electronic system, autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle in response to the detected hazard; and

during the autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle;

monitoring the space in front of the vehicle using at least one distance sensor of the vehicle;

determining, using the collision mitigation electronic system, the roadway speed of the vehicle independently of the wheel speeds measured using the wheel sensors by evaluating signals of the at least one distance sensor; and

controlling the autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle by operating the collision mitigation electronic system based at least in part on the roadway speed of the vehicle determined by evaluating the signals of the at least one distance sensor to avoid incorrect evaluation of the detected hazard and premature termination of the autonomous emergency braking that might otherwise occur if the collision mitigation electronic system were operated exclusively based on the roadway speed determined based on the wheel speeds measured using the wheel sensors.

10. A method for autonomous braking in a road vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a roadway speed of the vehicle based on wheel speeds measured using wheel sensors of the vehicle;

detecting, using a collision mitigation electronic system, a potential hazard to the vehicle;

effecting, by the collision mitigation electronic system, autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle in response to the detected hazard; and

during the autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle;

monitoring the space in front of the vehicle using at least one distance sensor and at least one video camera of the vehicle;

determining, using the collision mitigation electronic system, the roadway speed independently of the wheel speeds measured using the wheel sensors based on information transmitted by the at least one distance sensor and images from the at least one video camera; and

controlling the autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle by operating the collision mitigation electronic system based at least in part on the roadway speed of the vehicle determined based on information transmitted by the at least one distance sensor and images from the at least one video camera to avoid incorrect evaluation of the detected hazard and premature termination of the autonomous emergency braking that might otherwise occur if the collision mitigation electronic system were operated exclusively based on the roadway speed determined based on the wheel speeds measured using the wheel sensors.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of determining the roadway speed of the vehicle is further effected using information transmitted by at least one of an optical sensor and a GPS sensor.

12. A method for autonomous emergency braking in a road vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a roadway speed of the vehicle based on wheel speeds measured using wheel sensors of the vehicle;

detecting, using a collision mitigation electronic system, a potential hazard to the vehicle;

effecting, by the collision mitigation electronic system, autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle in response to the detected hazard; and

during the autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle;

monitoring the space in front of the vehicle using at least one distance sensor of the vehicle;

determining, using the collision mitigation electronic system, the roadway speed of the vehicle independently of the wheel speeds measured using the wheel sensors by evaluating signals of the at least one distance sensor that originate from a plurality of fixed objects; and

controlling the autonomous emergency braking the vehicle by operating the collision mitigation electronic system based at least in part on the roadway speed of the vehicle determined by evaluating the signals of the at least one distance sensor to avoid incorrect evaluation of the detected hazard and premature termination of the autonomous emergency braking that might otherwise occur if the collision mitigation electronic system were operated exclusively based on the roadway speed determined based on the wheel speeds measured using the wheel sensors.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the plurality of fixed objects comprises at least one of trees and roadway boundary pillars.