Lane-keeping assistant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10232880-B2
Application number	US-201515507769-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 14, 2015
Priority date	Sep 4, 2014
Publication date	Mar 19, 2019
Grant date	Mar 19, 2019

Abstract

A method and a device for controlling the lane-keeping of a motor vehicle, wherein the motor vehicle has a lane-keeping assistant with at least the states inactive and active, which lane-keeping assistant is used to keep the vehicle in the driver's own lane. The method includes checking whether the vehicle has drifted into the opposite lane; checking whether there is opposing traffic in the opposite lane; activating the lane-keeping assistant if the vehicle has drifted and there is opposing traffic; controlling the lane-keeping assistant with respect to the oncoming object by active steering intervention, wherein the oncoming vehicle is interpreted as a lane boundary of the driver's own lane.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling lane keeping of a motor vehicle, wherein the motor vehicle has a lane keeping assistant having at least the states inactive and active used for keeping the vehicle in its own lane, the method comprising:
checking whether the vehicle is drifting onto the opposite carriageway;
checking whether there is oncoming traffic on the opposite carriageway;
activating the lane keeping assistant if the vehicle is drifting onto the opposite carriageway and there is oncoming traffic; and
controlling the lane keeping assistant with respect to oncoming object by activating steering intervention, the oncoming vehicle being interpreted as a lane boundary for the vehicle's own lane.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lane keeping assistant is inactive at the beginning of the method.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lane keeping assistant looks for lane markings in the surroundings of the vehicle and, if lane markings are present, then it is allowable for the lane markings found to be crossed by the lane keeping assistant.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activity of the driver is monitored and the lane keeping assistant is activated only if the driver activity monitoring finds an inattentive driver.

5. A lane keeping assistant for keeping a motor vehicle in its own lane, the lane keeping assistant comprising:
a device for monitoring the environment of the motor vehicle;
a device for evaluating the data ascertained by the environment monitoring; and
a device for performing the lane keeping function by at least interventions in the steering,
wherein the lane keeping assistant has at least the states active and inactive, wherein the active state allows a steering intervention and the inactive state does not allow steering interventions, and the lane keeping assistant has a device for determining oncoming vehicles on the opposite carriageway, and
wherein the lane keeping function is performed by determining whether the vehicle is drifting onto the opposite carriageway, checking whether there is oncoming traffic on the opposite carriageway, activating the lane keeping assistant if the vehicle is drifting onto the opposite carriageway and there is oncoming traffic; and controlling the lane keeping assistant with respect to oncoming object by activating steering intervention, the oncoming object being interpreted as a lane boundary for the vehicle's own lane.

6. The lane keeping assistant of claim 5 , wherein the lane keeping assistant has a device for determining a boundary for the vehicle's own lane based on the oncoming vehicle.

7. The lane keeping assistant of claim 5 , wherein the lane keeping assistant has a device for determining the driver activity.

Assignees

• Volkswagen Ag

Inventors

• Busch Sebastian
• Wonke Michael
• Eigel Thomas

Classifications

• G08G1/166

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

• B62D15/025

  Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation (B62D1/28 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G08G1/167

  Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection · CPC title

• B62D15/0265 Primary

  Automatic obstacle avoidance by steering · CPC title