VEHICLE CONTROL METHOD WITH ROAD SIGN RECOGNITION

Abstract

A control method to control a vehicle driving along a main road having a plurality of detours only arranged on one side of the main road. The control method exhibits the steps of: recognising a road surface marking present on a surface of the main road; recognising a road sign present beside the main road in order to determine possible speed limits set by the road sign; and establishing whether a speed limit set by a road sign refers to a detour or to the main road.

Description

Claims

1. A control method to control a vehicle (1) driving along a main road (2) having a plurality of detours (7); the control method comprises the steps of: recognising a road surface marking present on a surface of the main road (2);recognising a road sign present beside the main road (2) in order to determine possible speed limits set by the road sign;warning a driver of the vehicle (1) of at least part of the speed limits set by the road sign;establishing whether a speed limit set by a road sign (5) refers to the main road (2) or to a detour (7) which is located ahead of the vehicle (1);checking, through the information provided by a satellite positioning system equipped with georeferenced mapping, whether the sign (5) is located in an area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7);checking whether the speed limit set by the sign (5) is lower than a speed limit currently signalled to the driver of the vehicle (1);establishing that the speed limit set by the sign (5) refers to the main road (2) if the sign (5) is outside the area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7) or if the speed limit set by the sign (5) is higher than or equal to the speed limit currently signalled to the driver of the vehicle (1); andestablishing that the speed limit set by the sign (5) refers to the detour (7) only if the sign (5) is inside the area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7) and, at the same time, only if the speed limit set by the sign (5) is lower than the speed limit currently signalled to the driver of the vehicle (1).

2) The control method according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: establishing whether the driver is going to take the detour (7);warning the driver of a speed limit set by the road sign (5) and related to the main road (2) for as long as the driver does not intend to take the detour (7); andwarning the driver of a speed limit set by the road sign (5) and related to the detour (7) when the driver is going to take the detour (7).

3) The control method according to claim 1, wherein an extent of the area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7) is determined solely on the basis of information provided by the satellite positioning system equipped with georeferenced mapping.

4) The control method according to claim 1, wherein the area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7) begins upstream of the detour (7) and at a first predetermined distance (D1) from the detour (7).

5) The control method according to claim 4, wherein the area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7) ends downstream of the detour (7) and at a second predetermined distance (D2) from the detour (7), smaller than the first predetermined distance (D1).

6) The control method according to claim 5, wherein the first predetermined distance (D1) ranges from 80 to 140 metres and the second predetermined distance (D2) ranges from 20 to 40 metres.

7) The control method according to claim 1, wherein the speed limit set by the road sign (5) is established to be related to the detour (7) which is located ahead of the vehicle (1) only if it is below a predetermined threshold value.

8) The control method according to claim 1, wherein the speed limit set by the road sign (5) is established to be related to the detour (7) which is located ahead of the vehicle (1) only if, on the basis of information provided by the satellite positioning system equipped with georeferenced mapping, the sign (5) is only arranged on the same side of the main road (2) as the detour (7).

9) The control method according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: determining whether work in progress is present ahead of the vehicle (1); andestablishing that a speed limit set by the road sign (5) refers to the detour (7) ahead of the vehicle (1) only if no work in progress is present ahead of the vehicle (1).

10) The control method according to claim 1, wherein the speed limit set by the road sign (5) is established to be related to the detour (7) which is located ahead of the vehicle (1) only if, on the basis of information provided by the satellite positioning system equipped with georeferenced mapping, the main road (2) is a single-carriageway urban or suburban road, a multi-carriageway suburban road, or a motorway.

11) The control method according to claim 1, wherein the speed limit set by the road sign (5) is established to be related to the detour (7) which is located ahead of the vehicle (1) only if, on the basis of information provided by the satellite positioning system equipped with georeferenced mapping, the detour (7) is an entrance/exit to/from a parking area, an entrance/exit to/from a service station, a ramp, the beginning of a service road, or the beginning of a parallel road.

12) The control method according to claim 1, wherein the speed limit set by the road sign (5) is established to be related to the detour (7) which is located ahead of the vehicle (1) only if, on the basis of information provided by the satellite positioning system equipped with georeferenced mapping, the main road (2) does not change its typology at the sign (5) or at the detour (7).

13) The control method according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: establishing that the driver is going to take the detour (7) only if, when a position of the vehicle (1) provided by the satellite positioning system equipped with georeferenced mapping is within a manoeuvring area (A2) of the detour (7), the vehicle (1) operates a direction indicator towards the detour (7) or changes lanes towards the detour (7) and, at the same time, only if a line of the road surface marking delimiting the carriageway on the side of the vehicle (1) towards the detour (7) and ahead of the vehicle (1) is continuous;warning the driver of the speed limit set by the road sign (5) and related to the main road (2) for as long as the driver does not intend to take the detour (7); andwarning the driver of the speed limit set by the road sign (5) and related to the detour (7) only when the driver is going to take the detour (7).

14) The control method according to claim 13, wherein the manoeuvring area (A2) of the detour (7) begins upstream of the detour (7) and at a third predetermined distance (D3) from the detour (7) and ends upstream of the detour (7) and at a second predetermined distance (D4) from the detour (7), smaller than the first predetermined distance (D3).

15) The control method according to claim 13, wherein the driver is established to be going to take the detour (7) only if the line of the road surface marking delimiting the carriageway on the side of the vehicle (1) towards the detour (7) and ahead of the vehicle (1) is continuous and constantly remains continuous over a fifth predetermined distance (D5).

16) An automatic traffic sign recognition system (6) for a vehicle (1) and configured, when the vehicle (1) drives along a main road (2) having a plurality of detours (7), for: recognising a road surface marking present on a surface of the main road (2);recognising a road sign present beside the main road (2) in order to determine possible speed limits set by the road sign;warning a driver of the vehicle (1) of at least part of the speed limits set by the road sign;establishing whether a speed limit set by a road sign (5) refers to the main road (2) or to a detour (7) which is located ahead of the vehicle (1);checking, through the information provided by a satellite positioning system equipped with georeferenced mapping, whether the sign (5) is located in an area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7);checking whether the speed limit set by the sign (5) is lower than a speed limit currently signalled to the driver of the vehicle (1);establishing that the speed limit set by the sign (5) refers to the main road (2) if the sign (5) is outside the area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7) or if the speed limit set by the sign (5) is higher than or equal to the speed limit currently signalled to the driver of the vehicle (1); andestablishing that the speed limit set by the sign (5) refers to the detour (7) only if the sign (5) is inside the area (A1) pertaining to the detour (7) and, at the same time, only if the speed limit set by the sign (5) is lower than the speed limit currently signalled to the driver of the vehicle (1).