Vehicle hazard detection and warning system

• US 9,478,132 B1
• Filed: 12/29/2015
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Development Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Thunder Power Hong Kong Limited (Thunder Power Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Dai, Yu-Ting
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US14/983,472
• Time in Patent Office: 301 Days
• Field of Search: 340/905, 340/425.5, 340/576, 340/438, 340/439
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0088 Adaptive recalibration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/30 Road curve radius
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/40 Coefficient of friction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/18 Braking system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/08 Active safety systems predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision or attempting to minimise its consequences
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle

Abstract

Described herein is a vehicle system configured to identify and mitigate a risk associated with one or more hazards that may impact a vehicle. The vehicle system may include a service provider computer configured to maintain information related to one or more hazards. In some embodiments, a hazard may be identified based at least in part on its being located within the vicinity of a vehicle. In some embodiments, the service provider computer may generate a mitigation strategy to reduce or eliminate the risk posed by the identified hazard. The mitigation strategy may include one or more actions to be taken by a processor device within the vehicle. Upon being provided with a mitigation strategy, the processor device may execute one or more of the actions in the mitigation strategy without human interaction.

Claims

1. A vehicle apparatus, comprising:

one or more input sensors;

an antenna device; and

a processor device configured to;

receive input from the one or more input sensors, the input including a location of a vehicle;

provide the received input to a service provider computer via the antenna device;

receive, from the service provider computer and in response to providing the received input, a mitigation strategy generated based on an identification of at least one hazard in the vicinity of the vehicle apparatus and based on one or more driver specific factors including a driver'"'"'s tendency to overcompensate when turning, the mitigation strategy including instructions to perform at least a first action and a second action, each of which is calculated to reduce a risk associated with the at least one hazard, wherein the first action comprises an action to provide a notification to a driver and the second action comprises an action to increase a brake sensitivity of the vehicle,

wherein the instructions to perform the second action are configured to be executed upon determining that the first action was ineffective;

and

execute the at least one action.

2. The vehicle apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an output device, wherein the processor device is further configured to provide a notification to an operator of the vehicle apparatus via the output device.

3. The vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the antenna device is configured to enable communication via a cellular network.

4. The vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more input sensors includes a global positioning system device.

5. The vehicle apparatus of claim 4, wherein the input related to the location of the vehicle is a set of geographic coordinates.

18. The vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the input also includes condition information for the vehicle, and the mitigation strategy is generated by the service provider using the provided condition information.

19. The vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mitigation strategy also includes a condition upon which the at least one action is to be executed, and the processor device is further configured to execute the at least one action upon detecting that the condition has been met.

6. A method comprising:

receiving, from one or more input sensors, input information related to a vehicle, the input information including at least a location information;

determining, based at least in part on the received input information, a hazard that the vehicle is projected to encounter;

determining, based at least in part on a type associated with the hazard, a plurality of actions to be taken by the vehicle to mitigate a risk associated with the hazard, the plurality of actions including;

a first action to provide a notification to a driver of the vehicle; and

a second action to mitigate the risk associated with the hazard that comprises causing a vehicle component to activate, the second action being determined based on a type of the hazard and one or more driver specific factors including a driver'"'"'s tendency to overcompensate when turning; and

provide, instructions to execute the plurality of actions to the vehicle, such that the instructions cause the vehicle to execute the second action upon determining that the first action was ineffective.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the indication of the a plurality of actions includes a set of computer executable instructions.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the a plurality of actions to be taken by the vehicle includes activating a braking system on the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the a plurality of actions includes multiple timed actions, each of the multiple timed actions being executed at determined times.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the risk associated with the hazard is a risk that a vehicle function will be affected by the hazard.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the a plurality of actions is determined based at least in part on an attribute of a driver of the vehicle.

12. A vehicle system, comprising:

a processor device; and

a memory including instructions that, when executed with the processor device, cause the system to, at least;

receive an indication of a location associated with a vehicle;

identify, based at least in part on the received indication, at least one hazard within a vicinity of the vehicle;

determine a set of safety protocols calculated to mitigate the hazard, the set of safety protocols including;

a first protocol that includes instructions to provide a notification to a driver of the vehicle; and

a second protocol that includes instructions to cause a vehicle component to activate, the second protocol being determined based on a type of the hazard and one or more driver specific factors including a driver'"'"'s tendency to overcompensate when turning; and

provide the set of safety protocols to the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is configured to take at least one action based on the set of safety protocols, the second protocol being executed upon detecting that the first protocol is ineffective.

13. The vehicle system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the system to at least:

receive a second location associated with a second vehicle;

determine, based at least in part on input received from the second vehicle, that a second hazard has been encountered by the second vehicle; and

store information related to the second hazard in a memory with respect to the second location.

14. The vehicle system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the system to at least:

determine that the second hazard is within the vicinity of the vehicle;

determine a second set of safety protocols calculated to mitigate the second hazard; and

provide the second set of safety protocols to the vehicle.

15. The vehicle system of claim 12, wherein the vicinity of the vehicle is a predetermined distance from the vehicle.

16. The vehicle system of claim 15, wherein the vicinity of the vehicle is a distance calculated based on the speed of the vehicle.

17. The vehicle system of claim 12, wherein the set of safety protocols includes an instruction to activate a function of the vehicle.