Trip planning with energy constraint

• US 10,295,355 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2015
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tesla Inc.
• Original Assignee: Tesla Inc.
• Inventors: Baglino, Andrew D., Hayer, Thorsten, Boblett, Brennan, Fox, Matthew, Mehta, Vineet H., Ikebe, Keijiro, Hsieh, Kevin, Carlson, Craig B., Straubel, Jeffrey B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bendidi, Rachid
• Application Number:
  US15/301,738
• Publication Number:
  US 20170030728A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,524 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/40 Application of hydrogen technology to transportation, e.g. using fuel cells

Abstract

A method includes: receiving information corresponding at least to (i) a state of charge of an energy storage of a vehicle, (ii) route information corresponding to a planned driving route for the vehicle, and (iii) a predicted driver characteristic; determining using the received information, and presenting to a driver of the vehicle, a first energy-versus-distance measure for the planned driving route; receiving a user input indicating a proposed change in at least the driver characteristics, and determining using the received information and the user input, and presenting to the driver, a second energy-versus-distance measure for the planned driving route that takes into account the proposed change.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving information corresponding at least to (i) a state of charge of an energy storage of a vehicle, (ii) route information corresponding to a planned driving route for the vehicle, and (iii) a predicted driver characteristic;

determining, using the received information, a first energy-versus-distance measure for the planned driving route;

presenting the first energy-versus-distance measure on a user interface associated with the vehicle;

receiving, via the user interface, a user input to a drive simulator proposing a what-if scenario, the user input indicating a proposed change in at least the predicted driver characteristic, wherein the proposed change in the predicted driver characteristic would alter the first energy- versus-distance measure;

determining, using the received information and the user input, a second energy-versus-distance measure for the planned driving route that takes into account the proposed change in the predicted driver characteristic; and

presenting the second energy-versus-distance measure on the user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicted driver characteristic includes an estimated driving speed, and wherein the proposed change in the predicted driver characteristic modifies the estimated driving speed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicted driver characteristic reflects a driving record of an associated driver.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicted driver characteristic reflects driving records from a fleet of vehicles.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information further reflects an estimated climate system usage, and wherein the proposed change modifies the estimated climate system usage.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information further reflects an estimated vehicle closure setting, and wherein the proposed change modifies the estimated vehicle closure setting.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the first energy-versus-distance measure and the second energy-versus-distance measure on the user interface comprises presenting a graph of remaining energy in the energy storage as a function of distance.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the graph includes, at an endpoint of the planned driving route, respective representations of state-of-charge percentages corresponding to the first energy-versus-distance measure and the second energy-versus-distance measure.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user input is received after the vehicle has been driven for part of the planned driving route, further comprising determining a state-of-charge percentage for the endpoint based on a driven part of the planned driving route, and providing a representation of the determined state-of-charge percentage in the graph.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the planned driving route comprises a starting point and an ending point, the method further comprising adding a charging waypoint to the planned driving route, the charging waypoint corresponding to a charging location for the vehicle, wherein a current energy-versus-distance measure is recalculated based on adding the charging waypoint.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the charging waypoint is automatically added in response to a state of charge of the energy storage of the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising presenting, on the user interface, alternative charging waypoints in response to a state of charge of the energy storage of the vehicle, wherein the charging waypoint is added to the planned driving route.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a user input indicating the charging location;

determining the charging waypoint based on the charging location; and

displaying the charging waypoint on the user interface.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first energy-versus-distance measure is based on historical information;

after determining the vehicle has been driven for part of the planned driving route, determining a third energy-versus-distance measure based on a driven part of the planned driving route, the third energy-versus-distance measure modifying the first energy-versus-distance measure using a model error and a driver error; and

in response to the user input, determining the second energy-versus-distance measure by modifying the first energy-versus-distance measure using the proposed change and the model error, but not the driver error.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting the user with instructions to adjust a recommended charging amount based on the proposed change.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving information corresponding at least to (i) a state of charge of an energy storage of a vehicle, (ii) route information corresponding to a planned driving route for the vehicle, and (iii) a predicted driver characteristic;

determining, using the received information, a first energy-versus-distance measure for the planned driving route;

presenting the first energy-versus-distance measure on a user interface associated with the vehicle;

receiving, via the user interface, a user input to a drive simulator proposing a what-if scenario, the user input indicating a proposed change in at least the predicted driver characteristic, wherein the proposed change in the predicted driver characteristic would alter the first energy-versus-distance measure;

determining, using the received information and the user input, a second energy-versus-distance measure for the planned driving route that takes into account the proposed change; and

presenting the second energy-versus-distance measure on the user interface.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, perform operations further comprising:

displaying an input control selectable to display the drive simulator in conjunction with the second energy-versus-distance measure on the user interface.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the second energy-versus-distance measure includes:

an estimated remaining charge amount, assuming the proposed change were to be incorporated into one or more system-proposed routes.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed cause a processor to generate a first graphical user interface comprising:

an area presenting a first energy-versus-distance measure for a planned driving route for an electric vehicle, the first energy-versus-distance measure determined using received information comprising at least (i) a state of charge of an energy storage of the electric vehicle, (ii) route information corresponding to the electric vehicle, and (iii) a predicted driver characteristic; and

an input control for generating a user input to a drive simulator proposing a what-if scenario, the user input indicating a proposed change in at least the predicted driver characteristic, wherein the proposed change in the predicted driver characteristic would alter the first energy-versus-distance measure,

and wherein a second energy-versus-distance measure for the planned driving route is determined using the received information and the user input and presented in the area, the second energy-versus-distance measure taking into account the proposed change.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, generate a second graphical user interface comprising:

an input control configured to activate display the drive simulator.