Object Collision Warning System and Method for a Motor Vehicle

• US 20120323478A1
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arriver Software AB (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Autoliv AB (Autoliv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Cronvall, Per, Elbornsson Skogsstjarna, Jonas
• Granted Patent: US 9,308,918 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/072 Curvature of the road
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/076 Slope angle of the road

Abstract

An object collision warning system for a motor vehicle comprises a sensing means (11) adapted to sense a surrounding of the motor vehicle and a processing means (14) adapted to detect objects in a surrounding of the motor vehicle by processing a signal provided by the sensing means (11), to perform an estimation of a collision probability between the vehicle and the detected object, and to output a corresponding signal in case the collision probability is non-negligible. The processing means (14) is adapted to determine, after having passed a curve, information describing the passed curve, to store the curve describing information, and to use the curve describing information of at least one previously passed curve for determining the vehicle path in a current curve in the estimation of the collision probability.

Claims

1. An object collision warning system for a motor vehicle, comprising a sensing means (11) for sensing a surrounding of the motor vehicle and a processing means (14), for detecting objects in a surrounding of the motor vehicle by processing a signal provided by the sensing means (11), performing an estimation of a collision probability between the vehicle and the detected object, and outputting a corresponding signal in case the collision probability is non-negligible, the processing means (14) further for determining, after the motor vehicle having passed a curve, information describing the passed curve, storing the curve describing information, and using the curve describing information of at least one previously passed curve for determining the vehicle path in a current curve in the estimation of the collision probability.

2. The warning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the curve variables are determined from measured vehicle motion variables.

3. The warning system as claimed in claim 2, comprising the processing means having at least one table (37, 38) relating at least one curve variable to at least one vehicle motion variable over the operation range of the corresponding vehicle motion variable.

4. The warning system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the at least one curve variable comprises a curve length.

5. The warning system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the at least one curve variable comprises a curve radius.

6. The warning system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the at least one curve variable comprises a prediction error.

7. The warning system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the processing means (14) is adapted to for storing a plurality of information sets describing a plurality of previously passed curves.

8. The warning system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the curve information of different curves is weighted in the estimation of the collision probability.

9. The warning system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the weight of the curve information is chosen smaller for a curve which has been passed longer ago.

10. The warning system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a change detector (33) adapted to detect changes between a straight road and a curve.

11. The warning system as claimed in claim 1 comprising a means (35) for estimating when the vehicle is in a middle portion of a curve.

12. The warning system as claimed in claim 1 comprising a means (35) for estimating when the vehicle has passed half of a curve.

13. The warning system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the processing means (14) is further adapted for predicting the vehicle path based on the estimated curve variables.

14. The warning system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sensing means is an imaging means (11) adapted to record images from a surrounding of the motor vehicle.

15. An object collision warning method for a motor vehicle, comprising;

sensing a surrounding of the motor vehicle by a sensing means, detecting objects in a surrounding of the motor vehicle by processing a signal provided as part of the sensing means, performing an estimation of a collision probability between the vehicle and the detected object, determining, after having passed a curve, information describing the passed curve, storing the curve describing information, and using the curve describing information of at least one previously passed curve for determining the vehicle path in a current curve in the estimation of the collision probability, and outputting a corresponding signal in case the collision probability is non-negligible.