System and method for monitoring and alerting vehicle occupant to operating efficiencies of autonomous driving assistance systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9791857-B2
Application number	US-201615065944-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2016
Priority date	Mar 10, 2016
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

A computing device for a vehicle is provided. The computing device includes one or more processors for controlling operation of the computing device, and a memory for storing data and program instructions usable by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to receive sensor data relating to operation of an autonomous driving assistance system, process the received sensor data to derive a value for an assistance system data quality parameter, compare the quality parameter value to a reference, and generate a notification including a result of the comparison.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device for a vehicle, the computing device comprising one or more processors for controlling operation of the computing device, and a memory for storing data and program instructions usable by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
receive sensor data relating to operation of an autonomous driving assistance system;
process the received sensor data to derive a value for a sensor data quality parameter;
compare the quality parameter value to a reference; and
generate a notification including a result of the comparison.

2. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the notification includes a current estimated operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system.

3. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
receive sensor data gathered from a single sensor during operation of the autonomous system; and
process the sensor data from the sensor to derive the value for the quality parameter.

4. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
receive sensor data from a plurality of sensors gathered during operation of the autonomous system; and
process the sensor data from each sensor of the plurality of sensors to derive a value for a separate quality parameter for the data received from each of the sensors.

5. The computing device of claim 4 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
assign a weight to each quality parameter;
combine the weighted quality parameters into a composite quality parameter; and
compare the composite quality parameter value to a reference.

6. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to deactivate the autonomous system responsive to a result of the comparison being below a predetermined value.

7. The computing device of claim 6 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to enable a user to select the predetermined value.

8. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the notification further includes a reason for the result of the comparison.

9. The computing device of claim 8 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to enable a user to select a threshold operating efficiency at or below which the reason for the result of the comparison will be included in the notification.

10. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the autonomous driving assistance system is an autonomous lane-keeping system.

11. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the autonomous driving assistance system is an adaptive cruise control system.

12. A vehicle including a computing device in accordance with claim 1 .

13. A vehicle control system including a computing device in accordance with claim 1 .

14. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to enable manual deactivation of the autonomous system.

15. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to enable a user to elect implementation of automatic deactivation of the autonomous system responsive to the occurrence of an operating efficiency at or below a predetermined threshold.

16. The computing device of claim 15 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to enable a user to select the predetermined threshold at which automatic deactivation of the autonomous system will occur.

17. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to automatically deactivate the autonomous system responsive to the occurrence of an operating efficiency at or below a predetermined threshold.

18. A computing device for a vehicle, the computing device comprising one or more processors for controlling operation of the computing device, and a memory for storing data and program instructions usable by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
receive sensor data relating to operation of the autonomous driving assistance system;
process the received sensor data to derive a value for a data quality parameter;
compare the quality parameter value to a reference;
responsive to the comparison of the quality parameter value to the reference, determine if an operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system is below a first predetermined value;
responsive to a determination that the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system is below the first predetermined value, determine if the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system has been below the first predetermined value for longer than a predetermined time period; and
responsive to a determination that the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system has been below the first predetermined value for longer than the predetermined time period, control the vehicle so as to deactivate the autonomous driving assistance system.

19. The computing device of claim 18 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
responsive to a determination that the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system is not below a first predetermined value, determine if the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system is at or below a second predetermined value greater than the first predetermined value;
responsive to a determination that the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system is at or below the second predetermined value, determine if the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system has been at or below the second predetermined value for longer than a predetermined time period; and
responsive to a determination that the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system has been at or below the second predetermined value for longer than the predetermined time period, generate a notification including a reason that the operating efficiency of the autonomous driving assistance system is at or below the second predetermined value.

20. The computing device of claim 18 wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
process the sensor data from each sensor of the plurality of sensors to derive a value for a separate quality parameter for the data received from each of the sensors;
assign a weight to each quality parameter to provide weighted quality parameters; and
combine the weighted quality parameters into a composite quality parameter.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Eng & Mfg North America Inc

Inventors

• Ebe Kazutoshi

Classifications

• B60W2556/50

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

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title

• B60W2050/143

  Alarm means · CPC title

• B60W50/14

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

• B60W30/14

  {Adaptive} cruise control · CPC title