WO2016049812A1

WO2016049812A1 - Automatic parking warning system

Info

Publication number: WO2016049812A1
Application number: PCT/CN2014/087802
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carsten Isert; Sam Lai; Sebastian Granzow; Biyun ZHOU
Original assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2014-09-29
Filing date: 2014-09-29
Publication date: 2016-04-07
Also published as: EP3201047A1; CN106660482A; EP3201047A4

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic parking warning system. An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for a vehicle to automatically provide parking warnings, comprising: detecting, by a parking detection section, whether the vehicle is in a parking state; assessing, by a risk assessment section, a level of parking risk for the vehicle if the parking detection section detects that the vehicle is in the parking state; and providing, by a parking warning section, parking warnings corresponding to the risk level. The method can provide a more precise and more user friendly automatic parking warning for the customers. Embodiments of the present invention further provide an automatic parking warning system and a vehicle equipped with the system.

Description

AUTOMATIC PARKING WARNING SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an automatic parking warning system, and in particular, to an automatic parking warning system which is capable of providing warning signals corresponding to a level of parking risk.

BACKGROUND

A vehicle accident occurs when one vehicle hits another in the rear, which is also called as "rear-end collision" . For example, in Shanghai, rear-end collisions make up approximately 20％of all traffic accidents, and for elevated expressway and tunnels, the percentages increase to 49％and 67％, respectively. Rear-end collision may cause serious body injuries such as whiplash injury, or even death, to drivers and passengers in both the leading vehicle and the tailing vehicle.

Each automobile, which is approved for use on public roads, must have a parking light system to signal a parking state and warn following vehicles. Especially in the night or in a dim tunnel, the parking light may make the parked vehicle easily visible to following vehicles, thereby avoiding rear-end collisions. The parking light is usually turned on manually by the driver if needed, provided the driver does not forget it and deems it necessary.

Unfortunately, many drivers do not think it necessary to turn on the parking light, or they just forget it. Consequently, many rear-end collisions happen because the leading vehicle parks in a driveway while the parking light is not turned on. Without any warning signals, the inattentive driver of the tailing vehicle may not notice that the leading vehicle is parking, and as he/she approaches the leading vehicle and finally finds out the leading vehicle is parking, he/she has not time to stop his/her vehicle or change a lane because of a high driving speed. So, a driver assistance system is necessary to prevent or reduce these read-end collision accidents and thus to improve the traffic safety.

A parking light system with automatic activation of parking lights has been proposed by Sohn H. Josef in the German patent application DE202011103750U1 entitled "AUTOMATIC PARKING LIGHT SYSTEM FOR ALL AUTOMOBILES" . In particular, Josef discloses a parking light system including a sensor provided at a rear side of a vehicle. When the vehicle equipped with the parking light system parks, the sensor can detect traffic participants approaching the vehicle from the rear side. In response to the detection, the parking light may automatically turn on for a few of seconds. The traffic participants will notice the obstacle by the sudden turning on of the parking light. When the sensor detects that the traffic participants have passed away, the parking light may automatically turn off to save the battery power.

However, Josef's system still has many shortcomings. For example, the sensor works well only in a certain range of distance. In a case that the vehicle parks on the expressway, when the sensor detects another vehicle approaching at a high speed and turns on the parking light, there could be no enough time left for the high-speed vehicle to perform a collision avoidance maneuver. In addition, Josef fails to consider the environment where the vehicle parks. For example, when the vehicle temporarily parks in a crowded area, the automatic parking light may generate many false or unnecessary warning signals, which is annoying to both the driver in the vehicle and the people passing by. This may even cause the driver to disable the automatic activation of the parking light.

So, there is a need for an automatic parking warning system that is more practical and effective than the existing systems.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

SUMMARY

To address one or more of the above and other problems, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for a vehicle to automatically provide parking warnings, comprising: detecting, by a parking detection section, whether the vehicle is in a parking state； assessing, by a risk assessment section, a level of parking risk for the vehicle if the parking detection section detects that the vehicle is in the parking state； and providing, by a parking warning section, parking warnings corresponding to the risk level.

In an example, the step of detecting further comprises one or more of following steps: sensing, by a gear sensor, whether the vehicle is in a parking or null gear； sensing, by a speed sensor, speed of the vehicle； sensing, by a parking brake sensor, whether a parking brake of the vehicle is applied； and sensing, by a door sensor, whether a door of the vehicle is open.

In an example, the method may further comprise: correcting, by a state correction section, a false indication for the parking state output from the parking detection section.

In an example, the step of correcting further comprises one or more of following steps: determining whether the vehicle is stuck in traffic jam based on real-time traffic information； determining whether the vehicle is stopping before a traffic light； and determining whether there are other vehicles around with a low speed or almost stopping.

