This disclosure relates to sensing systems for automotive vehicles to determine whether a nearby vehicle or vehicles have been in a collision; and if so, responding accordingly.
When traffic volumes are high, vehicles slow down and speed up frequently and unpredictably, especially on highways. Unfortunately, due in part to driver distractions such as cell phones and the like, it is possible for a driver of a host vehicle to fail to realize a nearby vehicle has been in a crash event. This can lead to an otherwise avoidable pile-up crash event, especially when traffic is dense.
When traffic is less dense, speeds are often increased. If a driver of a host vehicle is less attentive to other vehicles because of reduced traffic or because of one or more distractions, the driver may fail to observe a collision that happened, even if the collision occurred in front of the host vehicle. This can cause the driver of the host vehicle to hit the two or more collided vehicles. At higher speeds, such collisions can cause more severe bodily harm and property damage.
Existing crash sensing systems do not identify the collision status of nearby vehicles; that is, whether a nearby vehicle has been in a crash, and respond accordingly with warnings to a host driver, other drivers, or countermeasures such as automatic application of brakes, tensioning of seat belts, or pre-arming of air bags.
It is therefore desirable to provide systems and methods for identifying the collision status of nearby vehicles. It is also desirable to provide systems and methods for responding to the collision status of a nearby vehicle and for identifying non-drivable paths as well as available and preferred driving paths. It is desirable to provide a warning to a driver of a host vehicle, as well as to drivers of other vehicles and to infrastructure support systems. It is also desirable to automatically apply countermeasures when appropriate, especially if a driver of a host vehicle is distracted or otherwise prevented from doing so.
Systems and methods are provided to address, at least in part, one or more of the needs or desires left unaddressed by prior systems and methods.
A system for determining the collision status of nearby vehicles and responding to same is provided. The system includes a mechanism for detecting the presence and speed of nearby vehicles. The system also includes a controller for determining the rate of change of the sensed speed of these vehicles in a longitudinal direction; that is, in the direction of travel of the nearby vehicle. The rate of change of speed (acceleration or deceleration) is compared to threshold values to determine the collision status of these nearby vehicles. If a vehicle or vehicles have been in a collision, a signal is configured to trigger a response.
A method of avoiding a collision is also provided. The method includes determining the collision status of nearby vehicles based upon their rate of change of speed in a longitudinal direction. The method includes automatically responding to the determined collision status.
In
In
In
In
In
In
In starting oval 100, a system may be turned on or off to detect whether a collision has occurred near a host vehicle. That is, the host vehicle may be configured to determine the collision status of nearby vehicles.
Processing step box 104 shows that one or more sensors may be used to detect nearby vehicles and the lane positions of one or more nearby vehicles. The presence of a nearby vehicle may be detected using a vision system, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,263,209, which is incorporated herein in its entirety. Additionally, sensors including radar sensors and lidar sensors may be used on a host vehicle to sense the presence of a nearby vehicle (a vehicle within the field of view of at least one of the sensors) from a host vehicle. Other known sensing systems and methods for determining the distance between a host vehicle and nearby vehicles are also contemplated. Nearby vehicles need not be in front of the host vehicle; they may be positioned in any direction from the host vehicle so long as the sensing system on the host vehicle has a field of view in which the nearby vehicles fall.
Processing step box 108 shows the determination of the speed of the nearby vehicle. This step may be performed using any known method or system. Processing step box 110 shows the computation of the longitudinal rate of change of speed (acceleration or deceleration) of detected nearby vehicles. This can be done by determining the speed of the detected nearby vehicles over predetermined time intervals.
Decision diamond 120 calls for determining whether the detected nearby vehicle's longitudinal acceleration or deceleration falls outside of a predetermined range. As is known, a nearby vehicle that has been in a collision may be substantially slowed down in its forward motion, stopped, thrown in a backward direction or kicked in a forward direction. Thus, the rate of change of a nearby vehicle's longitudinal speed can provide an indication of its collision status, if the rate of change of speed is outside of predetermined thresholds. Such thresholds can be calculated, obtained, recorded, modified and/or stored using any known method, mechanism, system or device.
If the determined acceleration or deceleration of a nearby vehicle is outside of the predetermined threshold limits, a controller may include logic that sets the collision status of the nearby vehicle to positive from a default value of negative. If it is determined that the nearby vehicle has not been in a collision, then the collision status remains negative and the system may return to starting 100. If the collision status is positive, then a controller may include logic that causes a series of related determinations to be made. For example, processing box 125 allows for the determination of the location of any detected collision or collisions. Processing box 125 also suggests that logic may be included to determine whether a detected collision is primary or secondary. If multiple collisions are detected, then the collisions may also be classified according to level of risk presented to the driver of the host vehicle for prioritization. Processing box 125 also suggests that a determination of non-drivable paths, available drivable paths, and preferred drivable paths be made. To make this determination, sensors may be used to identify non-drivable paths and available drivable paths. Such sensors may provide input to a controller to determine and select preferred driving paths among the choices of available drivable paths. Such a prioritizing of drivable paths is exemplified in
If the collision status is positive, a controller causes a signal to be sent to trigger a response. As exemplified in decision diamond 127, the response to the detected collision or collisions may be ordered or prioritized according to the classification of risk presented to the host vehicle.
