Vehicle operation assistance

• US 9,997,077 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2015
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• 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: Oshida, Kei, Bai, Sue, Saigusa, Shigenobu, Sugimoto, Yoichi, Al-Stouhi, Samir
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatib, Rami
• Assistant Examiner(s): Foster, Gerrad A
• Application Number:
  US14/844,124
• Publication Number:
  US 20160071418A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,013 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 processing unit; and

a memory, storing processor-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, perform;

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, wherein the emergency status includes a level of emergency;

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 based on the request for help and the emergency status associated with the vehicle; and

placing the system in a follower mode based on receiving the “

follow me”

request such that the vehicle is a follower vehicle and the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle,

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

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,

wherein the processing unit places the system in an emergency mode based on a lost connection between the follower vehicle and the leader vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit further performs:

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

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

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit further performs:

rendering a cancel follower mode button;

placing the system in a normal mode based on actuation of the cancel follower mode button.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit further performs:

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

executing respective driving action commands to mitigate collision with one or more of the objects.

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

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit 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 processing unit broadcasts an SOS signal based on the lost connection.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit receives one or more images of one or more hazards and associated lane level locations for respective reported hazards.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing unit further performs 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.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising:

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

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing unit transmits one or more inconsistencies indicating one or more hazards reported could not be verified by the sensor component.

14. A method for vehicle operation assistance comprising:

monitoring, using a sensor, one or more characteristics of an occupant of a vehicle;

determining, via a processing unit, an emergency status for the occupant based on one or more of the characteristics of the occupant, wherein the emergency status includes a level of emergency;

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

receiving, via a receiver, a “

follow me”

request from a potential leader vehicle based on the request for help and the emergency status of the vehicle;

enabling, via the processing unit, follower mode such that vehicle is a follower vehicle and the potential leader vehicle is a leader vehicle based on receiving the “

follow me”

request from the potential leader vehicle;

establishing, via the transmitter, 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;

generating, via the processing unit, 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; and

selecting an emergency mode based on a lost connection between the follower vehicle and the leader vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

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

determining, via the processing unit the emergency status based on one or more of the operating actions.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

enabling, via the processing unit, a normal mode based on actuation of a cancel follower mode button or a proximity of the vehicle to a destination.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

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

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

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

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

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

rendering, via the processing unit, 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.

19. A method for vehicle operation assistance comprising:

receiving, via a receiver, a request for help based on an emergency status indicating an occupant of a potential follower vehicle is experiencing an emergency, wherein the emergency status includes a level of emergency;

transmitting, via a transmitter, a “

follow me”

request based on the request for help and the emergency status of the potential follower vehicle;

placing, via a processing unit, 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, via the transmitter, a connection with the follower vehicle;

transmitting, via the transmitter, one or more navigation instructions to the follower vehicle;

selecting an emergency mode based on a lost connection between the follower vehicle and the leader vehicle.