Parking assist system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9505436-B2
Application number	US-201514849776-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2015
Priority date	Sep 12, 2014
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

A parking assist system includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to detect an available parking area in an area around a vehicle, calculate a parking guidance path for guiding the vehicle from a current position of the vehicle to a parking target position included in the available parking area, execute guidance control for guiding the vehicle to the parking target position by executing at least steering control along the parking guidance path, and, when an end condition for ending guidance is satisfied in the middle of execution of the guidance control, end the guidance control and carry out at least one of steering to keep a steering angle at an end of the steering control for a predetermined period or steering to gradually reduce the steering angle from the steering angle at the end of the steering control toward a neutral position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A parking assist system comprising:
an electronic control unit configured to
detect an available parking area in an area around a vehicle by detecting an obstacle or a partition line,
calculate a parking guidance path for guiding the vehicle from a current position of the vehicle to a parking target position included in the available parking area,
execute guidance control for guiding the vehicle to the parking target position at a guidance speed for traveling by a use of creeping by executing at least steering control along the parking guidance path, and
when the guidance speed exceeds a predetermined speed in a middle of execution of the guidance control, end the guidance control and carry out at least one of steering to keep a steering angle at an end of the steering control for a predetermined period or steering to gradually reduce the steering angle from the steering angle at the end of the steering control toward a neutral position.

2. The parking assist system according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to, when an operation input of a steering unit is received while the steering angle is kept or gradually reduced, give priority to the operation input.

3. The parking assist system according to claim 2 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to select whether to keep or gradually reduce the steering angle in response to a situation around the vehicle.

4. The parking assist system according to claim 3 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to, when the end condition is satisfied and the guidance control is ended, output a notice that prompts a driving operation of the vehicle.

5. The parking assist system according to claim 2 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to, when the end condition is satisfied and the guidance control is ended, output a notice that prompts a driving operation of the vehicle.

6. The parking assist system according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to select whether to keep or gradually reduce the steering angle in response to a situation around the vehicle.

7. The parking assist system according to claim 6 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to, when the end condition is satisfied and the guidance control is ended, output a notice that prompts a driving operation of the vehicle.

8. The parking assist system according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to, when the end condition is satisfied and the guidance control is ended, output a notice that prompts a driving operation of the vehicle.

9. The parking assist system according to claim 1 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to, when the end condition is satisfied in the middle of execution of the guidance control, end the guidance control, carry out steering to keep the steering angle at the end of the steering control for the predetermined period, and then carry out steering to gradually reduce the steering angle from the steering angle at the end of the steering control toward the neutral position.

10. The parking assist system according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to return the steering angle to the neutral position after ending of the guidance control.

11. The parking assist system according to claim 1 , wherein when the steering angle is already the neutral position at the time when the guidance control is ended or when the steering control is in process of steering back to the neutral position at the time when the guidance control is ended, a process of keeping the steering angle at the time when the guidance control is ended for a predetermined period or a process of gradually reducing the steering angle to the neutral position is skipped.

Assignees

• Aisin Seiki
• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamashita Tomohisa
• Kato Masaya
• Tachibana Hiroyuki
• Kuwayama Takashi
• Ishijima Hironobu
• Oyama Keisuke

Classifications

• B62D15/028

  Guided parking by providing commands to the driver, e.g. acoustically or optically · CPC title

• B62D15/0285 Primary

  Parking performed automatically · CPC title

• B60K35/80

  Arrangements for controlling instruments · CPC title

• B60K35/28

  characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver · CPC title

• B60K35/00

  Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles · CPC title