Lighting apparatus of autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10682950-B2
Application number	US-201816235552-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2018
Priority date	Nov 16, 2018
Publication date	Jun 16, 2020
Grant date	Jun 16, 2020

Abstract

A lighting apparatus of an autonomous vehicle may include: a roof formed at the top of a vehicle; a lighting unit installed on the roof, and configured to display an autonomous driving status of the vehicle to the outside; and a control unit configured to vary a lighting status of the lighting unit according to the autonomous driving status of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting apparatus of an autonomous vehicle, comprising:
a roof formed at a top of a vehicle;
a lighting unit installed on the roof, and configured to display an autonomous driving status of the vehicle to an outside; and
a control unit configured to vary a lighting status of the lighting unit according to the autonomous driving status of the vehicle,
wherein the lighting unit comprises:
a light source;
an external lighting lens installed toward the outside of the vehicle; and
a beam splitter formed of a transparent material, installed between the light source and the external lighting lens, and configured to induce a part of light irradiated from the light source to the external lighting lens, and induce the other part of the light to an inside of the vehicle,

wherein the beam splitter comprises:
a lighting curtain part formed of a glass material, wherein the light irradiated from the light source is incident on the lighting curtain part;
an exterior light output part formed at a portion of the lighting curtain part, the portion facing the external lighting lens, wherein a part of the light incident on the lighting curtain part is outputted through the exterior light output part; and
an interior light output part formed at a portion of the lighting curtain part, the portion facing the inside of the vehicle, wherein the other part of the light incident on the lighting curtain part is outputted through the interior light output part,

wherein the interior light output part comprises a light output groove formed at a surface of the lighting curtain part such that light which is totally reflected in the lighting curtain part is outputted to an outside of the lighting curtain part.

2. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control unit configured to:
in a first lighting mode, control the lighting unit to irradiate light in first color when the vehicle autonomously moves; and
in a second lighting mode, control the lighting unit to irradiate light in second color when the vehicle autonomously stops.

3. The lighting apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the control unit is configured to, in a third lighting mode, control the lighting unit to irradiate light in a different manner from the first and second lighting modes, when the vehicle is switched from the autonomous stop to the autonomous driving.

4. The lighting apparatus of claim 3 , wherein in the third lighting mode,
the control unit is configured to control the lighting unit to flicker in the first or second color, or sequentially turn on a plurality of light sources installed in the lighting unit.

5. The lighting apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the control unit is configured to, in a fourth lighting mode, turn off the lighting unit when an autonomous driving mode of the vehicle is canceled.

6. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lighting unit is disposed at the front left end, front right end, rear left end and rear right end of the roof to secure visibility in all directions.

7. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lighting unit comprises an extended lighting unit formed at one or more of a front, rear, left side and right side of the roof so as to be extended in a horizontal direction.

8. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lighting unit is disposed at a height of 1,200 millimeters or more from a ground.

9. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor unit installed on the roof, disposed on a same horizontal or vertical line as the lighting unit, and configured to sense a driving condition or surrounding situation of the vehicle.

10. The lighting apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the lighting unit has a lighting region overlapping a monitoring region of the sensor unit.

11. The lighting apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the sensor unit comprises:
a plurality of LiDARs (Light Detection And Ranging) installed in multiple directions and configured to detect an object around the vehicle and sense a distance to the object; and
a plurality of cameras installed in multiple directions and configured to sense the surrounding situation of the vehicle as images.

12. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the external lighting lens comprises:
an outer lens exposed to the outside of the vehicle; and
an inner lens installed between the outer lens and the beam splitter.

13. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the external lighting lens comprises a color lens configured to color light having passed through the beam splitter in preset color.

14. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the external lighting lens is disposed facing the light source, with the beam splitter interposed therebetween.

Assignees

• Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Eun Jeong
• Baek Seung Woo
• Choi Ban Suk
• Shin Cheon Seop
• Cha Jun Hyuk
• Kim Moo Kwan

Classifications

• B60Q1/507

  specific to autonomous vehicles · CPC title

• B60Q1/2611 Primary

  Indicating devices mounted on the roof of the vehicle · CPC title

• B60Q1/543

  for indicating other states or conditions of the vehicle (indicating taxis' state of hire or fare G07B13/045) · CPC title

• H05B47/10

  Controlling the light source · CPC title

• F21V5/04

  of lens shape · CPC title