Adaptive emergency brake and steer assist systems based on driver focus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9472102-B2
Application number	US-201414147648-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2014
Priority date	Jan 4, 2013
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

An automotive vehicle includes a driver analyzer and a driver assistance system, both of which are coupled to a controller. The controller includes a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions for causing the controller to determine a level of attentiveness of a driver of the automotive vehicle and to adapt a response of the driver assistance system in response to the determined level of attentiveness.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An automotive vehicle comprising:
a driver analyzer communicatively coupled to a controller;
a driver assistance system communicatively coupled to the controller; and

the controller including a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions for causing the controller to determine a level of attentiveness of a driver of the automotive vehicle and to adapt a response of the driver assistance system in response to the determined level of attentiveness and in response to at least one condition external to the vehicle, the condition external to the vehicle being an environmental condition affecting at least one of a last point to brake and a last point to steer, and wherein adapting the response of the driver assistance system includes loading one of a plurality of collision avoidance charts including at least a last point to brake data entry and a last point to steer data entry, each of said collision avoidance charts being distinct and corresponding to at least one environmental condition.

2. The automotive vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the driver assistance system is at least one of a brake assist system, a steering assist system, a warning system, an electronic stability control system, an adaptive cruise control system, a collision warning system and a lane departure warning system.

3. The automotive vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory storage medium further stores instructions for causing said driver assistance system to determine a direction of the driver's focus based at least in part on data from the driver analyzer.

4. The automotive vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the driver analyzer is one of a monocular camera, a binocular camera, and an array of cameras.

5. The automotive vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the driver analyzer is mounted to a steering column of the automotive vehicle.

6. The automotive vehicle of claim 1 , wherein one of the driver analyzer and the controller include a driver recognition module, and wherein the driver recognition module is operable to interpret data from said driver analyzer and thereby determine a specific driver of the vehicle.

7. The automotive vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the driver assistance system is a module of said controller.

8. A method of controlling an automotive vehicle comprising:
determining a level of a driver's attentiveness by interpreting data from a driver analyzer using a controller;
identifying a specific driver using the controller based on data from the driver analyzer, at least in part by identifying the specific driver using facial recognition;
loading a specific driver profile from a controller memory, the specific driver profile corresponding to the identified specific driver; and
adjusting a response of a driver assistance system based at least partially on the driver's level of attentiveness and at least partially on at least one condition external to the vehicle, the condition external to the vehicle being an environmental condition affecting at least one of a last point to brake and a last point to steer, and
wherein adjusting the response of the driver assistance system includes loading one of a plurality of collision avoidance charts including at least a last point to brake data entry and a last point to steer data entry, each of said collision avoidance charts being distinct chart and corresponding to at least one environmental condition.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the driver assistance system is at least one of a brake assist system, a steering assist system, a warning system, an electronic stability control system, an adaptive cruise control system, a collision warning system and a lane departure warning system.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising adjusting the driver assistance system in response to the specific driver profile.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the level of the driver's attentiveness by interpreting data from the driver analyzer using a controller comprises:
capturing at least one image of the driver using a camera;
identifying a plurality of facial features of the driver; and
determining a facing of the driver relative to a direction of motion of the vehicle based on the position of the a plurality of facial features in the at least one image.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the a plurality of identified facial features includes at least one of an eye, mouth and nose.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein a high level of attentiveness is determined in response to the driver's facing substantially matching one of the direction of travel of the vehicle and a potential collision object external to the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein a low level of attentiveness is determined in response to at least one of the driver's facing and focus direction substantially deviating from at least one of the direction of travel of the vehicle and a potential collision object external to the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein adjusting a response of a driver assistance system comprises at least one of delaying a warning point in response to determining a high level of attentiveness and increasing a time period between the warning point and a first of a brake point and a steering point in response to determining a low level of attentiveness.

16. A method of controlling an automotive vehicle comprising:
determining a level of a driver's attentiveness by interpreting data from a driver analyzer using a controller;
adjusting a response of a driver assistance system based at least partially on the driver's level of attentiveness;
loading a collision avoidance chart using said driver assistance system, wherein the collision avoidance chart includes compensation for at least one condition external to the vehicle; and
wherein adjusting a response of a driver assistance system based at least partially on the driver's level of attentiveness comprises adjusting at least one of a warning point, brake point, steering point, warning intensity and warning location in response to a determined level of driver attentiveness.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one condition external to the vehicle is at least one of an icy road, a wet road, and low traction.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein loading the collision avoidance chart using said driver assistance system comprises selecting a collision avoidance chart from a plurality of collision avoidance charts, the selected collision avoidance chart including the compensation for the at least one condition external to the vehicle.

Assignees

• Continental automotive systems inc

Inventors

• Mcclain Jeremy Jason
• Bolton Zachary Joseph

Classifications

• B60W2050/009

  Priority selection · CPC title

• B62D6/001

  the torque NOT being among the input parameters · CPC title

• B60W2540/30

  Driving style · CPC title

• B60W10/184

  with wheel brakes · CPC title

• B60W2050/0094

  of control units · CPC title