Method and device for safe parking of a vehicle

• US 9,815,460 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2016
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Eigel, Thomas, Mirwaldt, Peter, Schmidt, Bastian
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US15/092,059
• Publication Number:
  US 20160297431A1
• Time in Patent Office: 587 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2900/00 Indexing codes relating to the purpose of, or problem solved of road vehicle drive control systems not otherwise provided for in groups B60W30/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/06 Automatic manoeuvring for parking
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/08 Active safety systems predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision or attempting to minimise its consequences
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18109 Braking
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for safely parking a vehicle, wherein after identifying an emergency situation of the motor vehicle, an emergency stopping position region is selected from a digital map, and the vehicle is parked within the emergency stopping position region by an automatic driving function. The method includes registering the surroundings, determining stationary objects and conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle within the selected emergency stopping position region, checking the conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle and the stationary objects within the emergency stopping position region regarding parking the vehicle in an optimized manner and determining an optimized emergency stopping position within the emergency stopping position region, and parking the vehicle at the optimized emergency stopping position within the emergency stopping position region using the automatic driving function.

Claims

1. A method for safely parking a vehicle, comprising:

after identifying an emergency situation relating to the driver of the vehicle, selecting an emergency stopping position region from a digital map; and

parking the vehicle within the emergency stopping position region by an automatic driving function, wherein the parking includes;

registering surroundings of the vehicle;

determining conditions in a vicinity of the vehicle, topography and stationary objects within the selected emergency stopping position region from the data obtained when registering the surroundings;

using the conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle, the topography and the stationary objects within the emergency stopping position region to determine an optimized emergency stopping position within the emergency stopping position region;

checking whether the conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle within the selected emergency stopping position region and the stationary objects that are located therein render it possible to park the vehicle, wherein the checking comprises, using image processing, checking drivability of a surface in the surrounding area of the emergency stopping position region and also checking whether sufficient space is available to park the vehicle in relation to the stationary objects; and

parking the vehicle at the optimized emergency stopping position within the emergency stopping position region using the automatic driving function.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the emergency situation is that the driver being unfit to drive.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the emergency stopping position region comprises a predetermined size.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising categorizing the conditions in the vicinity of vehicle in the selected emergency stopping position region, the topography and the stationary objects that are located in the surroundings of the emergency stopping position region and subsequently checking for where the conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle, the topography and the categorized objects render it possible to park the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the stationary objects are categorized using image processing algorithms, to determine the type of the stationary objects, and the distance of the stationary objects with respect to the vehicle and the distances of the stationary objects with respect to one another.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle in the emergency stopping position region are categorized using image processing algorithms to obtain information regarding the drivability of the surface of the emergency stopping position region.

7. An apparatus for safely parking a vehicle in an emergency situation, the apparatus comprising:

a device for identifying an emergency situation relating to the driver;

a navigating device including a digital map;

a control device having an automatic driving function, wherein the control device determines an emergency stopping position region for parking the vehicle from a digital map after identifying an emergency situation and automatically drives the vehicle to the emergency stopping position region using the automatic driving function without driver instruction; and

a surroundings sensor arrangement for registering the surroundings of the vehicle,

wherein the control device determines and checks conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle, topography and stationary objects within the emergency stopping position region from the information from the surroundings sensor arrangement; and

an image processing device configured to check drivability of a surface in the surrounding area of the emergency stopping position region and also checking whether sufficient space is available to park the vehicle in relation to the stationary objects,

wherein the control device includes a selecting device for selecting an optimized emergency stopping position within the emergency stopping position region as a function of the conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle and the stationary objects within the emergency stopping position region, wherein the vehicle is parked at the emergency stopping position using the automatic driving function.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the surroundings sensor arrangement comprises one or multiple of the following devices:

a radar device, a mono or stereo camera device, an ultrasonic device, to determine the distance with respect to an object in the vicinity of the vehicle, and a laser scanning device.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, comprising a categorizing device that categorizes the stationary objects and the conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle within the emergency stopping position region to determine the type of the stationary objects, the distance of the stationary objects with respect to the vehicle and the distances of the stationary objects with respect to one another, and examines the conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle and the topography are investigated regarding their drivability.