A response to a positive collision status can additionally be tailored according to the location of the nearby vehicle or vehicles that have been in a collision. For example, if the collision status of a nearby vehicle that is in driving path of the host vehicle is positive, then an in-path collision is detected as shown in hexagon condition 130. Then, any one or more of the responses in processing box 135 may be initiated. The particular responses listed in processing box 135 are merely exemplary and not intended to be limiting. For example, a general or specific warning may be provided to the driver of the host vehicle. The warning may be haptic, auditory or visual or a combination thereof. For example, a dashboard light display could be made to flash the words “CRASH HAZARD AHEAD” while a voice recording announced “Crash Hazard Ahead.” Alternatively, a general auditory warning could be issued such as an alarm, chime, or buzzer.
Specific warnings may also be provided to alert drivers of other vehicles and/or to alert road traffic systems. For example, a specific warning about a particular collision may be transmitted from the host vehicle to alert drivers of other vehicles that are equipped to receive V2V communications. V2V is technology that is designed to allow vehicles to “talk” to each other. V2V systems may use a region of the 5.9 gigahertz band, the unlicensed frequency also used by WiFi. Exemplary suitable V2V systems and protocols are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,925,378, 6,985,089, and 7,418,346, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Similarly, the host vehicle may alert road traffic systems or other infrastructure of the detected accident using V2I systems or cooperative vehicle-infrastructure systems (CVIS). V2I systems are identified in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20070168104, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Such an infrastructure or centralized network may trigger communications to initiate emergency responses, such as police, ambulance, fire, and the like. It may also be used to provide input to traffic signal systems and the like.
The specific V2V or V2I warning about the detected collision or collisions may be coupled with information about non-drivable paths, drivable paths and preferred paths. By way of non-limiting examples, the warning may include a statement such as “MOVE INTO RIGHT LANE” or “AVOID LEFT LANE,” or the warning might rank drivable paths as first choice or a second choice. The V2V drivable lane communication may be particularly useful when other vehicles adapted to receive V2V information cannot see the host vehicle or the collision involving the nearby vehicle, as shown in
General warnings may also be provided to alert drivers of other nearby vehicles of a hazard. For example, a general warning may originate from the host vehicle. The warning may be auditory or visual or both. The warning may be as simple as blowing the horn on the host vehicle, causing the brake lights on the host vehicle to be illuminated or causing the hazard lights on the host vehicle to begin flashing.
Other response systems may be triggered as shown in processing box 135. For example, countermeasures may be employed according to the characteristics of the detected collision or collisions. If a collision status is determined to be positive for an in-path nearby vehicle, one response may be to automatically apply the brakes of the host vehicle. Another response may be to pre-tension safety belts or provide input into an air bag deployment algorithm to pre-arm the system for a potentially quicker response when a collision occurs that involves the host vehicle.
The response systems can be tailored according to the physical location of the vehicle or vehicles that have a positive collision status. For example, if the controller determines that a nearby vehicle in the rear/side of the host vehicle has been in a collision (condition hexagon 140), then certain response systems may be more useful than they would be if the collision had occurred to a nearby vehicle that is on the front/side of the host vehicle (condition hexagon 150). The responses in processing box 145, among others, may be used where the accident or collision occurs behind the host vehicle or behind the host vehicle and also to its side. These responses include alerting the driver of the host vehicle, alerting drivers of nearby vehicles of the accident and of drivable route information, and providing general alerts such as activating the hazards lights and/or horn of the host vehicle. The responses may also include alerting a road traffic system using V2I. Countermeasures may also be activated, but are less likely to be necessary when an accident occurs that the host vehicle has already passed, as exemplified in
The responses in processing box 155, among others, may be used where the accident or collision occurs in front of the host vehicle and/or to the side of the host vehicle. These responses include alerting the driver of the host vehicle, alerting drivers of nearby vehicles of the accident and of drivable route information, and providing general alerts such as activating the hazards lights and/or horn of the host vehicle. The responses may also include alerting a road traffic system using V2I. Countermeasures may be desired when an accident occurs to the front or to the side of the host vehicle, as exemplified in
In decision diamond 160, it is determined whether the host vehicle has responded to all of the detected or sensed collisions. If not, the logic returns to decision diamond 127 to address the remaining collisions. If all of the sensed collisions have been addressed, then the logic returns to starting oval 100.
The systems and methods described herein may be used in conjunction with other pre-crash sensing systems and warning/countermeasure systems, and may share components and/or logic with said systems. For example, it is contemplated that a host vehicle with the above-disclosed system may also employ the methods and apparatuses disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,188,940, 6,370,461, 6,480,102, 6,502,034, 6,658,355, 6,819,991, 6,944,543, 7,188,012, 7,243,013 and 7,260,461, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In
While at least one embodiment of the appended claims has been described in the specification, those skilled in the art recognize that the words used are words of description, and not words of limitation. Many variations and modifications are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.