In an example, the step of assessing may further comprise: comparing a current parking position of the vehicle with a risk map which includes parking risk information associated with respective geographic positions, to determine a risk level that is associated with the current parking position.

In an example, the method may further comprise: automatically activating the parking warning section by a risk message including the risk level output from the risk assessment section.

In an example, the step of providing parking warnings may comprise one or more of following steps: activating a dashboard indicator to notify the driver of parking risk； turning on a parking light； turning on a daytime running light； and transmitting, by a warning signal transmitter, warning signals to surrounding vehicles.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides an automatic parking warning system for a vehicle, comprising: a parking detection section configured to detect whether the vehicle is in a parking state； a risk assessment section configured to assess a level of parking risk for the vehicle if the parking detection section detects that the vehicle is in the parking state； and a parking warning section configured to output warning signals corresponding to the risk level.

In an example, the parking detection section may further comprise at least one of: a gear sensor configured to sense whether the vehicle is in a parking or null gear； a speed sensor configured to sense speed of the vehicle； a door sensor configured to sense whether a door of the vehicle is open； and a parking brake sensor configured to sense whether a parking brake of the vehicle is applied.

In an example, the automatic parking warning system may further comprise: a state correction section configured to prevent a false indication for the parking state output from the parking detection section.

In an example, the state correction section may further comprise at least one of: a real-time traffic information (RTTI) receiver configured to receive real-time traffic information, wherein the real-time traffic information is used to determine whether the vehicle is stuck in traffic jam； a positioning device configured to determine whether the vehicle is stopping before a traffic light； and a Car2X communication interface configured to determine whether there are other vehicles around with a low speed or almost stopping.

In an example, the risk assessment section may further comprise: a risk map unit configured to maintain a risk map including parking risk information associated with respective geographic positions； and a comparison unit configured to compare a current parking position of the vehicle with the risk map so as to determine a risk level associated with the current parking position.

In an example, the risk assessment section outputs a risk message including the risk level to automatically activate the parking warning section.

In an example, the parking warning section comprises one or more of the following components: a dashboard indicator to notify the driver of parking risk； a parking light； a daytime running light； a speaker； and a warning signal transmitter configured to transmit warning signals to surrounding vehicles.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention provides a vehicle equipped with an automatic parking warning system as disclosed above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description of certain exemplary embodiments is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method for a vehicle to automatically provide parking warnings in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention；

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a process for detecting a parking state of a vehicle in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention；

Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process for correcting a false indication of a parking state generated by the process shown in Fig. 2 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention；

Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a process for generating parking warning signals in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention；

Fig. 5 is a high level block diagram illustrating an automatic parking warning system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention； and

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an automatic parking warning system with more details in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures, devices and methods are simplified or omitted in exemplary embodiments set forth below in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to a plurality of flow charts in order to explain the principle of the present invention. It would be understood, however, the flow charts are provided mere by way of example, and the invention is not limited thereto. For example, exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be implemented with more or less steps, and the steps shown in the flow charts may be performed in a different order, or two or more steps may be performed in parallel.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method 100 for a vehicle to automatically provide parking warnings in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle may be equipped with an automatic parking warning system configured in accordance with principles of the present invention, which will be discussed in detail later, to implement the method 100 as shown in Fig. 1. Referring to Fig. 1, at the step 102, a parking detection section may detect whether the vehicle is in a parking state.

The parking state may be detected by many ways, and the present invention is not limited to any particular one. By way of example, Fig. 2 shows a process 200 to detect a parking state of a vehicle. At the step 202, the speed of the vehicle may be detected. Generally, if the speed is not zero, the vehicle is moving and it could not be in the parking state. On the other hand, if the vehicle is stationary, it could be in the parking state. The speed of the vehicle may be detected by any means, such as a speedometer provided in any conventional motor vehicles, or a positioning device, for example, a global positioning system (GPS) that may measure the speed of the vehicle on which it is mounted by triangulation.

Another practical criterion to identify the parking state is whether the vehicle is in a parking or null gear. At the step 204, a sensor may be utilized to detect whether the vehicle is in the parking or null gear. If yes, the vehicle could be in the parking state.

At the step 206, a state of the parking brake of the vehicle may be sensed. If the parking brake is applied, it is most likely that the vehicle is in the parking state.

Door of the vehicle may also be sensed at the step 208. If a door is open, it could be deemed that the vehicle is in the parking state.

The

steps

202, 204, 206 and 208 may be utilized separately or in combination to determine whether the vehicle is in the parking state. When used in combination, two or more of these steps may collectively determine the state of the vehicle, improving the accuracy of the determination. Those skilled in the art would understand that many other criterions or methods may also be used to identify the parking state of the vehicle.

