Assisted hitching system with handoff process for interrupted operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021009143-A1
Application number	US-201916505807-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 9, 2019
Priority date	Jul 9, 2019
Publication date	Jan 14, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle hitching assistance system includes a steering system including a vehicle steering wheel, a powertrain control system including an accelerator and a gear selector, a brake system including service brakes and a parking brake, and a controller. The controller executes an automated hitching maneuver, monitors the system for an interruption event. Upon identifying a standard interruption event, the controller causes the steering wheel to move to a centered position, causes the gear selector to engage a park mode, engages the parking brake, and ceases control of the steering system, the powertrain control system and the brake system. Upon identifying an exception interruption event, the controller ceases control of the steering system, the powertrain control system, and the brake system without causing the steering wheel to move to the centered position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A hitching assistance system for a vehicle, comprising:
a steering system including a vehicle steering wheel; a powertrain control system including an accelerator and a gear selector configuring the powertrain control system among park, neutral, drive, and reverse modes; a brake system including service brakes for slowing the vehicle to a stop and a parking brake for maintaining the vehicle at a stop; and a controller:
executing an automated hitching maneuver including controlling the steering system, the powertrain control system and the brake system to back the vehicle toward a trailer;
monitoring the hitching assistance system for an interruption event;
detecting the interruption event and identifying the interruption event as one of a standard interruption event or an exception interruption event;
upon identifying the standard interruption event, causing the steering wheel to move to a centered position, causing the gear selector to engage a park mode, engaging the parking brake, and ceasing control of the steering system, the powertrain control system and the brake system; and
upon identifying the exception interruption event, ceasing control of the steering system, the powertrain control system and the brake system, without causing the steering wheel to move to the centered position.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller further, upon detecting the interruption event:
classifies the one the interruption event as either a pause event or an abort event; if the interruption event is a pause event, maintains an active state while waiting for a user-initiated resume request; and if the interruption event is an abort event, enters a deactivated state including terminating the automated hitching maneuver.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein, when receiving the user-initiated resume request the controller acquires control of the steering system, the powertrain control system, and the brake system.

4 . The system of claim 2 , further including a door sensor, wherein:
the controller classifies the interruption event as a pause event based on any of:
user interference with the steering wheel;
the user change in a configuration of the gear selector; or
the door sensor indicating at least one of a plurality of vehicle doors being opened.

5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein:
the controller identifies the interruption event as an abort event based on any of:
user cancelation of the automated hitching maneuver; or
the controller identifying a fault within the hitching assistance system.

6 . The system of claim 1 , further including a vehicle-human machine interface, wherein:
the controller further does not cause the gear selector to engage the park mode, or engage the parking brake, upon identifying the exception interruption event based on the vehicle-human machine interface indicating a user cancelation of the automated hitching maneuver.

7 . The system of claim 1 , further including a door sensor, and a user-system input device, wherein:
the controller further causes the gear selector to engage a park mode and engages the parking brake, upon identifying the exception interruption event based on one of:
the steering system indicating user interference with the steering wheel; or
the powertrain control system indicating a user change in a configuration of the gear selector; and
the controller further causes the gear selector to engage a park mode but does not engage the parking brake, upon identifying the exception interruption event based on the door sensor indicating at least one of a plurality of vehicle doors being opened.

8 . The system of claim 1 , further including a system fault sensor and a vehicle speed sensor, wherein:
the controller identifies the standard interruption event based on one of:
the vehicle speed sensor indicating a vehicle standstill condition prior to completion of the automated hitching maneuver; or
the system fault sensor identifying a system fault.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
while executing the automated hitching maneuver, the controller further causes disablement of a vehicle emergency braking system and a rear object detection system; and upon identifying the interruption event , the controller allows for reactivation of the vehicle emergency braking system and the rear object detection system.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the steering system further includes:
steered vehicle wheels mounted on an exterior of the vehicle; and
a steering motor mechanically coupled with the steered vehicle wheels; and
the controller:
controls the steering system while executing the automated hitching maneuver by controlling the steering motor; and
causes the steering wheel to move to the centered position by controlling the steering motor to move the steered wheels to zero-degree steering angle position.

11 . The system of claim 1 , further including an imaging system outputting image data, wherein:
executing the automated hitching maneuver including controlling the steering system, the powertrain control system and the brake system is carried out to move the vehicle into an aligned position, where a hitch ball mounted on the vehicle is aligned with a coupler of the trailer, including tracking a position of the coupler relative to the hitch ball in the image data.

12 . A vehicle, comprising:
a steering system including a steering wheel mounted in an interior of the vehicle; a powertrain control system including an accelerator and a gear selector configuring the powertrain control system among park, reverse, neutral, and drive modes; a brake system including service brakes for slowing the vehicle to a stop and a parking brake for maintaining the vehicle at a stop; and a vehicle hitching assistance system, including a controller:
executing an automated hitching maneuver including controlling the steering system, the powertrain control system and the brake system to back the vehicle toward a trailer;
monitoring the hitching assistance system for an interruption event;
detecting the interruption event and identifying the interruption event as one of a standard interruption event or an exception interruption event;
upon identifying the standard interruption event, causing the steering wheel to move to a centered position, causing the gear selector to engage the park mode, engaging the parking brake, and ceasing control of the steering system, the powertrain control system and the brake system; and
upon identifying the exception interruption event, ceasing control of the steering system, the powertrain control system and the brake system without causing the steering wheel to move to the centered position.

13 . The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the controller further, upon detecting the interruption event:
classifies the one the interruption event as either a pause event or an abort event; if the interruption event is a pause event, maintains an active state while waiting for a user-initiated resume request; if the interruption event is an abort event, enters a deactivated state including terminating the automated hitching maneuver; and when receiving the user-initiated resume request, the controller acquires control of the steering system, powertrain control system, and brake system.

14 . The vehicle of claim 13 , further including a door sensor and a system fault sensor, wherein:
the controller classifies the interruption event as a pause event based on any of:
user interference with the steering wheel;
the user change in a configuration of the gear selector; or
the

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Niewiadomski Luke
• Trombley Roger
• Sharma Arnav

Classifications

• B60W10/10

  including control of change-speed gearings · CPC title

• B60W2710/20

  Steering systems · CPC title

• B60W2520/105

  Longitudinal acceleration · CPC title

• B60W60/0025

  specially adapted for specific operations · CPC title

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title