Patent Application
20160046289
The present application claims priority of DE 10 2014 011 915.7, filed Aug. 12, 2014, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to a method for warning road users of potential danger areas caused by a vehicle that is or will be carrying out a driving maneuver. The invention further relates to an arrangement for carrying out the method.
Vehicles, in particular commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks, are often difficult for the driver to see through owing to their size and shape, in particular if the same is carrying out or intends to carry out a driving maneuver. Driving maneuvers can be all maneuvers other than the “straight-ahead forward” maneuver. Moreover, it is difficult for other road users to estimate which road space such a vehicle will occupy when carrying out a driving maneuver. If a road user with a false estimation of the situation drives into the road space to be driven through, i.e. occupied, by the vehicle in the future, there is an acute danger of collision.
In order to improve the insight of the driver of the vehicle, a number of mirrors are already fitted to such vehicles as standard. Furthermore, camera arrangements have already been proposed in DE 298 18 214 U1 for example to be provided on vehicles and for their image signal to be shown on a display in order to help the driver with an insight into what is happening.
Another measure that is known for example from DE 10 2007 049 821 A1 or DE 10 2012 006 679 A1 provides for recording the vehicle surroundings by means of cameras and/or other sensors and to display them to the driver of the vehicle together with the actual vehicle and the future occupied road space on a display. This does improve the level of information for the driver of the vehicle, but in reality this has to transfer the representation onto the display, which is not always easy. Other road users within the surroundings of the vehicle do not know whether they are in or are near the danger area.
In order to warn other road users of dangers, it has already been proposed to provide signal sources on the vehicle that output signals that can be perceived by said road users in order to warn them of dangers such as reversing or a turning maneuver. It is thus known from DE 20 2006 010 763 U1 for example to provide on the right vehicle side of commercial vehicles a light and sound source that is activated during a turning maneuver and that outputs a visible and audible signal, so that road users present in the danger area, such as cyclists or motorcyclists, or any pedestrians are warned. Said measure does improve the level of information for said road users, but it leaves them unclear as to where the actual danger area lies.
Furthermore, a turn indicator for vehicles using a light source that can be set in the respective direction of travel is known from DE 452425 A, wherein the light source projects a direction symbol (arrow) onto the ground (road) either straight ahead or ahead and to the side during twilight, darkness or opaque weather that stands out against its surroundings owing to greater brightness.
An object of the invention is to provide a method that automatically indicates to the driver of the vehicle and other road users a danger area that arises from a future or just started driving maneuver of a vehicle. Furthermore, it is also the object to provide an arrangement for carrying out the method.
According to an embodiment of the invention, a method is provided that warns road users of potential danger areas that are caused by a vehicle that is or will be carrying out a driving maneuver. The term “driving maneuver” should be understood to mean all maneuvers of a vehicle that include a change of the current (driving) status. The method provides that a control device cyclically retrieves the steering angle of the vehicle by at least one sensor and cyclically retrieves the direction of travel of the vehicle from a gear selection device. Using a steering model, the control device cyclically determines from the steering angle and the direction of travel of the vehicle a road space that will be occupied in the future within a specifiable time and speed in the event of maintaining the steering angle. With the information thus obtained about the future occupied road space, the control device controls at least one projection device such that at least part of the future occupied road space is made visible by a light projection onto the road surface around the vehicle. It is advantageously achieved by the method that both the driver of the vehicle and also the road users participating in the traffic events around the vehicle obtain direct information about where the danger area caused by the driving maneuver of the vehicle that is impending or that is in progress lies. The driver of the vehicle thereby directly identifies whether objects or other road users are in the danger area and the other road users affected by the driving maneuver identify whether they are already in the future danger area or are about to go there. If an involved road user determines that he is in the danger area or is moving towards the same, he can move into the safe area in a timely manner and is not relying on the driver of the vehicle recognizing the danger and terminating the driving maneuver.
In another embodiment of the method according to the invention, the control unit also cyclically retrieves the actual speed of the vehicle and uses it in determining the future occupied road space, so that in particular for rapid driving maneuvers, such as a lane change on a motorway, the projected future occupied road space advantageously realistically coincides with the actual occupied road space.
In order to still warn other road users when the vehicle is at rest and in the absence of any steering angle, for example if the vehicle is waiting at a crossing in order to enter a right of way road, or with the vehicle in motion and with a lack of a steering angle, for example immediately before a lane change on a motorway, i.e., if a turning maneuver or a lane change is imminent, the control unit, in addition to the steering angle, also cyclically polls a turn indicator and if the turn indicator is activated and the vehicle is stationary and/or the steering angle is unchanged the control unit, assuming a future driving maneuver in the direction indicated by the turn indicator, specifies a road space as the future occupied road space from memory values, and specifies that the thus specified future occupied road space is gradually transformed to the future occupied road space defined by the actual steering angle while the vehicle is moving. This enables a warning to be advantageously given to any affected road users before the existence of the danger area can be derived from the steering angle.