Turning back to Fig. 1, if it is detected that the vehicle is not in the parking state, the method 100 ends； if the vehicle is in the parking state, the method 100 may proceed to step 104 where the decision made by the step 102may be corrected. The correction step 104 aims to correct a false indication of the parking state generated by the step 102. For example, when the vehicle is stuck in a traffic jam, the step 102 may determine that the vehicle is in the parking sate and thus trigger the automatic parking warning system of the present invention (which will be discussed in detail later) . In the case of traffic jam, however, it is undesirable to trigger the parking warning system because it may generate unnecessary and annoying warning signals. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the correction step 104 may be used to correct a false indication of the parking state generated by the step 102.

Fig. 3 shows a process 300 to correct a false indication of a parking state generated by the step 102 or by the process shown in Fig. 2, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 3, at the step 302, it is determined whether the vehicle is stuck in traffic jam. Such a determination may be made on the basis of real-time traffic information received by the vehicle. If the positioning device determines the vehicle is driving on a certain road, and the real-time traffic information shows said road is congested, it may be determined that the vehicle is caught in the traffic jam. In such a case, it may be deemed that the vehicle is not in the parking state.

Similarly, if it is detected, for example, by a Car2X communication device, at the step 304 that there are many other vehicles around the vehicle and the other vehicles is stopping or moving at a very low speed, the vehicle may also be deemed not in the parking state.

At the step 306, it is determined whether the vehicle is stopping before a traffic light. Also, the step 306 may be performed by using the positioning device. If the positioning device determines the vehicle is stopping before a traffic light, the vehicle may be deemed not in the parking state.

Like

steps

202, 204, 206 and 208 shown in Fig. 2, the

steps

302, 304 and 306 shown in Fig. 3 may also be performed separately or in combination to improve the accuracy of the determination result. For example, if the real-time traffic information indicates the vehicle is caught in the traffic jam, and the Car2X communication device detects that the vehicle is surrounded by many other vehicles stopping or moving at a very low speed, it may be undoubtedly deemed that the vehicle is not in the parking state. Those skilled in the art would understand that many other criterions or methods may also be used to identify and correct a false indication of the parking state.

Turning back to Fig. 1, please note that the correction step 104 is only an optional step. That is, in some embodiments, the step 104 may be omitted. After the correction step 104, if it is still determined that the vehicle is in the parking state, the method 100 may proceed to step 106； otherwise, the method 100 ends. At the step 106, a level of parking risk for the vehicle is assessed. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the level of parking risk is assessed by using a parking risk map.

The parking risk map may include geographic position data and parking risk data associated to respective geographic positions. The parking risk data may be determined by geographic positions. For example, a parking lot may be assigned with a lowest level of parking risk. That is, the vehicle is safe to park there. The expressway and tunnel may be assigned with a highest level of parking risk because it is very dangerous for the vehicle to park there, especially on the driveway.

The parking risk level may also be determined based on historic statistical data for read-end collision accidents occurred at respective positions. For a segment of road where many read-end collision accidents have occurred, for example, a curved segment of road, it could be considered high risk to park there. On the other hand, for a segment of road where no read-end collision accident has ever occurred, it could be considered low risk to park there. The historic data may be collected by human from traffic accident records maintained by the traffic management department, or be automatically collected by cameras monitoring the road network. Details for the historic data collection are omitted here to avoid unnecessarily obscure the present invention.

Time is also an important factor to determine the parking risk level. Generally speaking, parking in the night is much more dangerous than parking in the daytime. And, parking during the rush hour is also more dangerous. So, for different time in a day, the parking risk map may assign different risk levels to each geographic position.

The parking risk map may further expand the protection areas from illegal/improper parking areas to legal but unsafe parking areas. For example, it is usually allowed to park the vehicle in the emergency lane when the vehicle encounters a failure, but the emergency lane is unsafe because other vehicles may also drive on this emergency lane, especially during the high traffic time. So, the emergency lane of the expressway is also assigned with a proper risk level. Of course, the emergency lane has a lower risk level than the driveway of the expressway. As known, parking on the driveway of the expressway is extremely dangerous.

Continue referring to Fig. 1, at the step 106, a parking risk level is determined for the vehicle. In some embodiments of the invention, the parking location of the vehicle, which may be acquired from the positioning device, is compared with the parking risk map to generate a corresponding risk level associated to the geographic area that covers the parking location.

