System and method for managing hydroplaning for a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12503117-B2
Application number	US-202318167821-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2023
Priority date	Feb 10, 2023
Publication date	Dec 23, 2025
Grant date	Dec 23, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle having a transceiver and a processor is disclosed. The transceiver may receive environment condition, road condition, and vehicle information. The processor may be communicatively coupled with the transceiver, and may obtain the environment condition, the road condition, and the vehicle information from the transceiver. The processor may determine that the vehicle may be in an unstable driving state based on the obtained condition. Responsive to determining that the vehicle may be in the unstable driving state, the processor may determine a vehicle instability type based on the environment condition, the road condition, and the vehicle information. The processor may be further configured to generate a first instruction for a first vehicle wheel and a second instruction for a second vehicle wheel based on the vehicle instability type, and cause a vehicle movement based on the first instruction and the second instruction.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive environment condition, road condition, and vehicle information; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to:
obtain the environment condition, the road condition, and the vehicle information from the transceiver;
determine, based on the road condition, a pre-wetting condition of a road, the pre-wetting condition indicating that the road is wet from either multiple occurrences of rain over a period of time or a first rain after a dry period without rain;
determine, based on the environment condition, the road condition, including the pre-wetting condition, and the vehicle information, that the vehicle is in an unstable driving state;
determine, based on the vehicle being in the unstable driving state, that the vehicle is hydroplaning;
generate, based on the determination that the vehicle is hydroplaning, a first instruction for a first vehicle wheel and a second instruction for a second vehicle wheel; and
cause, based on the first instruction and the second instruction, a vehicle movement.

2 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle information comprises vehicle driving condition, wheel condition, vehicle design, and vehicle weight.

3 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the environment condition comprises wind conditions, temperature, and weather condition.

4 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor determines that the vehicle is hydroplaning based on the environment condition, the road condition, and the vehicle information.

5 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor generates the first instruction to change a rotation angle and/or a torque of the first vehicle wheel, and wherein the processor generates the second instruction to change a rotation angle and/or a torque of the second vehicle wheel.

6 . The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising:
a first wheel drive motor and a first wheel steering actuator configured to control first vehicle wheel movement; and
a second wheel drive motor and a second wheel steering actuator configured to control second vehicle wheel movement.

7 . The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the vehicle movement by transmitting the first instruction to the first wheel drive motor and the first wheel steering actuator, and the second instruction to the second wheel drive motor and the second wheel steering actuator.

8 . A method for controlling a vehicle comprising:
obtaining, by a processor, an environment condition, a road condition, and vehicle information from a transceiver; determining, by the processor and based on the environment condition, the road condition, and the vehicle information, that the vehicle is at least partially submerged within water; determining, by the processor, that a vertical pushing force on the vehicle exceeds a weight of the vehicle, wherein the vertical pushing force is a sum of a buoyancy force on the vehicle and a drag force on the vehicle; determining, by the processor and based on the vehicle being at least partially submerged within the water, and the vertical pushing force on the vehicle exceeding the weight of the vehicle, a floating condition associated with the vehicle; generating, by the processor and based on the determination of the floating condition, a first instruction for a first vehicle wheel and a second instruction for a second vehicle wheel; and causing, by the processor and based on the first instruction and the second instruction, a vehicle movement to counter the floating condition.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle information comprises vehicle driving condition, wheel condition, vehicle design, and vehicle weight.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the environment condition comprises wind conditions, temperature, and weather conditions.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the road condition comprises water condition on road, and pre-wetting condition.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the floating condition is based on the environment condition, the road condition, and the vehicle information.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the first instruction is generated to change a rotation angle and/or a torque of the first vehicle wheel, and wherein the second instruction is generated to change a rotation angle and/or a torque of the second vehicle wheel.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle comprises:
a first wheel drive motor and a first wheel steering actuator configured to control first vehicle wheel movement; and a second wheel drive motor and a second wheel steering actuator configured to control second vehicle wheel movement.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein causing the vehicle movement comprises transmitting the first instruction to the first wheel drive motor and the first wheel steering actuator, and the second instruction to the second wheel drive motor and the second wheel steering actuator.

16 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining, by the processor, that the vehicle is positioned perpendicular to a water flow direction; and cause, by the processor, to change an orientation of the vehicle relative to the water flow direction.

17 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
obtain environment condition, road condition, and vehicle information from a transceiver; determine, based on the road condition, a pre-wetting condition of a road, the pre-wetting condition indicating that the road is wet from either multiple occurrences of rain over a period of time or a first rain after a dry period without rain; determine that a vehicle is in an unstable driving state based on the environment condition, the road condition, including the pre-wetting condition, and the vehicle information; determine, based on the vehicle being in the unstable driving state, that the vehicle is hydroplaning; generate a first instruction for a first vehicle wheel and a second instruction for a second vehicle wheel based on the determination that the vehicle is hydroplaning mud; and cause a vehicle movement based on the first instruction and the second instruction.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein generating the first instruction and the second instruction further comprises activating a rocking mode of a vehicle.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein generating the first instruction and the second instruction further comprises operating the vehicle in a three-wheel mode in which the second vehicle wheel, a third vehicle wheel, and a fourth vehicle wheel are driven instead of the first vehicle wheel.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to generate a third instruction to use an independent rear suspension of the vehicle to shift a weight of the vehicle away from the first vehicle wheel.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Ghannam Mahmoud
• Dudar Aed

Classifications

• B60W40/06 Primary

  Road conditions · CPC title

• B60W30/02

  Control of vehicle driving stability · CPC title

• B60W2555/20

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

• B60W2520/30

  Wheel torque · CPC title

• B60W2552/00

  Input parameters relating to infrastructure · CPC title