Determining road safety

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11210950-B2
Application number	US-202016804967-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2020
Priority date	Sep 12, 2018
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A controller for a vehicle is configured to determine a driving behaviour of a first vehicle and a second vehicle. The controller is configured to receive data relating to at least one of a flow of traffic at the given location and a geography at the given location. If the controller determines that the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are similar and the controller determines that at least one of the flow of traffic at the given location departs from a normal traffic flow and the geography at the given location increases the risk of accident, then the controller is configured to issue an alert.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A controller for a vehicle, the controller being configured to:
receive data relating to a first performance parameter of a first vehicle at a given location to determine a driving behaviour of the first vehicle; and
receive data relating to a second performance parameter of a second vehicle at the given location to determine a driving behaviour of the second vehicle;
receive data relating to at least one of: a flow of traffic at the given location and a geography at the given location;
determine that the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are the same or similar within a predetermined first threshold;
determine, based on the determination that the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are the same or similar within a predetermined first threshold, that an obstacle exists at the given location that increases the risk of accident; and
issue an alert to a third vehicle, wherein the alert comprises machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the third vehicle cause the third vehicle to at least one of:
drive away from the given location under autonomous control; and
mimic the driving behaviour of at least one of the first and second vehicle.

2. A controller as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to receive data relating to accidents that have occurred within a predetermined threshold of the given location.

3. A controller as claimed in claim 2 , wherein, if the controller determines that an accident has not occurred within the predetermined threshold then the controller is configured to issue the alert.

4. A controller as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one, or both, of the first and second performance parameters comprises at least one of: brake pedal pressure, speed, engine speed, steering wheel angle, rate of change of input to an accelerator pedal, rate of change of position of the accelerator pedal, rate of change of steering wheel angle, a gear of the vehicle, a temporal and/or geospatial movement of the vehicle, accelerometer data, driver controls, vehicle functional status, vehicle operational status.

5. A controller as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, to determine whether the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are the same, or similar within the predetermined first threshold, the controller is configured to compute a measure of difference between the first and second performance parameters and to determine that the first and second driving behaviours are the same, or similar within the predetermined first threshold, if the measure of difference is zero, or less than a predetermined threshold.

6. A controller as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, to determine whether the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are the same, or similar within the predetermined threshold, the controller may be configured to compute a measure of difference between the first performance parameter and a predetermined threshold, and to compute a measure of difference between the second performance parameter and a predetermined threshold, and the determination that the first and second driving behaviours are the same, or similar within the predetermined threshold, is based on each measure of difference.

7. A controller as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the data relating to the flow of traffic at the given location comprises a virtual representation of the given location, the virtual representation comprising a plurality of virtual traffic paths, each virtual traffic path representing a historical movement of a vehicle through the given location, and wherein the controller is further configured to cause to present the virtual representation of the given location and the virtual traffic paths.

8. A controller as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to average at least a portion of the plurality of virtual traffic flow paths to determine a normal traffic flow through the given location being the average of the virtual traffic flow paths, and wherein determining that an obstacle exists at the given location that increases a risk of accident is based on a comparison between the virtual traffic flow paths and the normal traffic flow.

9. A controller as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the data relating to a geography at the given location comprises data describing an obstacle within a predetermined distance of the given location.

10. A controller as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to issue the alert to at least one of:
all vehicles within a predetermined threshold of the given location; and
all vehicles travelling towards the given location.

11. A controller as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to issue an alert to a vehicle route guidance system, and wherein the alert comprises machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the route guidance system, cause the route guidance system to recalculate a route to a target destination that avoids the given location.

12. A method comprising:
receiving data relating to a first performance parameter of a first vehicle at a given location to determine a driving behaviour of the first vehicle;
receiving data relating to a second performance parameter of a second vehicle at the given location to determine a driving behaviour of the second vehicle;
receiving data relating to at least one of:
a flow of traffic at the given location; and
a geography at the given location;

determining that the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are the same, or similar within a predetermined first threshold;
determining, based on the determination that the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are the same or similar within a predetermined first threshold, that an obstacle exists at the given location that increases a risk of accident; and
issuing an alert to a third vehicle, wherein the alert comprises machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the third vehicle cause the third vehicle to at least one of:
drive away from the given location under autonomous control; and
mimic the driving behaviour of at least one of the first and second vehicle.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving data relating to accidents that have occurred within a predetermined threshold of the given location.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein determining whether the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are the same, or similar within the predetermined threshold, comprises computing a measure of difference between the first and second performance parameters, and determining that the first and second driving behaviours are the same, or similar within the predetermined first threshold, comprises determining that the measure of difference is zero, or less than a predetermined threshold.

15. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein determining whether the driving behaviour of the first vehicle and the driving behaviour of the second vehicle are the same, or similar within the predetermined threshold, comprises computing a measure of difference between the first performance parameter and a predetermined threshold, and computing a measure of difference between the second performance parameter and a predetermined threshold, and wherein determining whether the first and second driving behaviours are the same, or similar w

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Skipp David
• Scott Jonathan
• Lippe John
• Calo Giuseppe
• Gimeno Ferrer Daniel
• Chen Yu
• Babila Arnold
• Park Junheung

Classifications

• G08G1/165

  for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees · CPC title

• G08G1/0112 Primary

  from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD] · CPC title

• B60W30/08

  Active safety systems} predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision {or attempting to minimise its consequences · CPC title

• G08G1/164

  Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles · CPC title

• G08G1/0141

  for traffic information dissemination · CPC title