Vehicle control system for controlling steering of vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9586618-B2
Application number	US-201615008416-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2016
Priority date	Mar 16, 2015
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

The present invention provides a vehicle control system comprising a projecting device, a camera device, a control device and an actuating device. The vehicle steering control system does not need a physical steering wheel, thus the weight and cost of the vehicles can be reduced. In addition, the steering control system according to the present invention provides the drivers with brand new driving experience.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control system for controlling steering of a driving apparatus, wherein the system comprising:
a projecting device configured to project a steering wheel image in front of a driver seat;
a camera device configured to take images of one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image periodically;
a processor configured by machine-readable instructions to:
determine a position of the one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image according to the images of the one or two hands,
calculate a movement of the one or two hands based on the determined position of the one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image,
determine a steering angle and a steering direction according to the movement of the one or two hands, and

output a control signal according to the steering angle and steering direction; and
an actuating device configured to receive the control signal and effectuate a maneuver of the driving apparatus according to the control signal.

2. The control system according to claim 1 , further comprising a storage device the storage device storing the positions of the hands;
wherein processor is further configured to calculate a position difference vector according to the position of the hands and at least one position of the one or two hands determined at a previous time to form the movement position difference vector.

3. The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the camera device is configured to take images of the left and right hands on the steering wheel image; and
wherein the processor is configured to
separately calculate a left hand movement position difference vector and a right hand movement position difference vector,
check whether the left hand movement position difference vector is consistent with the right hand movement position difference vector, and,
in response to determining the left hand movement position difference vector is consistent with the right hand movement position difference vector, determines the steering angle and the steering direction according to the left or right hand movement position difference vector.

4. The control system according to claim 1 , further comprising a storage device, steering angles and steering directions corresponding to respective movement position difference vectors being pre-stored in the storage device.

5. The control system according to claim 1 , wherein the actuating device is a steering motor, operative connected to a steering structure having a steering rack and a steering gear.

6. An electric vehicle, comprising the vehicle control system according to claim 1 .

7. A control method for controlling steering of a driving apparatus, comprising the following steps:
projecting a steering wheel image in front of a driver seat;
taking images of one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image;
determining a position of the one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image according to the images of the one or two hands;
calculating a movement of the one or two hands based on the determined position of the one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image;
determining a steering angle and a steering direction according to the movement of the one or two hands
outputting a control signal according to the steering angle and steering direction;
receiving, at an actuating device, a control signal to effectuate a maneuver of the driving apparatus.

Assignees

• Thunder Power Hong Kong Ltd

Inventors

• Sham Wellen

Classifications

• B62D1/286

  Systems for interrupting non-mechanical steering due to driver intervention · CPC title

• B62D1/00 Primary

  Steering controls, i.e. means for initiating a change of direction of the vehicle · CPC title

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · CPC title

• B62D5/0457

  characterised by control features of the drive means as such · CPC title

• B62D15/021

  Determination of steering angle · CPC title