Method and system for providing a tutorial message to a driver of a vehicle

• US 9,852,625 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2013
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volvo Truck Corporation (Volvo AB)
• Original Assignee: Volvo Truck Corporation (Volvo AB)
• Inventors: Victor, Trent, Kronberg, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): CASS, JEAN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US14/428,070
• Publication Number:
  US 20150262484A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,806 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/16 Control of vehicles or other craft simulators G09B9/02
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/04 for teaching control of land vehicles

Abstract

A method is provided for providing a tutorial message to a driver in a vehicle using an in-vehicle tutorial system including a multimodal user interface. The method includes assigning an area of improvement, including at least one tutorial task, to the tutorial system, identifying a driving context for which a tutorial task is to be performed, based on the tutorial task and the driving context, selecting a tutorial message encouraging a desired driving behavior, and providing the selected tutorial message to the driver using the multimodal user interface.

Claims

1. A method for providing a tutorial message to a driver in a vehicle using an in-vehicle tutorial system comprising a multimodal user interface, the vehicle comprising a processing unit and a plurality of sensors arranged internally and externally of the vehicle and configured to determine a driving context for the driver, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

assigning at least an area of improvement, comprising at least one tutorial task, to the tutorial system, wherein different areas of improvement are related to one of a plurality of predefined different categories of improvement;

identifying, using the processing unit, a driving context using information collected using the plurality of sensors provided with the vehicle for which a tutorial task is to be performed, the driving context comprising an operational context relating to environmental, vehicle, and traffic conditions under which the vehicle is operated wherein one of the plurality of sensors arranged internally of the vehicle is adapted to measure and detect a behavior of the driver during vehicle operation;

based on the tutorial task and the driving context, selecting a tutorial message for the operational context, the tutorial message encouraging a desired driving behavior;

providing the selected tutorial message to the driver using the multimodal user interface, wherein the tutorial message is provided as at least a combination of two of an audio, voice, visual, and haptic output during vehicle operation and after vehicle operation;

logging a driver response to the provided tutorial message; and

determining a correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response;

determining a goal fulfillment based on the correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response; and

selecting a further area of improvement to assign to the tutorial system based on the goal fulfillment,

wherein the step of determining the correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response comprises relating the driver response to at least one of the plurality of predefined categories of improvement and establishing a skill level of the driver as one of at least novice driver and more skilled driver, the step of selecting the further area of improvement to be assigned to the tutorial system is further based on previous assignments to the plurality of predefined categories of improvement, and the step of selecting the tutorial message is at least partially based on the skill level of the driver.

2. Method according to claim 1, further comprising determining an accumulated goal fulfillment by adding a plurality of determined goal fulfillments.

3. Method according to claim 2, further comprising selecting an area of improvement to assign to the tutorial system based on the accumulated goal fulfillment.

4. Method according to claim 1, wherein assigning an area of improvement comprises, manually assigning an area of improvement by the driver, remotely assigning an area of improvement by a third party or automatically assigning an area of improvement by the tutorial system.

5. Method according to claim 4, wherein the allowability of manually assigning an area of improvement by the driver is determined based on the accumulated goal fulfillment for the driver.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein the area of improvement is assigned by a back office unit.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein the driving context and the corresponding tutorial task are logged for allowing the driver to be allowed to review in an offline state, thereby allowing the driver to receive further tutorial messages.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein the tutorial message is selected from a plurality of predetermined tutorial messages.

9. Method according to claim 2 wherein the tutorial message is selected based on the accumulated goal fulfillment.

10. Method according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of tutorial messages comprises a plurality of tutorial messages of different degree of detail for each tutorial task.

11. Method according to claim 2, wherein the logged driver'"'"'s response is used as future reference for desired driving behavior.

12. An in-vehicle tutorial system for providing a tutorial message to a driver in a vehicle, the system comprising:

a multimodal user interface;

a plurality of sensors comprised with the vehicle and arranged internally and externally of the vehicle and configured to determine a driving context;

a processing unit configured to;

assign at least an area of improvement, comprising at least one tutorial task, to the tutorial system, wherein different areas of improvement are related to one of a plurality of predefined different categories of improvement;

identify a driving context using information collected using the plurality of sensors provided with the vehicle for which a tutorial task is to be performed, the driving context comprising an operational context relating to environmental, vehicle, and traffic conditions under which the vehicle is operated, wherein one of the plurality of sensors arranged internally of the vehicle is adapted to measure and detect a behavior of the driver during vehicle operation;

based on the tutorial task and the driving context, select a tutorial message for the operational context, the tutorial message encouraging a desired driving behavior;

provide the selected tutorial message to the driver using the multimodal user interface, wherein the tutorial message is provided as at least a combination of two of an audio, voice, visual, and haptic output during vehicle operation and after vehicle operation;

log a driver response to the provided tutorial message;

determine a correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response;

determine a goal fulfillment based on the correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response; and

select a further area of improvement to assign to the tutorial system based on the goal fulfillment,

wherein determining the correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response comprises relating the driver response to at least one of the plurality of predefined categories of improvement and establishing a skill level of the driver as one of at least novice driver and more skilled driver, the step of selecting the further area of improvement to be assigned to the tutorial system is further based on previous assignments to the plurality of predefined categories of improvement, and the step of selecting the tutorial message is at least partially based on the skill level of the driver.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a computer program product for providing a tutorial message to a driver in a vehicle using an in-vehicle tutorial system comprising a multimodal user interface, the vehicle comprising a plurality of sensors configured to determine a driving context for the driver the computer program product comprising code configured to, when executed by a processor:

assign at least an area of improvement, comprising at least one tutorial task, to the tutorial system, wherein different areas of improvement are related to one of a plurality of predefined different categories of improvement;

identify a driving context using information collected using the plurality of sensors provided with the vehicle for which a tutorial task is to be performed, the driving context comprising an operational context relating to environmental, vehicle, and traffic conditions under which the vehicle is operated, wherein one of the plurality of sensors arranged internally of the vehicle is adapted to measure and detect a behavior of the driver during vehicle operation;

based on the tutorial task and the driving context, select a tutorial message for the operational context, the tutorial message encouraging a desired driving behavior,

provide the selected tutorial message to the driver using the multimodal user interface, wherein the tutorial message is provided as at least a combination of two of an audio, voice, visual, and haptic output during vehicle operation and after vehicle operation;

log a driver response to the provided tutorial message;

determine a correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response;

determine a goal fulfillment based on the correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response; and

select a further area of improvement to assign to the tutorial system based on the goal fulfillment,

wherein determining the correlation between the desired driving behavior and the driver response comprises relating the driver response to at least one of the plurality of predefined categories of improvement and establishing a skill level of the driver as one of at least novice driver and more skilled driver, the step of selecting the further area of improvement to be assigned to the tutorial system is further based on previous assignments to the plurality of predefined categories of improvement, and the step of selecting the tutorial message is at least partially based on the skill level of the driver.