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Preventive fuel saving-aimed motor vehicle driver assistance

  • US 9,677,896 B2
  • Filed: 05/15/2014
  • Issued: 06/13/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A fuel saving-aimed motor vehicle driver assistance system comprising:

  • an on-vehicle location device configured to provide motor vehicle position-related data;

    a human-machine interface configured to provide a motor vehicle driver recommendations to a motor vehicle driver which would result in fuel savings; and

    an electronic control unit connected to the on-vehicle location device and the human-machine interface by a communication network, the electronic control unit being configured to identify recurrent routes of the motor vehicle and provide the motor vehicle driver, via the human-machine interface, feedback relating to the motor vehicle by implementing the following functions;

    Waypoint Management comprising;

    Waypoint Tracking,Waypoint Matching, andWaypoint Learning;

    Route Management comprising;

    Route Identification, andRoute Optimization;

    Driver Coaching;

    wherein the Waypoint Tracking function defines, based on motor vehicle position-related data received from the on-vehicle location device, a succession of Waypoints, which are geographic points that define each recurrent route, at which values of a series of Waypoint attributes are determined and recorded, and based on which the Route Management function is then executed;

    wherein the Waypoint attributes comprise;

    invariant Waypoint attributes comprising Waypoint location data, andvariable Waypoint attributes comprising Waypoint crossing direction and speed, and motor vehicle status data comprising motor vehicle speed data, motor vehicle fuel consumption data and on-vehicle system usage data;

    wherein the Waypoint Learning function updates the variable Waypoint attributes when the motor vehicle travels through the Waypoints;

    wherein the Waypoint Matching function reduces computational load of the electronic control unit by searching the Waypoints for a closest Waypoint that is spatially closest to the current motor vehicle position and having predetermined Waypoint crossing direction and speed and predetermined distance from the current motor vehicle position, and using a scoring function which adopts at least one of the following functions to reduce computational load;

    computing differences in latitude and longitude only for Waypoints for which the difference in direction is less than ninety degrees;

    defining partially overlapping geographical work areas, to be loaded separately; and

    rejecting Waypoints that have differences in latitude and longitude greater than five-hundred meters or a directional distance exceeding one-hundred eighty degrees;

    wherein if such a closest Waypoint is not found, the Waypoint Tracking function is then executed to define a new Waypoint, or else, if such a closest Waypoint is found, the Waypoint Learning function is then executed to update the variable Waypoint attributes;

    wherein the Route Identification function concatenates the Waypoints associated with a each recurrent route so as to form an ordered list of Waypoints associated with to each recurrent route;

    wherein the Route Optimization function identifies characteristic route Waypoints that satisfy a predetermined Waypoint crossing speed condition, compute speed profiles and primary controls for the motor vehicle at the characteristic route Waypoints and expected journey times and fuel consumption along the recurrent routes based on the Waypoint attributes;

    and wherein the Driver Coaching function provides the motor vehicle driver, based on the speed profiles and the primary controls computed for the characteristic route Waypoints and by means of the human-machine interface, with fuel saving-aimed motor vehicle driving recommendations along the recurrent routes.

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