Method for the driverless operation of a vehicle system designed for the fully automatic control of a motor vehicle, and motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10935990-B2
Application number	US-201615748922-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2016
Priority date	Aug 4, 2015
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a method for the driverless operation of a vehicle system of a motor vehicle designed for fully automatic control of the motor vehicle. In accordance with at least one sequential criterion, which evaluates a status of the driver, comprising location information describing the current position of the driver and/or comprising resource information describing an amount of a resource that is present or required for the driver, of which resource a supply is present in the motor vehicle, operating information describing the taking of the motor vehicle to a sequential position having a shorter, in particular minimum possible distance from the current position of the driver or from a predicted destination of the driver, is automatically determined and applied. A motor vehicle with an onboard vehicle system and a control device, for execution of the method, are also disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for driverless operation of a vehicle system of a motor vehicle designed for fully automatic control of the motor vehicle, comprising:
evaluating, by a control device, a status information of a driver, based on at least one sequential criterion, wherein the at least one sequential criterion comprises location information describing a current position of the driver, wherein the driver is outside the motor vehicle;
receiving, from the driver, sensor data of a resource carried by the driver;
evaluating, by the control device, resource information, based on the sensor data and the at least one sequential criterion, wherein the at least one sequential criterion comprises an amount of the resource that is present or required for the driver, and wherein a supply of the resource is present in the motor vehicle;
determining, by the control device, that the at least one sequential criterion is fulfilled;
determining, by the control device, an operating information describing transporting the motor vehicle to a sequential position having a shorter distance from the current position of the driver or from a predicted destination of the driver; and
in response to determining that the at least one sequential criterion is fulfilled, applying, by the control device, the operating information to transport the motor vehicle automatically to the sequential position where the driver picks up the resource from the motor vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sequential criterion is a distance between a current position of the motor vehicle and the current position of the driver exceeding a distance threshold value.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sequential criterion is a reliability of a determination of the predicted destination exceeding a reliability threshold value, wherein the sequential position used is a nearer target position to the predicted destination.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
predicting, by the control device, a future distance travelled by the driver from the current position of the driver; and
determining, by the control device, the sequential position or the predicted destination of the driver from the future distance travelled.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the predicting of the future distance travelled takes into account a movement history of the driver, digital map data comprising points of interest near the driver, or a current movement information comprising a travel speed and a travel direction of the driver, as input data which are at least partially contained in the status information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sequential criterion is a quantity of the resource carried by the driver falling below a threshold value.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the control device, when a refilling criterion describing the resource supply falling below a refilling threshold in the motor vehicle is fulfilled, the operating information describing a refilling of the resource by the motor vehicle; and
applying, by the control device, the operating information to refill the resource by the motor vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status information is at least partially received by a mobile device carried by the driver or is at least partially determined in the motor vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the status information is determined from sensor data received through the mobile device of a sensor connected to or contained within the mobile device, or is determined based on an input on the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of computations for automatically determining the operating information may be performed on a server device, external to the motor vehicle, communicating with the control device of the vehicle system.

11. A motor vehicle, having a vehicle system configured for fully automatic control of the motor vehicle, having a control device configured to:
evaluate, a status information of a driver, based on at least one sequential criterion, wherein the at least one sequential criterion comprises location information describing a current position of the driver, wherein the driver is outside the motor vehicle;
receive, from the driver, sensor data of a resource carried by the driver;
evaluate, resource information, based on the sensor data and the at least one sequential criterion, wherein the at least one sequential criterion comprises an amount of the resource that is present or required for the driver, and wherein a supply of the resource is present in the motor vehicle;
determine that the at least one sequential criterion is fulfilled;
determine an operating information describing transporting the motor vehicle to a sequential position having a shorter distance from the current position of the driver or from a predicted destination of the driver; and
in response to determining that the at least one sequential criterion is fulfilled, apply the operating information to transport the motor vehicle automatically to the sequential position where the driver picks up the resource from the motor vehicle.

12. The motor vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the at least one sequential criterion is a distance between a current position of the motor vehicle and the current position of the driver exceeding a distance threshold value.

13. The motor vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the at least one sequential criterion is a reliability of a determination of the predicted destination exceeding a reliability threshold value, wherein the sequential position used is a nearer target position to the predicted destination.

14. The motor vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the control device is further configured to:
predict a future distance travelled by the driver from the current position of the driver; and
determine the sequential position or the predicted destination of the driver from the future distance travelled.

15. The motor vehicle of claim 14 , wherein to predict the future distance travelled, the control device is configured to take into account a movement history of the driver, digital map data comprising points of interest near the driver, or a current movement information comprising a travel speed and a travel direction of the driver, as input data which are at least partially contained in the status information.

16. The motor vehicle of claim 14 , wherein to predict the future distance travelled, the control device is configured to take into account a transportation approach information describing a transportation approach used by the driver.

17. The motor vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the at least one sequential criterion is a quantity of the resource carried by the driver falling below a resource threshold value.

18. The motor vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the control device is further configured to:
determine when a refilling criterion describing the resource supply falling below a refilling threshold in the motor vehicle is fulfilled, the operating information describing a refilling of the resource by the motor vehicle; and
apply the operating information to refill the resource by the motor vehicle.

19. The motor vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the control device is configured to transmit a status of the resource supply to a mobile device for displaying the refilling of the resource by the motor vehicle.

20. The motor vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the control device is configured to at least partially deter

Assignees

• Audi Ag

Inventors

• Friedmann Felix
• Profendiner Daniel
• Sippl Christoph
• Netter Florian

Classifications

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• B60W2040/0881

  Seat occupation; Driver or passenger presence · CPC title

• B60W40/08

  related to drivers or passengers · CPC title

• G05D1/12 Primary

  Target-seeking control · CPC title

• G05D1/0212 Primary

  with means for defining a desired trajectory (involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287) · CPC title