Method for representing vehicle surroundings
First Claim
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1. A driver assistance method for a subject vehicle that is driving on a road, and that has a sensor system and a driver assistance system including an evaluation unit and a control device, wherein the method comprises:
- a) with the sensor system, detecting features in an environment ahead of the subject vehicle and producing sensor data representing the features, wherein the features include traffic lane markings on the road, physical boundaries of or on the road, and obstacles on the road;
b) with the driver assistance system, evaluating the sensor data and based on the detected features represented by the sensor data, determining a driving path that is available for the subject vehicle to drive along the road ahead of the subject vehicle;
c) with the driver assistance system, determining a succession of position points representing a boundary of the driving path, wherein the position points are spaced apart from one another and discontinuous along the boundary, and assigning respective attribute values to a predefined set of attributes respectively allocated to each one of the position points, wherein the attributes include a width attribute, and wherein the respective attribute value assigned to the width attribute of a respective one of the position points indicates a lateral width of an unobstructed area that is available as a maneuvering space for the subject vehicle outside of the driving path on an opposite side of the respective position point; and
d) with the control device, executing a driver assistance function for the subject vehicle dependent on the position points and the attribute values assigned to the attributes of the position points;
wherein;
the traffic lane markings on the road include a traversable lane marking that indicates a traffic instruction permitting motor vehicles to cross the traversable lane marking, and at least a portion of the boundary coincides with the traversable lane marking,the detected features include at least one of the obstacles on the road outside of the driving path on an opposite side of the boundary,the at least one obstacle would present a collision risk for the subject vehicle if the subject vehicle would traverse the portion of the boundary, andthe method further comprises specifying that the portion of the boundary is a non-traversable boundary by assigning zero as the respective attribute value of the width attribute for each one of the position points representing the portion of the boundary.
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Abstract
In a method and a driver assistance system for representing vehicle surroundings of a vehicle having a sensor system for detecting the environment, a boundary of a traffic lane or driving path on which the vehicle is currently being driven is represented by position points that each have a predefined set of attributes especially including a width attribute indicating a lateral width of an unobstructed area available as a maneuvering space on an opposite side of the respective position point.
61 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A driver assistance method for a subject vehicle that is driving on a road, and that has a sensor system and a driver assistance system including an evaluation unit and a control device, wherein the method comprises:
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a) with the sensor system, detecting features in an environment ahead of the subject vehicle and producing sensor data representing the features, wherein the features include traffic lane markings on the road, physical boundaries of or on the road, and obstacles on the road; b) with the driver assistance system, evaluating the sensor data and based on the detected features represented by the sensor data, determining a driving path that is available for the subject vehicle to drive along the road ahead of the subject vehicle; c) with the driver assistance system, determining a succession of position points representing a boundary of the driving path, wherein the position points are spaced apart from one another and discontinuous along the boundary, and assigning respective attribute values to a predefined set of attributes respectively allocated to each one of the position points, wherein the attributes include a width attribute, and wherein the respective attribute value assigned to the width attribute of a respective one of the position points indicates a lateral width of an unobstructed area that is available as a maneuvering space for the subject vehicle outside of the driving path on an opposite side of the respective position point; and d) with the control device, executing a driver assistance function for the subject vehicle dependent on the position points and the attribute values assigned to the attributes of the position points; wherein; the traffic lane markings on the road include a traversable lane marking that indicates a traffic instruction permitting motor vehicles to cross the traversable lane marking, and at least a portion of the boundary coincides with the traversable lane marking, the detected features include at least one of the obstacles on the road outside of the driving path on an opposite side of the boundary, the at least one obstacle would present a collision risk for the subject vehicle if the subject vehicle would traverse the portion of the boundary, and the method further comprises specifying that the portion of the boundary is a non-traversable boundary by assigning zero as the respective attribute value of the width attribute for each one of the position points representing the portion of the boundary. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A driver assistance method for a subject vehicle that is driving on a road, and that has a sensor system and a driver assistance system including an evaluation unit and a control device, wherein the method comprises:
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a) with the sensor system, detecting features in an environment ahead of the subject vehicle and producing sensor data representing the features, wherein the features include traffic lane markings on the road, physical boundaries of or on the road, and obstacles on the road; b) with the driver assistance system, evaluating the sensor data and based on the detected features represented by the sensor data, determining a driving path that is available for the subject vehicle to drive along the road ahead of the subject vehicle; c) with the driver assistance system, determining a succession of position points representing a boundary of the driving path, wherein the position points are spaced apart from one another and discontinuous along the boundary, and assigning respective attribute values to a predefined set of attributes respectively allocated to each one of the position points, wherein the attributes include a width attribute, and wherein the respective attribute value assigned to the width attribute of a respective one of the position points indicates a lateral width of an unobstructed area that is available as a maneuvering space for the subject vehicle outside of the driving path on an opposite side of the respective position point; and d) with the control device, executing a driver assistance function for the subject vehicle dependent on the position points and the attribute values assigned to the attributes of the position points; wherein the attributes of each one of the position points further include a lane space attribute, and wherein the respective attribute value assigned to the lane space attribute of a respective one of the position points indicates a lateral width of an unobstructed area that is available as a driving space for the subject vehicle in the driving path bounded by the respective position point. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5)
