Systems and methods for providing off-track drivability guidance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11753017-B2
Application number	US-202117515764-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2021
Priority date	Nov 1, 2021
Publication date	Sep 12, 2023
Grant date	Sep 12, 2023

Abstract

The disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for providing off-road track drivability guidance. In an example scenario, a processor receives a sensor signal that is generated when a vehicle is driven on an off-road track. The processor evaluates the sensor signal to obtain information about a driving surface of the off-road track such as, a material composition, a gradient, and/or an amount of provided traction. The processor conveys the information to another processor (which may be a part of a server computer) that determines a drivability status of the off-road track based on the information about the driving surface and additional parameters, such as present and/or future weather conditions. The server computer may provide the drivability status in response to a query from a processor that is located in another vehicle (or in a personal communication device carried by a driver of the vehicle).

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
capturing, using a sensor of a first vehicle and as the first vehicle is traversing an off-road track, information about a driving surface of the off-road track;
receiving, from the sensor in the first vehicle and by a remote server, the information about the driving surface of the off-road track;
receiving, from the first vehicle, information about a type of the first vehicle, wherein the information is automatically provided by the first vehicle;
obtaining, by the remote server, a weather forecast for an area encompassing at least a portion of the off-road track;
determining, by the remote server and based on an evaluation procedure that includes the information about the driving surface and the weather forecast, a drivability status of the off-road track;
receiving, from the first vehicle and by the remote server, a query about a traversability of the off-road track;
sending, by the remote server and to the first vehicle, the drivability status of the off-road track in response to the query; and
sending, by the remote server and to the first vehicle, an indication of a type of vehicle to be used for traversing the off-road track based on the weather forecast; and
presenting, via a human machine interface (HMI) of the first vehicle, the indication of the type of vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
defining a geofence around the first vehicle; and
obtaining a weather forecast for an area that includes the geofence.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
modifying the drivability status of the off-road track based on evaluating the weather forecast.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information about the driving surface of the off-road track comprises a material composition of the driving surface, a gradient of the driving surface, and/or an amount of traction provided by the driving surface.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the evaluation procedure further includes identifying a model and a make of the first vehicle, identifying a speed of the first vehicle on the off-road track, identifying a location of the first vehicle on the off-road track, identifying a current weather characteristic at the location of the first vehicle on the off-road track, identifying a model and a make of a second vehicle, and/or obtaining a weather forecast for an area encompassing at least a portion of the off-road track.

6. A method comprising:
capturing, using a sensor of a first vehicle and as the first vehicle is traversing an off-road track, a sensor signal about a driving surface of the off-road track;
receiving, by a first processor associated with a remote server, from the sensor in the first vehicle, the sensor signal about the driving surface of the off-road track;
receiving, from the first vehicle, information about a type of the first vehicle, wherein the sensor signal is automatically provided by the first vehicle;
obtaining, by the remote server, a weather forecast for an area encompassing at least a portion of the off-road track;
obtaining, by the first processor, information about a driving surface of the off-road track based on evaluating the sensor signal;
conveying, by the first processor, to a second processor associated with the first vehicle or a personal communication device, the information about the driving surface of the off-road track, the second processor configured to determine a drivability status of the off-road track based on a multifactor evaluation procedure that includes evaluating the information about the driving surface of the off-road track and the weather forecast;
receiving, from the first vehicle or the personal communication device, a query about a traversability of the off-road track;
sending, to the first vehicle or a personal communication device, the drivability status of the off-road track in response to the query;
defining a geofence around the first vehicle;
obtaining a weather forecast for an area that includes the geofence; and
evaluating, by the remote server, the weather forecast as a part of the multifactor evaluation procedure for determining the drivability status of the off-road track, wherein the multifactor evaluation procedure further includes identifying a model and a make of the first vehicle, identifying a speed of the first vehicle on the off-road track, identifying a location of the first vehicle on the off-road track, identifying a current weather characteristic at the location of the first vehicle on the off-road track, and/or obtaining a weather forecast for an area encompassing at least a portion of the off-road track; and
presenting, via a human machine interface (HMI) of the first vehicle, the indication of the type of vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the sensor signal is produced in response to a material composition of the driving surface, a gradient of the driving surface, an amount of traction provided by the driving surface of the off-road track and/or a weather condition affecting the driving surface.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first processor is included in an off-road track operations system provided in the first vehicle and the second processor is included in an off-road track drivability guidance system provided in a server computer.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the multifactor evaluation procedure for determining the drivability status of the off-road track further includes identifying a model and a make of the first vehicle, identifying a speed of the first vehicle on the off-road track, identifying a location of the first vehicle on the off-road track, and/or identifying a current weather characteristic at the location of the first vehicle on the off-road track.

10. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
defining, by the first processor and/or the second processor, a geofence around the first vehicle; and
obtaining, by the second processor, a weather forecast for an area that includes the geofence.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
modifying the drivability status of the off-road track based on the weather forecast.

12. A system comprising:
a server computer comprising:
a memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and
a processor configured to access the memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
capturing, using a sensor of a first vehicle and as the first vehicle is traversing an off-road track, information about a driving surface of the off-road track;
receiving, from the sensor in the first vehicle and by a remote server, the information about the driving surface of the off-road track;
receiving, from the first vehicle, information about a type of the first vehicle, wherein the information is automatically provided by the first vehicle;
determining, by the remote server, a drivability status of the off-road track based on a multifactor evaluation procedure that includes evaluating the information about the driving surface;
receiving, by the remote server from the vehicle, a query about a traversability of the off-road track;
providing, by the remote server, the drivability status of the off-road track in response to the query; and
sending, to the vehicle, an indication of a type of vehicle to be used for traversing the off-road track based on a weather forecast; and
presenting, via a human machine interface (HMI) of the first vehicle, the indication of the type of vehicle.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to access the memory and execute additional computer-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Lei Oliver
• Neubecker Cynthia
• Siddiqui Adil
• Parenti Robert
• Chowanic Andrea Bowers

Classifications

• B60W40/068 Primary

  Road friction coefficient · CPC title

• B60W2555/20

  Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain · CPC title

• B60W40/04

  Traffic conditions · CPC title

• B60W40/06 Primary

  Road conditions · CPC title

• B60W40/12

  related to parameters of the vehicle itself {, e.g. tyre models} · CPC title