Method for controlling a vehicle in accordance with parameters preferred by an identified driver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9950707-B2
Application number	US-201715488715-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2017
Priority date	Apr 2, 2014
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A method for controlling a vehicle includes providing a plurality of sensors at an equipped vehicle, capturing, via the plurality of sensors, data, and determining, via processing by a data processor of data captured by at least some of the plurality of sensors, information pertaining to distance to other vehicles present exterior the equipped vehicle. Information is determined pertaining to lane geometry of a lane of a road along which the equipped vehicle is traveling. Information is provided pertaining to at least one of (i) acceleration of the equipped vehicle, (ii) braking of the equipped vehicle and (iii) steering of the equipped vehicle. Information is provided identifying a driver operating the equipped vehicle. Responsive to identification of the driver operating the equipped vehicle, the equipped vehicle is controlled in accordance with a personalized parameter set for the identified driver and in accordance with data processing by the data processor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a vehicle, said method comprising:
providing a plurality of sensors at an equipped vehicle, the plurality of sensors sensing exterior of the equipped vehicle;
wherein the plurality of sensors comprises at least one forward viewing image sensor;
capturing, via the plurality of sensors, data;
providing a control at the equipped vehicle that, when the control is operating in a driving assist mode, provides at least one of (i) adaptive cruise control, (ii) lane keep assist and (iii) lane centering;
wherein the control, when operating in the driving assist mode, is operable to control (i) acceleration of the equipped vehicle, (ii) braking of the equipped vehicle and (iii) steering of the equipped vehicle;
wherein the control, when not operating in the driving assist mode, allows for driver control of acceleration, braking and steering of the equipped vehicle;
providing a data processor at the equipped vehicle for processing data captured by the plurality of sensors;
determining, via processing by the data processor of data captured by at least some of the plurality of sensors, information pertaining to distance to other vehicles present exterior the equipped vehicle;
determining, via processing by the data processor of data captured by at least the forward viewing image sensor of the plurality of sensors, information pertaining to lane geometry of a lane of a road along which the equipped vehicle is traveling;
identifying to the data processor a driver present in the equipped vehicle and capable of operating the equipped vehicle;
when the control is not operating in the driving assist mode and the identified driver is operating the equipped vehicle, providing to the data processor information pertaining to (i) acceleration of the equipped vehicle by the identified driver, (ii) braking of the equipped vehicle by the identified driver and (iii) steering of the equipped vehicle by the identified driver;
when the control is not operating in the driving assist mode and the identified driver is operating the equipped vehicle, determining driving conditions associated with the provided information;
determining a personalized parameter set for the identified driver, wherein the personalized parameter set comprises information pertaining to driving behavior of the identified driver during various driving conditions;
when the control is operating in the driving assist mode and the identified driver is not operating the equipped vehicle, and responsive to determination of a current driving condition of the equipped vehicle, controlling the equipped vehicle in accordance with the personalized parameter set for the identified driver and the determined current driving condition and in accordance with data processing by the data processor of data captured by at least some of the plurality of sensors; and
wherein the determined personalized parameter set for the identified driver comprises at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of (i) how rapidly the equipped vehicle, when driven by the identified driver, accelerates if a preceding vehicle changes lane and is no longer in the lane along which the equipped vehicle is traveling, (ii) how aggressively the equipped vehicle, when driven by the identified driver, decelerates after a cut-in by another vehicle into the lane in which the equipped vehicle is traveling, and (iii) how the speed of the equipped vehicle, when driven by the identified driver, is adjusted responsive to a radius of curvature of an upcoming road curve ahead of the equipped vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the equipped vehicle in accordance with the personalized parameter set and the determined current driving condition and in accordance with data processing by the data processor comprises controlling the equipped vehicle responsive to (i) determined information pertaining to distance to other vehicles, (ii) determined information pertaining to lane geometry, and (iii) provided information pertaining to acceleration, braking and steering of the equipped vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising creating the personalized parameter set for the identified driver by learning, while the identified driver is manually driving a vehicle on a road, at least one parameter indicative of the identified driver's preference for operation of or use of at least one accessory or system of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3 , comprising learning, while the identified driver is manually driving the vehicle on the road, the at least one parameter responsive at least in part to at least one of (i) determined information pertaining to distance to other vehicles, (ii) determined information pertaining to lane geometry, and (iii) provided information pertaining to acceleration, braking and steering of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the vehicle the driver is manually driving on the road during learning is the equipped vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining, via processing by the data processor of data captured by at least some of the plurality of sensors, information pertaining to an ambient light level at the equipped vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining, via processing by the data processor of data captured by at least some of the plurality of sensors, information pertaining to traffic signs present in the field of sensing of the plurality of sensors.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining, via processing by the data processor of data captured by at least some of the plurality of sensors, information pertaining to a road surface characteristic of the road along which the equipped vehicle is traveling.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data processor comprises an image processor, and wherein determining information pertaining to lane geometry comprises determining, via processing by the image processor of image data captured by the forward viewing image sensor, information pertaining to lane geometry of the lane of the road along which the equipped vehicle is traveling.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining information pertaining to lane geometry comprises determining, via processing by the data processor of data captured by at least the forward viewing image sensor of the plurality of sensors, information pertaining to a width of the lane of the road along which the equipped vehicle is traveling.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining information pertaining to lane geometry comprises determining, via processing by the data processor of data captured by at least the forward viewing image sensor of the plurality of sensors, information pertaining to road curvature ahead of the equipped vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the data processor comprises an image processor, and wherein information pertaining to road curvature ahead of the equipped vehicle is established, at least in part, by processing by the image processor of image data captured by the forward viewing image sensor of the plurality of sensors, and wherein the forward viewing image sensor is disposed at a windshield of the equipped vehicle and views through the windshield and forwardly in the direction of forward travel of the equipped vehicle.

13. The method of claim 1 , comprising processing data received at the data processor to create a personalized parameter set for a particular identified driver based on how the identified driver operates the equipped vehicle during various driving conditions.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the equipped vehicle in accordance with the personalize

Assignees

• Magna Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Tan Honghao
• Tedesco Brian J

Classifications

• B60W2710/20

  Steering systems · CPC title

• B60W10/18

  including control of braking systems · CPC title

• B60W2050/0088

  Adaptive recalibration · CPC title

• B60W30/14

  {Adaptive} cruise control · CPC title

• B60W2556/00

  Input parameters relating to data · CPC title