System and method for navigating curvy roads

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12509083-B2
Application number	US-202318167824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2023
Priority date	Feb 10, 2023
Publication date	Dec 30, 2025
Grant date	Dec 30, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle including a transceiver, a wheel drive motor and a processor is disclosed. The transceiver may be configured to receive road information and weather information, and the wheel drive motor may be configured to control torque of a vehicle wheel. The processor may be configured to receive a trigger signal when the vehicle approaches a curvy road. The processor may be further configured to obtain the road information and the weather information from the transceiver responsive to obtaining the trigger signal. The road information may include radius of curvature of the curvy road. The processor may calculate a vehicle speed based on the obtained road information and the weather information. The processor may further transmit a command signal to the wheel drive motor to vehicle wheel control torque based on the vehicle speed.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive road information and first weather information; a wheel drive motor configured to control torque of a vehicle wheel; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the wheel drive motor, wherein the processor is configured to:
obtain a first trigger signal when the vehicle approaches a curvy road at a first time;
obtain, responsive to obtaining the first trigger signal, the road information and the first weather information from the transceiver, wherein the road information comprises a radius of curvature of a curve on the curvy road;
calculate, based on the road information and the first weather information, a first vehicle speed at which to enter the curvy road;
transmit, based on the first vehicle speed, a first command signal to the wheel drive motor to control vehicle wheel torque;
store the first vehicle speed in memory;
in response to the vehicle approaching the curvy road at a second time after the first time, obtain second weather information;
determine whether the second weather information is different than the first weather information;
in response to determining that the second weather information is different than the first weather information, calculate a second vehicle speed at which to enter the curvy road using the second weather information;
in response to determining that the second weather information is not different than the first weather information, set the second vehicle speed as the first vehicle speed; and
transmit, based on the second vehicle speed, a second command signal to the wheel drive motor to control vehicle wheel torque.

2 . The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising:
a wheel steering actuator configured to rotate the vehicle wheel.

3 . The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
obtain vehicle information from the memory responsive to obtaining the first trigger signal; calculate a wheel rotation angle based on the road information and the vehicle information; and transmit a third command signal to the wheel steering actuator to rotate the vehicle wheel based on the wheel rotation angle.

4 . The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the vehicle information comprises vehicle weight, vehicle wheel condition information, and vehicle structure information.

5 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor obtains the first trigger signal from a Global Positioning System (GPS) server.

6 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the road information further comprises a road surface type.

7 . The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
obtain a coefficient of friction of the curvy road based on the road surface type and the first weather information; and calculate the first vehicle speed based on the coefficient of friction.

8 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver receives the road information and the first weather information from a server.

9 . A method to control movement of a vehicle on a curvy road, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a processor, a first trigger signal when the vehicle approaches the curvy road at a first time; obtaining, by the processor, road information and first weather information responsive to obtaining the first trigger signal, wherein the road information comprises a radius of curvature of a curve on the curvy road; calculating, by the processor, a first vehicle speed at which to enter the curvy road based on the road information and the first weather information; transmitting, by the processor, a first command signal to a wheel drive motor of the vehicle to control vehicle wheel torque based on the first vehicle speed; storing the first vehicle speed in memory; in response to the vehicle approaching the curvy road at a second time after the first time, obtaining second weather information; determining whether the second weather information is different than the first weather information; in response to determining that the second weather information is different than the first weather information, calculating a second vehicle speed at which to enter the curvy road using the second weather information; in response to determining that the second weather information is not different than the first weather information, setting the second vehicle speed as the first vehicle speed; and transmitting, based on the second vehicle speed, a second command signal to the wheel drive motor to control vehicle wheel torque.

10 . The method of claim 9 further comprising:
obtaining vehicle information responsive to obtaining the first trigger signal;
calculating a wheel rotation angle based on the road information and the vehicle information; and
transmitting a third command signal to a wheel steering actuator of the vehicle to rotate a vehicle wheel based on the wheel rotation angle.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the vehicle information comprises vehicle weight, vehicle wheel condition information, and vehicle structure information.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first trigger signal is obtained from a Global Positioning System (GPS) server.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the road information further comprises a road surface type.

14 . The method of claim 13 further comprising:
obtaining a coefficient of friction of the curvy road based on the road surface type and the first weather information; and
calculating the first vehicle speed based on the coefficient of friction.

15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein obtaining the road information and the first weather information comprises obtaining the road information and the first weather information from a server.

16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
obtain a first trigger signal when a vehicle approaches a curvy road at a first time; obtain road information and first weather information responsive to obtaining the first trigger signal, wherein the road information comprises a radius of curvature of a curve on the curvy road; calculate a first vehicle speed at which to enter the curvy road based on the road information and the first weather information; transmit a first command signal to a wheel drive motor of the vehicle to control vehicle wheel torque based on the first vehicle speed; store the first vehicle speed in memory; in response to the vehicle approaching the curvy road at a second time after the first time, obtain second weather information; determine whether the second weather information is different than the first weather information; in response to determining that the second weather information is different than the first weather information, calculate a second vehicle speed at which to enter the curvy road using the second weather information; in response to determining that the second weather information is not different than the first weather information, set the second vehicle speed as the first vehicle speed; and transmit, based on the second vehicle speed, a second command signal to the wheel drive motor to control vehicle wheel torque.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , having further instructions stored thereupon to:
obtain vehicle information responsive to obtaining the first trigger signal; calculate a wheel rotation angle based on the road information and the vehicle information; and transmit a third command signal to a whee

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Dudar Aed
• Ghannam Mahmoud

Classifications

• B60W2720/30

  Wheel torque · CPC title

• B60W2710/083

  Torque · CPC title

• B60W2555/20

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

• B60W2552/40

  Coefficient of friction · CPC title

• B60W2556/50

  of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data · CPC title