Driver assistance system and method for avoiding collisions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10017111-B2
Application number	US-201615152178-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2016
Priority date	May 12, 2015
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for avoiding collisions between vehicles, comprising receiving data that represent a first travel path of a vehicle, the first travel path being a most probable path of the first vehicle, receiving data that represent at least one second travel path of at least one further vehicle, the second travel path being a most probable path of one of the further vehicles, determining whether the first travel path collides with the second travel path and, upon determination of a travel path collision, initiating generation of a signal to warn a driver of at least one of the vehicles of a possible collision with another vehicle. Additionally disclosed is a similar method for avoiding collisions between vehicles, which is executed by a device in a first vehicle. In this method, additionally, a current position of the first vehicle can be detected, and the travel path of the first vehicle is determined on the basis of the detected current position. Additionally disclosed are corresponding server systems and apparatuses in a vehicle that execute the methods, as well as a computer program product, having portions of program code, that can be executed on a processor system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for avoiding collisions between vehicles, the method comprising:
receiving data that represent a first travel path of a vehicle, the first travel path being a most probable path of the first vehicle;
receiving data that represent at least one second travel path of at least one further vehicle, the second travel path being a most probable path of one of the further vehicles;
determining whether the first travel path collides with the second travel path by detecting whether the first vehicle collides another vehicle within a predetermined threshold time value, the determining of a travel path collision comprising determining a point of potential collision within a traffic network;
upon determination of a travel path collision, initiating generation of a signal to warn a driver of at least one of the vehicles of a possible collision with another vehicle;
calculating a first arrival instant, at which the vehicle belonging to the first travel path arrives at the point of potential collision, in dependence on the first travel path;
calculating a second arrival instant, at which the vehicle belonging to the second travel path arrives at the point of potential collision, in dependence on the second travel path; and
calculating a difference between the first and the second arrival instant,
at least one of the determining of a travel path collision and the initiating of generation of a signal being effected in dependence on the calculated time difference.

2. The method according to claim 1 , the receiving of data comprising receiving data that identify at least one of one or more nodal points of a traffic network and one or more links between nodal points of the traffic network and one or more shape points of the respective travel path.

3. The method according to claim 1 , the receiving of data comprising receiving data that represent a current position of at least one of the vehicles belonging to the travel paths.

4. The method according to claim 1 , the determining of a point of potential collision comprising checking whether the first and the second travel path have a common element in the traffic network.

5. The method according to claim 1 , the initiating of generation of a signal comprising sending, to the at least one of the vehicles, data that identify a possible collision with another vehicle.

6. A server system, comprising:
data transmission unit, which is designed to receive data from at least one vehicle and to send data to at least one vehicle; and
processor system, which is designed to control the data transmission unit and to execute
receiving data that represent at least one second travel path of at least one further vehicle, the second travel path being a most probable path of one of the further vehicles;
determining whether the first travel path collides with the second travel path by detecting whether the first vehicle collides another vehicle within a predetermined threshold time value, the determining of a travel path collision comprising determining a point of potential collision within a traffic network;
upon determination of a travel path collision, initiating generation of a signal to warn a driver of at least one of the vehicles of a possible collision with another vehicle;
calculating a first arrival instant, at which the vehicle belonging to the first travel path arrives at the point of potential collision, in dependence on the first travel path;
calculating a second arrival instant, at which the vehicle belonging to the second travel path arrives at the point of potential collision, in dependence on the second travel path; and
calculating a difference between the first and the second arrival instant,
at least one of the determining of a travel path collision and the initiating of generation of a signal being effected in dependence on the calculated time difference.

7. A method for avoiding collisions between vehicles, the method being executed by a device in a first vehicle and comprising:
detecting a current position of the first vehicle;
determining a travel path of the first vehicle on the basis of the detected current position, the travel path being a most probable path of the first vehicle;
receiving data that represent a travel path of a second vehicle, the travel path being a most probable path of the second vehicle;
determining whether the travel path of the first vehicle collides with the travel path of the second vehicle by detecting whether the first vehicle collides another vehicle within a predetermined threshold time value, the determining of a travel path collision comprising determining a point of potential collision within a traffic network along the travel path of the first vehicle;
upon determination of such a travel path collision, initiating generation of a signal to warn a driver of the first vehicle of a possible collision with the second vehicle;
calculating a first arrival instant, at which the first vehicle arrives at the point of potential collision, in dependence on the associated travel path;
calculating a second arrival instant, at which the second vehicle arrives at the point of potential collision, in dependence on the associated travel path; and
calculating a time difference between the first and the second arrival instant,
at least one of the determining of a travel path collision and the initiating of generation of a signal being effected in dependence on the calculated time difference.

8. The method according to claim 7 , the receiving of data comprising receiving data that identify at least one of one or more nodal points of a traffic network and one or more links between nodal points of the traffic network and one or more shape points of the travel path of the second vehicle.

9. The method according to claim 7 , the determining of the most probable path additionally being effected on the basis of map data, the map data representing traffic ways of at least one traffic network region in which the current position of the first vehicle is located.

10. The method according to claim 7 , the determining of a point of potential collision comprising checking whether the travel paths of the first and the second vehicle have a common element in the traffic network.

11. The method according to claim 7 , the receiving of data comprising receiving data that identify a point of potential collision within a traffic network along the travel path of the second vehicle.

12. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising at least one of:
receiving data that represent a time specification, when the second vehicle occupied a particular position, the calculating of a second arrival point being effected in dependence on the time specification of the second vehicle; and
receiving data that represent a hazard instant, at which the second vehicle is present at the point of potential collision, the calculating of a second arrival instant being effected in dependence of the hazard instant.

13. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising at least one of:
the calculating of the first arrival instant being effected in dependence on the current position of the first vehicle, and
the calculating of a second arrival instant being effected in dependence on a start point of the travel path of the second vehicle; and
receiving data that identify a position of the second vehicle, the calculating of a second arrival instant being effected in dependence on the position of the second vehicle.

14. The method according to claim 7 , the data being received from a central server system.

15. The method according to clai

Assignees

• Elektrobit Automotive Gmbh

Inventors

• Kunkel Martin

Classifications

• B60Q9/008 Primary

  for anti-collision purposes · CPC title

• G08G1/161 Primary

  Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication · CPC title

• G08G1/166

  for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes · CPC title