Likewise, a danger area arising in the future can advantageously be predicted in advance independently of the steering angle if the control device, in addition to the steering angle, also cyclically retrieves the route proposed by a navigation system and initially uses the steering angle to be adopted when following the proposed route to determine the future occupied road space, wherein in this case the thus assumed future occupied road is also gradually transformed into the future occupied road space defined by the actual steering angle while the vehicle is moving. In such a case, of course if the route proposed by the navigation system is not followed, an immediate changeover to the future occupied road space defined by the actual steering angle is carried out.
With multi-unit commercial vehicles, the determination of the future occupied road space is not only dependent on the steering angle of the steered axles, but on the overall configuration of the vehicle combination. Thus with articulated vehicles in an advantageous development of the method it is expedient that the control device also uses the articulation angle, in addition to the steering angle, to determine the future occupied road space. Accordingly, for vehicles with trailers the future occupied road space, for example when manoeuvring, is only determined if the control device, in addition to the steering angle of the steered axles, also uses the front tow bar angle and the rear tow bar angle of the trailer tow bar to determine the future occupied road space.
In a further embodiment, in order to advantageously make the projection and its information content more conspicuous, the control device superimposes at least one item of additional information on the projection of the future occupied road space. The projection of the future occupied road space and the additional information can also be carried out alternately in this case.
It is particularly useful if the superimposed information is graphical information, since the detection of graphical information, for example graphical symbols, is performed particularly rapidly by human beings. It is of particular advantage here if the graphical symbol has a known danger signalling meaning and is in particular a stop symbol.
It is of further advantage if the projection of the future occupied road space is carried out such that the same already takes a safety distance into account.
An arrangement for carrying out the method contains a control device in the form of a data processing device, wherein using a program said control device calculates the future road space occupied within a specifiable time from at least the steering angle, which the data processing device determines by polling a steering angle sensor, and the selected direction of travel, which the data processing device determines by means of a driving speed selector, and a steering model of the vehicle stored in the data processing device. Furthermore, at least one projection device is provided on the vehicle, which is controlled by the data processing device with the information about the future occupied road space such that the future occupied road space is indicated by a light projection onto the surface of the ground surrounding the vehicle.
In order to achieve adequate light intensity of the projection even in daylight, it is advantageous if the at least one projection device contains at least one laser light emitting laser source and at least one deflection device that deflects the laser beam within specified limits. Alternatively, it could also be provided that the laser source radiates through a variable aperture that maps the future occupied road space.
The laser source is advantageously controllable in respect of the intensity of the laser beam, so that in this way adaptation to different light conditions can be carried out. This can for example be carried out by pulsing the laser beam.
For the protection of other road users it is of advantage if the arrangement of the emission point of the laser beam on the vehicle is arranged such as to exclude the direct dazzling of road users in the traffic. The emission point is in this case preferably disposed on the vehicle as close to the ground as possible and radiates downwards at an angle.
The control of the intensity and/or the deflection of the laser beam is carried out advantageously such that the incident light, as the laser beam sweeps across a human eye, lies below a magnitude that is hazardous to the health of human eyes. Pulsing of the laser beam and/or a high deflection frequency of the deflecting device allow the amount of light to be reliably kept below a permitted magnitude when sweeping across a human eye.
In order to make the area identifying the future occupied road space visible as a whole, it is of advantage if the control of the deflection unit is designed such that the laser beam sweeps over the area identifying the future occupied road space in a raster pattern. During this the intensity of the projection can advantageously be increased if the control of the deflection unit is designed such that at least two successive rasters are selected such that the lines of the rasters intersect. By this measure the intercept points appear to the integrating human eye as particularly bright points and increase the detectability with a simultaneously low intensity of the laser beam.
Differently from or in addition to the previously described planar sweeping of the area identifying the future occupied road space, the control of the deflection unit may alternatively or additionally be designed such that the laser beam intermittently or continuously traces the periphery of the space identifying the future occupied road space in order to advantageously further increase its visibility.
It should be noted that the devices described above and also below that are used for control, polling or simulation purposes do not necessarily have to be implemented as hardware components. Rather, it is usual nowadays to design such components as software routines that are implemented by means of data processing devices. Common vehicles today comprise a number of such data processing devices that are networked together for data communications and that perform a wide variety of control, regulation, analysis, classification and data communication routines.