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6. A driver assistance method for a subject vehicle that is driving on a road, and that has a sensor system and a driver assistance system including an evaluation unit and a control device, wherein the method comprises:
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a) with the sensor system, detecting features in an environment ahead of the subject vehicle and producing sensor data representing the features, wherein the features include traffic lane markings on the road, physical boundaries of or on the road, and obstacles on the road; b) with the driver assistance system, evaluating the sensor data and based on the detected features represented by the sensor data, determining a driving path that is available for the subject vehicle to drive along the road ahead of the subject vehicle; c) with the driver assistance system, determining a succession of position points representing a boundary of the driving path, wherein the position points are spaced apart from one another and discontinuous along the boundary, and assigning respective attribute values to a predefined set of attributes respectively allocated to each one of the position points, wherein the attributes include a width attribute, and wherein the respective attribute value assigned to the width attribute of a respective one of the position points indicates a lateral width of an unobstructed area that is available as a maneuvering space for the subject vehicle outside of the driving path on an opposite side of the respective position point; and d) with the control device, executing a driver assistance function for the subject vehicle dependent on the position points and the attribute values assigned to the attributes of the position points; wherein the attribute values assigned to the width attribute of the position points are determined based on presence or absence, and position, of a moving object in a traffic lane adjacent to the driving path on the opposite side of the position points, such that the attribute value of the width attribute of a given one of the position points at a given location varies over time. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A driver assistance method for a subject vehicle that is driving on a road, and that has a sensor system and a driver assistance system including an evaluation unit and a control device, wherein the method comprises:
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a) with the sensor system, detecting features in an environment ahead of the subject vehicle and producing sensor data representing the features, wherein the features include physical boundaries of or on the road, and obstacles on the road; b) with the driver assistance system, evaluating the sensor data and based on the detected features represented by the sensor data, determining a driving path that is available for the subject vehicle to drive along the road ahead of the subject vehicle; c) with the driver assistance system, determining a succession of position points representing a boundary of the driving path, wherein the position points are spaced apart from one another and discontinuous along the boundary, and respectively assigning to each individual respective one of the position points, a respective individual traversability indicator value that indicates whether a respective portion of the boundary represented by the respective position point is traversable because the respective boundary portion may be safely crossed by the subject vehicle or is non-traversable because the respective boundary portion may not be safely crossed by the subject vehicle, wherein first ones of the position points have the traversability indicator values indicating that the boundary portions represented by the first position points are traversable and second ones of the position points have the traversability indicator values indicating that the boundary portions represented by the second position points are non-traversable; and d) with the control device, executing a driver assistance function for the subject vehicle dependent on the position points and the traversability indicator values assigned thereto.
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9. A driver assistance method for a subject vehicle that is driving on a road, and that has a sensor system and a driver assistance system including an evaluation unit and a control device, wherein the method comprises the steps:
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a) with the sensor system, detecting features in an environment ahead of the subject vehicle and producing sensor data representing the features, wherein the features include traffic lane markings on the road, physical boundaries of or on the road, and obstacles on the road; b) with the driver assistance system, evaluating the sensor data and based on the detected features represented by the sensor data, determining a driving path that is available for the subject vehicle to drive along the road ahead of the subject vehicle; c) with the driver assistance system, determining a succession of position points representing a boundary of the driving path, wherein the position points are discontinuous and spaced apart from one another by a longitudinal spacing distance along the boundary, and determining a length of the longitudinal spacing distance between a respective one of the position points and a next successive one of the position points dependent on at least one of the following parameters; c1) an actual current speed of the subject vehicle, c2) a complexity of the features in the environment at an area of the respective position point, c3) a curvature of the driving path at an area of the respective position point, and/or c4) a local width of the driving path at an area of the respective position point, d) with the driver assistance system, assigning respective attribute values to a predefined set of attributes respectively allocated to each one of the position points, wherein the attributes include a width attribute, and wherein the respective attribute value assigned to the width attribute of the respective position point indicates a lateral width of an unobstructed area that is available as a maneuvering space for the subject vehicle outside of the driving path on an opposite side of the respective position point; and e) with the control device, executing a driver assistance function for the subject vehicle dependent on the position points and the attribute values assigned to the attributes of the position points. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification