Vehicle monitoring system

• US 9,499,139 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2014
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Magna Electronics Incorporated (Magna International Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Magna Electronics Incorporated (Magna International Incorporated)
• Inventors: Koravadi, Krishna
• Primary Examiner(s): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US14/561,794
• Publication Number:
  US 20150158499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/23, 701/41, 701/70
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/12 for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/18 operated by wayside apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/029 Steering assistants using warnings or proposing actions to the driver without influencing the steering system
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles

Abstract

A vehicle monitoring system includes a central processor operable to receive vehicle inputs from multiple vehicles. The vehicle inputs are indicative of driving conditions of the vehicles. The central processor is operable to receive, for each vehicle of the multiple vehicles, an environment input indicative of the environment at that vehicle. Responsive to the vehicle inputs and the environment inputs, the central processor determines if one or more of the multiple vehicles is at or approaching a hazardous condition. Responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at a potentially hazardous condition, the central monitoring system at least one of (i) actuates an alert of the threatened vehicle to alert a driver of the threatened vehicle of the determined hazardous condition and (ii) controls a vehicle system of the threatened vehicle to mitigate the determined hazardous condition.

Claims

1. A vehicle monitoring system, said vehicle monitoring system comprising:

a central processor operable to receive vehicle inputs from multiple vehicles, wherein the vehicle inputs are indicative of driving conditions of the vehicles;

wherein said central processor is located remote from each of the multiple vehicles and receives the vehicle inputs from each of the multiple vehicles via wireless communication;

wherein said central processor is operable to receive, for each vehicle of the multiple vehicles, an environment input indicative of the environment at the geographical location of that vehicle;

wherein, responsive to processing by said central processor of the vehicle inputs and the environment inputs, said central processor determines if one or more of the multiple vehicles is at or approaching a potentially hazardous condition; and

responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at or approaching the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication to the one or more threatened vehicles, at least one of (i) causes actuation of an alert of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to alert a driver of each of the one or more threatened vehicles of the potentially hazardous condition and (ii) controls a vehicle system of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to mitigate the potentially hazardous condition.

2. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein, responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication, actuates an alert of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to alert a driver of each of the one or more threatened vehicles of the determined hazardous condition.

3. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein, responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication, controls a vehicle system of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to mitigate the potentially hazardous condition.

4. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 3, wherein said vehicle system comprises at least one of (i) a brake system, (ii) a steering system, (iii) a torque control and (iv) a collision avoidance system.

5. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the environment inputs comprise inputs derived from at least one of (i) map information, (ii) traffic information and (iii) weather condition information.

6. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle inputs comprise at least one of (i) vehicle longitudinal velocity, (ii) vehicle lateral velocity, (iii) vehicle longitudinal acceleration, (iv) vehicle lateral acceleration and (v) actuation of a turn signal indicator of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple vehicles includes a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication system that is operable to wirelessly communicate vehicle inputs to said central processor.

8. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple vehicles includes a plurality of sensors disposed at the vehicle and operable to capture data representative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and wherein said central processor is operable to receive data derived from outputs of said plurality of sensors at each of the multiple vehicles.

9. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 8, wherein said plurality of sensors comprises at least two of (i) a forward viewing camera, (ii) sideward viewing cameras, (iii) a rearward viewing camera, (iv) a radar sensor and (v) a LIDAR sensor.

10. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the multiple vehicles comprises a semi-autonomous vehicle.

11. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 10, wherein, responsive to a determination that the semi-autonomous vehicle is a threatened vehicle at the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication, controls at least one vehicle system of the semi-autonomous threatened vehicle to mitigate the potentially hazardous condition.

