Method for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9802616-B2
Application number	US-201214241739-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2012
Priority date	Aug 29, 2011
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle, in particular of an electric vehicle, during a driving process for overcoming an obstacle which is close to the ground and has a slow speed. In this context, the method has the following steps: transmission (S 1 ) of a torque to the wheels which are to be driven in order to overcome the obstacle, detection (S 6 ) that the obstacle has been overcome, and automatic reduction in the torque and/or automatic generation (S 7 ) of a braking torque in order to decelerate the motor vehicle directly after the detection.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle during a driving procedure to overcome an obstacle on a roadway at a first velocity, the method comprising:
actuating an acceleration pedal;
transmitting a drive torque to the wheels of the motor vehicle;
analyzing, with a control unit, a recorded motor current of an electric motor configured to drive the motor vehicle;
recognizing that the obstacle is present, when an acceleration pedal gradient associated with the acceleration pedal falls below a threshold value and when a buildup in the drive torque results in no acceleration of the motor vehicle in a first direction; and
automatically decreasing the drive torque and producing a braking torque to decelerate the motor vehicle upon recognizing the obstacle has been overcome.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein recognizing that the obstacle has been overcome includes determining the presence of a roadway inclination associated with the roadway.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein recognizing that the obstacle has been overcome includes monitoring a pressure in a tire of the motor vehicle.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein an obstacle situation is recognized if a recognized start indication of the driver exists, the accelerator pedal gradient falls below the predefined threshold value, and, in the event of a buildup of a drive torque to a predefined upper limiting value, no acceleration of the motor vehicle in the travel direction is achieved.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the position of a parking brake and/or a service brake is registered to determine the recognized start indication.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the position of a selection element, which is movable into various selection positions to select various gear steps to be engaged on the transmission and/or to select various driving programs, is registered to determine the recognized start indication.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the obstacle is recognized by means of an environmental sensor system.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the environmental sensor system is embodied as at least one of a camera, an ultrasound system, a radar system, and a lidar system.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically decreasing the drive torque further comprises:
decreasing the drive torque using a predefined chronological profile, wherein the chronological profile includes a ramped profile.

10. An electric vehicle configured to execute a method to overcome an obstacle at a first velocity, the method comprising:
actuating an acceleration pedal;
transmitting a drive torque to the wheels of the electric vehicle to overcome the obstacle;
analyzing, with a control unit, a recorded motor current of an electric motor configured to drive the electric vehicle to overcome the obstacle;
recognizing that the obstacle is present, when an acceleration pedal gradient associated with the acceleration pedal falls below a threshold value and when a buildup in the drive torque results in no acceleration of the motor vehicle in a first direction; and
at least one selected from the group consisting of automatically decreasing the drive torque and automatically producing a braking torque to decelerate the electric vehicle immediately after the recognition that the obstacle has been overcome.

11. The electric vehicle of claim 10 , wherein automatically decreasing the torque further comprises:
decreasing the drive torque using a predefined chronological profile, wherein the chronological profile of the drive torque includes a ramped profile.

Assignees

• Horst Hans-Georg
• Gottwick Ulrich
• Binder Juergen
• Sotelo Rodrigo Biurrun
• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Horst Hans-Georg
• Gottwick Ulrich
• Binder Juergen
• Sotelo Rodrigo Biurrun

Classifications

• B60W2540/12

  Brake pedal position · CPC title

• B60W30/188 Primary

  Controlling power parameters of the driveline, e.g. determining the required power · CPC title

• B60W2520/105

  Longitudinal acceleration · CPC title

• B60W30/18063

  Creeping · CPC title

• B60W2540/106

  Rate of change · CPC title