Speed control for motor vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10611407-B2
Application number	US-201615284791-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2016
Priority date	Oct 19, 2015
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

A trailer backup assist system is provided herein. The trailer backup assist system includes a hitch angle sensor configured to determine a hitch angle between a vehicle and a trailer attached thereto. An input device is configured to accept an input command corresponding to a trailer path command curvature. A controller is configured to determine a vehicle threshold speed limit by determining a first vehicle speed limit based on the hitch angle and a second speed limit based on the command curvature. The controller generates a command to limit vehicle speed in a reverse direction below the threshold speed limit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A trailer backup assist system, comprising:
a hitch angle sensor configured to determine a hitch angle between a vehicle and a trailer attached thereto;
an input device configured to accept an input command corresponding to a trailer path command curvature; and
a controller configured to determine a vehicle threshold speed limit by determining a first vehicle speed limit based on the hitch angle and a second vehicle speed limit based on the command curvature, wherein the controller generates a command to limit vehicle speed in a reverse direction below the threshold speed limit and the vehicle threshold speed limit is set to the higher of the first and second vehicle speed limits when a magnitude of an input command rate is decreasing and the vehicle threshold speed limit is set to the lower of the first and second vehicle speed limits when a magnitude of input command rate is increasing.

2. The trailer backup assist system of claim 1 , wherein the command controls at least one of a brake system, an engine torque, and a transmission gear selection to thereby control the vehicle speed in the reverse direction.

3. The trailer backup assist system of claim 2 , wherein the brake system is a vehicle brake system.

4. The trailer backup assist system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle threshold speed limit is the higher of the first and second vehicle speed limits when a magnitude of hitch angle rate is decreasing and the desired trailer path command curvature is less than an instantaneous trailer path curvature.

5. The trailer backup assist system of claim 1 , wherein the input device includes a rotatable knob configured to be mounted in a vehicle interior.

6. A method of controlling the speed of a motor vehicle, the method comprising:
determining a hitch angle between a vehicle and a trailer attached to the vehicle;
determining a trailer curvature command based on an input device;
calculating a first vehicle speed limit based on the hitch angle;
calculating a second speed limit based on the trailer path curvature command;
determining a threshold speed limit based on the first and second speed limits; and
limiting the speed of the vehicle to the threshold speed, wherein a controller sets the vehicle threshold speed limit at the higher of the first and second speed limits when an absolute value of a hitch angle rate is decreasing and a trailer curvature command rate is also decreasing.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein a vehicle is maintained below the threshold speed limit by controlling at least one of a brake system, an engine torque, and a transmission gear selection to move the trailer along a desired trailer curvature path that is within an acceptable error criteria.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the input device receives an input as an input magnitude that is correlated to a corresponding trailer curvature path based on values stored in a look-up table.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the input device is biased towards a neutral position.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Lavoie Erick Michael
• Mattern Donald Jacob
• Raad Joseph M

Classifications

• B62D15/027 Primary

  Parking aids, e.g. instruction means · CPC title

• B62D13/06

  for backing a normally drawn trailer · CPC title