The method described above or the arrangement described above can be used in vehicles, in particular in commercial vehicles.
Further embodiments and advantages of the invention are described in detail below using the figures, the same reference characters being used for identical objects.
In the figures:
a is a schematic diagram in a bird's-eye view of a vehicle equipped with an arrangement according to the invention for carrying out a method of warning said users of a vehicle maneuver;
b is a schematic diagram in a side view of the vehicle of
a is a schematic diagram of the angle relationships for an articulated tractor vehicle;
b is a schematic diagram of the angle relationships for a truck with a trailer;
a is a schematic diagram of third traffic situation in a side view; and
b is a schematic diagram of a third traffic situation in a bird's-eye view
In order to clarify the situation for a vehicle equipped with the method according to the invention or the arrangement according to the invention for carrying out the method, in
The data processing device 9 uses the cyclically retrieved information mentioned above as initial data for steering simulations, wherein the data processing device 9 draws on a steering model that is stored in a memory 19 so as to be accessible thereto. In this case a steering model is to be understood to mean a software method with which the data processing device 9 cyclically determines the steering behaviour of the vehicle and from this the future required road space around the vehicle using the above-mentioned information as input data (the steering angle, the selected direction of travel, the future steering angle, which is roughly derivable from an activated turn indicator, and any other steering angles of additional steered axles, the future steering angle resulting from the proposed route, the articulation angle or the tow bar angles).
If the future occupied road space is determined, the data processing device 9 overlays the information that defines the future occupied road space with symbol information that it takes from a symbol memory 20, and with said combined information controls the projection devices 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 already mentioned in connection with
In order to clarify the meaning of the articulation angle for a tractor for a semitrailer, articulated buses or other articulated vehicles, in
If the vehicle is a vehicle combination of a truck and a trailer, there will be other conditions, as shown in
Taking into account the circumstances stated above, the method will be explained below using a few everyday traffic situations, during which the description of
Furthermore, it will be assumed that following the start of the city bus 1 by its driver 39, steering will be carried out and said steering will be input as the steering angle from the cyclical polling of the steering angle sensor 10 (
The representation in
Where the projection devices 4.1 to 4.4 repeatedly mentioned above are concerned, different technologies can be used to implement them. These range from the use of a conventional illumination body with suitable optics radiating through a variable aperture, wherein its aperture is controlled such that it forms an image of the future occupied road space as a light surface projected onto the road, through stroboscopic flashlights as illumination bodies with similar optics and aperture to laser projectors with one or a plurality of laser sources and one or a plurality of deflecting devices for the laser beam or the laser beams. However, laser projectors are preferably used as projection devices because of the high light density, focussing and controllability or deflectability of the beam. Because all the above-mentioned technologies are available on the market, a detailed description is not required.
If it is now assumed for the example according to
Example 50 shows a raster-like structure, wherein the raster lines, which symbolise the path of the deflected laser beam, are closely meshed and intersect at right angles. A high light density results for the human eye for a comparatively low laser power as a result of the intersections and the fine meshing. The same applies to example 51, the mesh width being selected to be greater here, which is compensated, however, by the constant change of orientation of the raster indicated by means of arrow 55.
Example 52 shows another option for the design. In this case a dot raster generated by means of a pulsed laser is shown, wherein the illuminated area is bounded by a bold intermittent outline. Such a design makes the limits of the future occupied road space particularly clear. The same applies to the example 53; in this case the outline is not interrupted and the dot raster is less dense, so that the boundary of the future occupied road space is particularly emphasised.
Finally, there is the option of using a less sharply focussed laser beam, which forms a line pattern with broad lines as example 54 shows.
The above examples only show a small segment of the design options regarding the illumination of the area indicating the future occupied road space. For all configurations of the illumination, the intensity of the laser beam must be chosen to be lower than a magnitude that is hazardous to health.
As a further safety measure, as already shown at the bottom in
In certain cases, for all-round protection it can be necessary to use even more than four projection devices. This is the case for example for semi-trailers or trucks with trailers. On the one hand the truck chassis in the case of a tractor for a semitrailer can also be driven on its own, i.e. without a semi-trailer, likewise the truck without a trailer. On the other hand, when driving as a combination, the articulation of the semi-trailer or trailer, for example when manoeuvring, prevents a projection device that is only disposed on both sides on the truck chassis or truck from illuminating the future occupied road space in the region obscured by the semi-trailer or trailer. In these cases, four projection devices are to be provided on the towing vehicle or on the truck and three on the semi-trailer or trailer.
In order to show the conditions when manoeuvring a distribution vehicle, such a distribution vehicle 56 is shown in
As
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2014 011 915.7 | Aug 2014 | DE | national |
