Method for operating a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12291225-B2
Application number	US-202118008794-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2021
Priority date	Jun 8, 2020
Publication date	May 6, 2025
Grant date	May 6, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle may be operated in a driving mode with autonomous lateral control and in a driving mode with manual lateral control, where the vehicle has a steering lever with a steering lever range, and where the steering lever range represents a circular space which is delimited about 360° by a rotational movement of the steering lever about a steering lever axis of rotation. A method associated with the vehicle may include one or more of the following steps: operating the vehicle in a driving mode with autonomous lateral control; detecting an intrusion in the steering lever range and/or a breaching of a predefined distance from the steering lever range by the vehicle occupant or another object with a sensor unit without the vehicle occupant coming into contact with the steering lever; and signaling the intrusion and/or the breaching of the distance to the vehicle occupant.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating a vehicle, wherein the vehicle is operable in a driving mode with autonomous lateral control and in a driving mode with manual lateral control,
wherein the vehicle comprises a steering handle with a steering handle range, wherein the steering handle range represents a space which is formed by a virtual rotational path through which the steering handle geometry passes during a 360° rotation of the steering handle about its steering axis,
the method comprising the following steps:
operating the vehicle in a driving mode with autonomous lateral control;
detecting an intrusion into a free space of the steering handle range and/or a breaching of a predefined distance to the free space of the steering handle range by a vehicle occupant or another object with a sensor unit and without necessitating the vehicle occupant touching the steering handle; and
signaling the intrusion and/or the breaching of the distance to the vehicle occupant.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the steps from claim 1 are carried out repeatedly in a predefined time interval, and wherein, upon the detection of an intrusion that continues to exist and/or a breaching of the distance that continues to exist, requesting a vehicle occupant to take over manual vehicle control and/or stopping the vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the steering handle range comprises a tolerance band in addition to the space, and wherein, upon the detection of an intrusion into the tolerance band and/or a breaching of a predefined distance to the tolerance band, a corresponding tolerance band signal is sent to the vehicle occupant.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the signaling is carried out at least one of optically, acoustically, and haptically.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the signaling is carried out redundantly.

6. A vehicle for carrying out the method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the vehicle can be operated in a driving mode with autonomous lateral control and in a driving mode with manual lateral control, and wherein
the vehicle comprises:
a sensor unit which is configured to detect the intrusion into the steering handle range and/or the breaching of the distance to the free space of the steering handle range; and a control unit, which is configured to generate the signal to a vehicle occupant when the intrusion and/or the breach occurs.

7. The vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the control unit is designed to send a request to the vehicle occupant to take over the vehicle control and/or to stop the vehicle if the intrusion and/or the breaching of the distance continues to exist after signaling has been carried out.

8. The vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the sensor unit includes at least one of an optical sensor, an ultrasound sensor, a capacitive sensor, a radar sensor, and a lidar sensor.

9. The vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the sensor unit is arranged at at least one of a footwell area and a vehicle ceiling.

10. A steering handle for a vehicle, which is constructed according to claim 6 , wherein the steering handle is mounted such that it can rotate about a steering axis, and wherein the steering handle is configured such that at least part of the space of the steering handle range is formed as a free space in every rotational position of the steering handle.

11. The steering handle according to claim 10 , wherein the steering handle is coupled to the vehicle wheels such that in an autonomous lateral control driving mode of the vehicle, a rotational movement of the steering handle about the steering axis is carried out.

Assignees

• Bayerische Motoren Werke Ag

Inventors

• Franz Gunnar
• Ruemelin Sonja
• Schneider Peter

Classifications

• B60W2420/408

  Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar · CPC title

• B60W2420/403

  Image sensing, e.g. optical camera · CPC title

• B62D15/025

  Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation (B62D1/28 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60W2420/54

  Audio sensitive means, e.g. ultrasound · CPC title

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title