Vehicle collision warnings based on a time-to-collision

• US 9,953,534 B1
• Filed: 10/20/2016
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Malla, Rijan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US15/299,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20180114440A1
• Time in Patent Office: 551 Days
• Field of Search: 340435, 340436, 340438, 340441, 3409322, 340903, 180167, 180168, 702143, 702150
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/106 Rate of change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/12 Brake pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

Method, apparatus, and computer storage media are disclosed for vehicle collision warnings based on a time-to-collision. An example vehicle includes a sensor to detect an object, a speed sensor to measure a current speed, and a collision alerter. The example collision alerter is to determine a distance to the object and determine a time-to-collision based on the distance and the current speed. Also, the example collision alerter is to emit, in response to the time-to-collision being less than or equal to a first collision threshold, a first alarm associated with the first collision threshold.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a sensor to detect an object;

a speed sensor to measure a current speed; and

a collision alerter to;

determine a distance to the object;

determine a time-to-collision based on the distance and the current speed;

emit, in response to the time-to-collision being less than or equal to a first collision threshold, a first alarm associated with the first collision threshold; and

in response to the time-to-collision being greater than the first collision threshold, determine a predicted speed and compare the predicted speed and the current speed.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the first alarm includes an uninterrupted audible signal.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the collision alerter further emits the first alarm in response to the collision alerter determining that the distance to the object is less than or equal to a threshold distance.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the collision alerter emits the first alarm to facilitate deceleration to reduce a collision impact with the object.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the sensor is an ultrasonic sensor.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, further including a pedal sensor to measure pedal dynamics of a pedal.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the collision alerter determines the predicted speed based on the current speed and the pedal dynamics.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein, in response to the predicted speed being less than or equal to the current speed, the collision alerter compares the time-to-collision to a second collision threshold that is greater than the first collision threshold.

9. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein, in response to the time-to-collision being less than or equal to the second collision threshold, the collision alerter is to emit a second alarm associated with the second collision threshold.

10. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the second alarm includes an intermittent audible signal.

11. A method to emit a vehicle collision warning, the method comprising:

detecting an object via a sensor of a vehicle;

determining a distance to the object;

measuring a current speed of the vehicle via a speed sensor;

determining, via a processor, a time-to-collision based on the distance and the current speed;

emitting a first alarm in response to the time-to-collision being less than or equal to a first collision threshold;

determining, in response to the time-to-collision being greater than the first collision threshold, a predicted speed of the vehicle; and

comparing the predicted speed and the current speed.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein emitting the first alarm includes emitting a solid tone via a speaker of the vehicle.

13. The vehicle of claim 11, further including emitting the first alarm in response to determining that the distance to the object is less than or equal to a threshold distance.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the predicted speed includes measuring pedal dynamics of a pedal of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 11, further including comparing, in response to the predicted speed being less than or equal to the current speed, the time-to-collision to a second collision threshold that is greater than the first collision threshold.

16. The method of claim 15, further including, in response to the time-to-collision being less than or equal to the second collision threshold, emitting a second alarm associated with the second collision threshold.

17. The vehicle of claim 16, wherein emitting the second alarm includes emitting an intermittent audible signal.

18. A vehicle comprising:

a sensor to detect an object;

a speed sensor; and

a collision alerter to;

determine a distance to the object;

determine a time-to-collision based on the distance and a current speed;

emit a first alarm when the time-to-collision is less than or equal to a threshold; and

determine and compare a predicted speed to the current speed when the time-to-collision is greater than the threshold.