Enhanced collision avoidance

• US 10,589,741 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2015
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Prakah-Asante, Kwaku O., Tonshal, Basavaraj, Chen, Yifan, Kolisetty, Padma Aiswarya, Yang, Hsin-hsiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Brushaber, Frederick M
• Application Number:
  US15/747,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20190009776A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,664 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/801 Lateral distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/095 Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/0956 the prediction being responsive to traffic or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/16 Tactile feedback to the driver, e.g. vibration or force feedback to the driver on the steering wheel or the accelerator pedal
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A headway between a first vehicle and a second vehicle is determined. A predicted time to collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle is determined. A first mechanism in a wearable device in the first vehicle is actuated when the headway is less than a predetermined threshold. A second mechanism in the first vehicle is actuated when the predicted time to collision is less than a second predetermined threshold.

Claims

1. A system, comprising a computer including a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the computer to:

identify an occupant of a first vehicle;

determine a time difference at which the first vehicle and a second vehicle would pass a predetermined point in a roadway;

predict a time to collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle with a forward collision warning subsystem;

provide a first output in a wearable device of the occupant in the first vehicle when the time difference is less than a predetermined threshold, the first output and the threshold based on the identified occupant; and

then, after providing the first output, provide a second output in the first vehicle when the predicted time to collision is less than a second predetermined threshold.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions include instructions to provide the first output only on the wearable device worn by a driver of the host vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions include instructions to determine a mean headway based on a current headway and a set of previous time difference calculations.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions include instructions to provide the first output on the wearable device when the mean time difference is less than the predetermined threshold.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions include instructions to calculate a mean predicted time to collision based on a current predicted time to collision and a set of previous predicted time to collision calculations.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions include instructions to provide the second output in the vehicle when the mean predicted time to collision is less than the second predetermined threshold.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to provide the first output as a haptic output.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to provide the first output before providing the second output.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined threshold is calculated to provide the first output before the second output is provided.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to identify the occupant as one of a novice driver or a skilled driver, wherein a first threshold associated with the skilled driver is higher than a second threshold associated with the novice driver.

11. A method, comprising:

identifying an occupant of a first vehicle;

determining a time difference at which the first vehicle and a second vehicle would pass a predetermined point in a roadway;

predicting a time to collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle with a forward collision warning subsystem;

providing a first output in a wearable device of the occupant in the first vehicle when the time difference is less than a predetermined threshold, the first output and the threshold based on the identified occupant; and

then, after providing the first output, providing a second output in the first vehicle when the predicted time to collision is less than a second predetermined threshold.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing the first output only on the wearable device worn by a driver of the host vehicle.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining a mean time difference based on a current time difference and a set of previous time difference calculations.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing the first output on the wearable device when the mean time difference is less than the predetermined threshold.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining a mean predicted time to collision based on a current predicted time to collision and a set of previous predicted time to collision calculations.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing the second output in the vehicle when the mean predicted time to collision is less than the second predetermined threshold.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing the first output as a haptic output.

18. A system, comprising:

a wearable device of an occupant in a first vehicle;

a haptic device in a first vehicle;

means for identifying the occupant in the first vehicle;

means for determining a time difference at which the first vehicle and a second vehicle would pass a predetermined point in a roadway;

means for predicting a time to collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle with a forward collision warning subsystem;

means for providing a first output in the wearable device of the occupant in the first vehicle when the time difference is less than a predetermined threshold, the first output and the threshold based on the identified occupant; and

means for providing a second output to the haptic device in the first vehicle after providing the first output when the predicted time to collision is less than a second predetermined threshold.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising means for actuating a wearable haptic device in the wearable device.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising means for determining a mean predicted time to collision based on a current predicted time to collision and a set of previous predicted time to collision calculations.