12. A vehicle monitoring system, said vehicle monitoring system comprising:

a central processor operable to receive vehicle inputs from multiple vehicles, wherein the vehicle inputs are indicative of driving conditions of the vehicles;

wherein said central processor is located remote from each of the multiple vehicles and receives the vehicle inputs from each of the multiple vehicles via wireless communication;

wherein the vehicle inputs comprise at least one of (i) vehicle longitudinal velocity, (ii) vehicle lateral velocity, (iii) vehicle longitudinal acceleration, (iv) vehicle lateral acceleration and (v) actuation of a turn signal indicator of the vehicle;

wherein said central processor is operable to receive, for each vehicle of the multiple vehicles, an environment input indicative of the environment at the geographical location of that vehicle;

wherein the environment inputs comprise inputs derived from at least one of (i) map information, (ii) traffic information and (iii) weather condition information;

wherein, responsive to processing by said central processor of the vehicle inputs and the environment inputs, said central processor determines if one or more of the multiple vehicles is at or approaching a potentially hazardous condition; and

responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at or approaching the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication to the one or more threatened vehicles, at least one of (i) causes actuation of an alert of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to alert a driver of each of the one or more threatened vehicles of the potentially hazardous condition and (ii) controls a vehicle system of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to mitigate the potentially hazardous condition.

13. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 12, wherein, responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication, causes actuation of an alert of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to alert a driver of each of the one or more threatened vehicles of the potentially hazardous condition.

14. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 12, wherein, responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at the respective potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication, controls a vehicle system of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to mitigate the respective hazardous condition at that one or more threatened vehicles, and wherein said vehicle system comprises at least one of (i) a brake system, (ii) a steering system, (iii) a torque control and (iv) a collision avoidance system.

15. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 12, wherein each of the multiple vehicles includes a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication system that is operable to wirelessly communicate vehicle inputs to said central processor.

16. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 12, wherein each of the multiple vehicles includes a plurality of sensors disposed at the vehicle and operable to capture data representative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, wherein said plurality of sensors comprises at least two of (i) a forward viewing camera, (ii) sideward viewing cameras, (iii) a rearward viewing camera, (iv) a radar sensor and (v) a LIDAR sensor.

17. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 12, wherein at least one of the multiple vehicles comprises a semi-autonomous vehicle, and wherein, responsive to a determination that the semi-autonomous vehicle is a threatened vehicle at the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication, controls at least one vehicle system of the semi-autonomous threatened vehicle to mitigate the potentially hazardous condition.

18. A vehicle monitoring system, said vehicle monitoring system comprising:

a central processor operable to receive vehicle inputs from multiple vehicles, wherein the vehicle inputs are indicative of driving conditions of the vehicles;

wherein said central processor is located remote from each of the multiple vehicles and receives the vehicle inputs from each of the multiple vehicles via wireless communication;

wherein each of the multiple vehicles includes a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication system that is operable to wirelessly communicate vehicle inputs to said central processor;

wherein said central processor is operable to receive, for each vehicle of the multiple vehicles, an environment input indicative of the environment at the geographical location of that vehicle;

wherein each of the multiple vehicles includes a plurality of sensors disposed at the vehicle and operable to capture data representative of the environment at that vehicle;

wherein said plurality of sensors comprises at least two of (i) a forward viewing camera, (ii) sideward viewing cameras, (iii) a rearward viewing camera, (iv) a radar sensor and (v) a LIDAR sensor;

wherein the environment inputs are at least partially derived from data captured by said sensors;

wherein, responsive to processing by said central processor of the vehicle inputs and the environment inputs, said central processor determines if one or more of the multiple vehicles is at or approaching a potentially hazardous condition; and

responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication to the one or more threatened vehicles, at least one of (i) causes actuation of an alert of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to alert a driver of each of the one or more threatened vehicles of the potentially hazardous condition and (ii) controls a vehicle system of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to mitigate the potentially hazardous condition.

19. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 18, wherein, responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication, causes actuation of an alert of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to alert a driver of each of the one or more threatened vehicles of the potentially hazardous condition.

20. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 18, wherein, responsive to a determination that one or more of the multiple vehicles is a threatened vehicle at the potentially hazardous condition, said vehicle monitoring system, via wireless communication, controls a vehicle system of each of the one or more threatened vehicles to mitigate the potentially hazardous condition, and wherein said vehicle system comprises at least one of (i) a brake system, (ii) a steering system, (iii) a torque control and (iv) a collision avoidance system.