Autonomous controller and method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12110043-B2
Application number	US-202017111103-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2020
Priority date	Jan 3, 2020
Publication date	Oct 8, 2024
Grant date	Oct 8, 2024

Abstract

The autonomous controller includes: a processor configured to control autonomous driving, calculate a safety area, and determine conversion into an autonomous driving mode based on a current location of the driver's seat; and a storage configured to store information about the safety area, data, and an algorithm run by the processor. The processor is configured to convert a manual driving mode into the autonomous driving mode when the current location of the driver's seat is within the safety area or when a request for conversion into the autonomous driving mode is input while driving in the manual driving mode, and move the current location of the driver's seat into the safety area and convert the manual driving mode into the autonomous driving mode when the current location of the driver's seat is not within the safety area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous controller comprising:
a processor configured to control autonomous driving of a vehicle, calculate a safety area for a driver of the vehicle to able to keep eyes of the driver on a road, and determine conversion into an autonomous driving mode based on a current location of a seat of the driver, wherein the safety area includes information about at least one of a sliding location, a reclining angle, or a height of the seat of the driver, and wherein the processor is configured to calculate the safety area based on a location of the seat of the driver in response to determining, based on least one of a location of the vehicle in a lane, a distance from a forward vehicle, a change in vehicle speed, whether there is rapid deceleration or acceleration, or a face location of the driver, that the location of the seat of the driver is safe;
a storage configured to store information about the safety area, data, and an algorithm run by the processor; and
an interface configured to be controlled by the processor, and to output a state of the autonomous driving mode or a manual driving mode,
wherein the processor is configured to:
determine to convert the manual driving mode into the autonomous driving mode when the current location of the seat of the driver is within the safety area or when a request for the conversion into the autonomous driving mode is input while driving in the manual driving mode,
when the current location of the seat of the driver is not within the safety area, move the current location of the seat of the driver into the safety area and convert the manual driving mode into the autonomous driving mode, and
control the interface to notify the driver that it is impossible to convert the manual driving mode into the autonomous driving mode when it is impossible to move the current location of the seat of the driver into the safety area.

2. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the interface includes at least one of a cluster, a head up display, an audio, video, navigation (AVN), a display, a warning sound speaker, or a haptic device.

3. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate the safety area based on the location of the seat of the driver when a rate at which a center of the vehicle departs from a center of the lane over a certain level during a predetermined time is not greater than a predetermined threshold.

4. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate the safety area based on the location of the seat of the driver when a deviation of a distance from a center of the vehicle from a center of the lane during a predetermined time is not greater than a predetermined threshold.

5. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate the safety area based on the location of the seat of the driver when an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the forward vehicle is kept constant over a predetermined threshold.

6. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
calculate a collision minimum safe distance from the forward vehicle using a relative vehicle speed with respect to the forward vehicle, and
calculate the safety area based on the location of the seat of the driver when a rate at which the vehicle violates the collision minimum safe distance during a predetermined time is not greater than a predetermined value.

7. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate the safety area based on the location of the seat of the driver when an amount of change in vehicle speed during a predetermined time is less than a predetermined value.

8. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate the safety area based on the location of the seat of the driver depending on whether sudden acceleration or deceleration occurs during a predetermined time.

9. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate the safety area based on the location of the seat of the driver when the face location of the driver is within a predetermined range.

10. The autonomous controller of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate the safety area based on the location of the seat of the driver when the face location of the driver is a location at which a view of the driver is least obstructed.

11. The autonomous controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate a safety area for each driver based on authentication information for each driver, and the storage stores information about the calculated safety area.

12. An autonomous control method comprising:
calculating, by a processor, a safety area for a driver of a vehicle to be able to keep eyes of the driver on a road, wherein the safety area includes information about at least one of a sliding location, a reclining angle, or a height of a seat of a driver, and wherein calculating the safety area includes calculating the safety area based on a location of the seat of the driver in response to determining, based on least one of a location of the vehicle in a lane, a distance from a forward vehicle, a change in vehicle speed, whether there is rapid deceleration or acceleration, or a face location of the driver, that the location of the seat of the driver is safe;
storing, in a storage, information about the safety area;
determining, by the processor, conversion into an autonomous driving mode based on a current location of the seat of the driver during manual driving, including
determining, by the processor, whether the current location of the seat of the driver is within the safety area when a request for conversion into the autonomous driving mode is input while driving in a manual driving mode;

converting, by the processor, the manual driving mode into the autonomous driving mode when the current location of the seat of the driver is within the safety area;
moving, by the processor, the current location of the seat of the driver into the safety area and converting the manual driving mode into the autonomous driving mode when the current location of the seat of the driver is not within the safety area;
outputting a state of the autonomous driving mode or the manual driving mode; and
notifying the driver that it is impossible to convert the manual driving mode into the autonomous driving mode when it is impossible to move the current location of the seat of the driver into the safety area.

13. The autonomous control method of claim 12 , wherein calculating the safety area and storing the information about the safety area includes:
calculating a safety area for each driver based on authentication information for each driver and storing information about the calculated safety area.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Yang Na Eun
• Jeong Jin Su
• Jeon Jae Yong

Classifications

• B60K35/265

  Voice · CPC title

• B60K35/29

  Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions · CPC title

• B60K35/10

  Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor · CPC title

• B60K35/23

  Head-up displays [HUD] (optical aspects of head-up displays G02B27/01) · CPC title

• B60N2/0272

  using sensors or detectors for detecting the position of seat parts · CPC title