VEHICLE OPERATION ASSISTANCE

• US 20160071418A1
• Filed: 09/03/2015
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Bai, Sue, Sugimoto, Yoichi, Oshida, Kei, Saigusa, Shigenobu, Al-Stouhi, Samir
• Granted Patent: US 9,997,077 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/215 Selection or confirmation of options
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/229 Attention level, e.g. attentive to driving, reading or sleeping
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/165 Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar"
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3407 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0295 by at least one leading vehicle of the fleet
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles

Abstract

Embodiments, systems, and techniques for vehicle operation assistance are provided herein. Vehicle operation assistance may be provided by monitoring characteristics of an occupant of a vehicle and determining an emergency status for the occupant based on characteristics of the occupant, transmitting a request for help based on the emergency status indicating the occupant of the vehicle is experiencing an emergency, receiving a “follow me” request from a potential leader vehicle, enabling follower mode such that vehicle is a follower vehicle and the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle, establishing a connection with the leader vehicle and receiving navigation instructions from the leader vehicle based on the vehicle being in follower mode, generating driving action commands based on navigation instructions, and executing respective driving action commands in an autonomous fashion based on the vehicle being in follower mode.

Claims

1. A system for vehicle operation assistance comprising:

a monitoring component monitoring one or more characteristics of an occupant of a vehicle, and determining an emergency status for the occupant based on one or more of the characteristics of the occupant;

a communication component transmitting a request for help based on the emergency status indicating the occupant of the vehicle is experiencing an emergency, and receiving a “

follow me”

request from a potential leader vehicle; and

an assist component placing the system in follower mode such that vehicle is a follower vehicle and the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle,

wherein the communication component, when in follower mode, establishes a connection with the leader vehicle and receives one or more navigation instructions from the leader vehicle, and

wherein the assist component, when in follower mode, generates one or more driving action commands based on one or more of the navigation instructions and executes respective driving action commands in an autonomous fashion.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an operation component monitoring one or more operating actions of the occupant of the vehicle;

wherein the monitoring component determines the emergency status based on one or more of the operating actions.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an interface component rendering a cancel follower mode button;

wherein the assist component places the system in a normal mode or an emergency mode based on actuation of the cancel follower mode button.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a sensor component detecting one or more objects in an operating environment through which the vehicle is travelling;

wherein the assist component executes respective driving action commands to mitigate collision with one or more of the objects.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication component, when in follower mode, transmits one or more navigation instructions from the leader vehicle to a help center and receives an intent status from the help center based on one or more of the navigation instructions.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the assist component cancels follower mode based on the intent status indicating malicious intent of a driver of the leader vehicle.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication component, when in follower mode, reports a change in an anticipated destination from the leader vehicle to a help center.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication component communicates with the leader vehicle based on dedicated short range communications (DSRC) or vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the assist component places the system in emergency mode based on a lost connection between the follower vehicle and the leader vehicle.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication component broadcasts an SOS signal based on the lost connection.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication component receives one or more images of one or more hazards and associated lane level locations for respective reported hazards.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising:

an interface component rendering one or more of the images of one or more of the hazards reported as the vehicle approaches one or more of the hazards such that the vehicle is less than a threshold distance from a hazard of one or more of the hazards reported.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising:

a sensor component verifying one or more locations of one or more hazards reported.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the communication component transmits one or more inconsistencies indicating one or more hazards reported could not be verified by the sensor component.

15. A method for vehicle operation assistance further comprising:

monitoring one or more characteristics of an occupant of a vehicle;

determining an emergency status for the occupant based on one or more of the characteristics of the occupant;

transmitting a request for help based on the emergency status indicating the occupant of the vehicle is experiencing an emergency;

receiving a “

follow me”

request from a potential leader vehicle;

enabling follower mode such that vehicle is a follower vehicle and the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle;

establishing a connection with the leader vehicle and receiving one or more navigation instructions from the leader vehicle based on the vehicle being in follower mode; and

generating one or more driving action commands based on one or more of the navigation instructions and executing respective driving action commands in an autonomous fashion based on the vehicle being in follower mode.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

monitoring one or more operating actions of the occupant of the vehicle; and

determining the emergency status based on one or more of the operating actions.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

enabling a normal mode or an emergency mode based on actuation of a cancel follower mode button or a proximity of the vehicle to a destination.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

transmitting one or more navigation instructions from the leader vehicle to a help center;

receiving an intent status from the help center based on one or more of the navigation instructions; and

cancelling follower mode based on the intent status indicating malicious intent of a driver of the leader vehicle.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving one or more images of one or more hazards and associated lane level locations for respective reported hazards; and

rendering one or more of the images based on a distance from the vehicle to one or more of the lane level locations for respective reported hazards.

20. A method for vehicle operation assistance comprising:

receiving a request for help based on an emergency status indicating an occupant of a potential follower vehicle is experiencing an emergency;

transmitting a “

follow me”

request;

placing a potential leader vehicle in leader mode such that the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle and the potential follower vehicle is a follower vehicle based on a response to the “

follow me”

request;

establishing a connection with the follower vehicle; and

transmitting one or more navigation instructions to the follower vehicle.