Then, at the step 108, according to the generated parking risk level, corresponding parking warning signals are generated. If the parking risk level shows the parking is safe, for example, when the vehicle is parking in a parking lot, then there may be no warning signal generated. Otherwise, necessary parking warning signals are generated to notify the following vehicles to avoid collision. As the risk level becomes higher, more or stronger warning signals may be provided. For example, Fig. 4 shows some steps to generate warning signals in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. For a low risk level, basic warning signals may be provided, such as activating a dashboard indicator at the step 402 to notify the driver of parking risk, and/or automatically turning on the parking lights at the step 404. If the parking is in the daytime and the vehicle is equipped with daytime running lights, the daytime running lights may also be automatically turned on at the step 406 to compensate the sunlight and to attract the attention of the drivers in the following vehicles. When in tunnels or highway, for a higher risk level, the parked vehicle may further turn on a speaker with loud sound at the step 408 to alert the following vehicles. The sound may be louder, and the lights may flash at a higher frequency, as the parking risk level increases.

In some cases, even light and sound signals are not enough to make the inattentive driver of the following vehicle to notice the parked vehicle because the light may not be significant in the daytime, and the sound may be shielded by the vehicle body. In some high risk cases, to ensure the warning signal reaches the drivers in the following vehicles, the parked vehicle may further transmit at the step 410 a warning signal via Car2Car communication directly to the following vehicles. The following vehicles can receive the warning signal and present the signal to the driver in another form. For example, the received warning signal may be transformed into an optical warning signal displayed on the dashboard, a head-up display (HUD) , KHUD, Google glass or other glasses or an acoustic warning signal played by a speaker. Since the transformed optical or acoustic signal may be presented to the driver within the vehicle body, it can ensure that the driver in the following vehicle can receive such signals and pay attention to the parked vehicle.

In some embodiments, by using the parking risk map, the automatic parking warning system may further guide the driver of the parked vehicle to a safer parking place, or to a lower-risk parking place from a higher-risk place, at the step 412. The guide information may be displayed on the navigating map or on the head-up display.

In addition to the foregoing warning signals, many other forms of warning signals are also conceivable, and the present invention is not limited to any particular warning signals. Such warning signals may be used alone or in combination to provide noticeable warning to the following vehicles. Generally, the higher the risk level is, the stronger the generated warning is.

Turning to Fig. 5, there is shown a high level block diagram illustrating an automatic parking warning system 500 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 5, the exemplary automatic parking warning system 500 may include a parking detection section 510, a risk assessment section 530 and a parking warning section 540.

The parking detection section 510 can detect whether the vehicle is in a parking state. The parking detection section 510 may be configured to operate as discussed above with reference to Figs. 1 and 2； repetitive description thereof will omitted here. The parking detection section 510 may output a signal to indicate whether the vehicle is in the parking state.

In some embodiments, the automatic parking warning system 500optionally further includes a state correction section 520 to correct a false indication for the parking state output from the parking detection section 510. The correction section 520 may be configured to operate as discussed above with reference to Figs. 1 and 3； repetitive description thereof will be omitted here. The correction section 520 may output a corrected signal to indicate whether the vehicle is in the parking state.

If it is eventually determined that the vehicle is in the parking state, then the risk assessment section 530 may assess a level of parking risk for the vehicle, as detailed above with reference to Fig. 1, and a repetitive description thereof being omitted here. The risk assessment section 530 may output a signal to indicate a parking risk level for the vehicle, which in turn automatically activates the parking warning section 540 to output corresponding warning signals, as discussed above with reference to Figs. 1 and 4.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an automatic parking warning system 600 with more details in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 6 shows various components included in the automatic parking warning system 600, which may constitute sections 510-540as discussed above with reference to Fig. 5. It will be understood that one component may serve as a part of a certain section, and it may also serve as a part of another section. In other situations, two or more components may be formed as one single unit, or one component may be divided into two or more units. Fig. 6 encompasses all such variations that achieve substantially the same functions as discussed below.

Referring to Fig. 6, the automatic parking warning system 600 may comprise sensors 610 mounted on or in the vehicle. The sensors 610 may include, for example, a speed sensor to sense a speed of the vehicle. The speed sensor may be a speedometer, or a GPS device that may measure the speed of the vehicle by triangulation. The sensors 610 may further include, for example, a gear sensor to sense whether the vehicle is in a parking or null gear, a parking brake sensor to sense whether a parking brake of the vehicle is applied, a door sensor to sense whether a door of the vehicle is open, and the like.

The parking warning system 600 may further comprise a risk map unit 620 that is configured to maintain a risk map. The risk map may include parking risk information associated with respective geographic positions, as detailed above with reference to Fig. 1. The risk map may be periodically updated by wireless network or by a removable storage medium. The parking warning system 600 may further comprise a positioning device such as a GPS device 630. The GPS device 630 may serve to determine a current position of the vehicle and measurer the speed of the vehicle by triangulation.

Communication interfaces 640 may be provided to implement wireless communication between the vehicle and the third party. For example, the communication interface 640 may include a real-time traffic information (RTTI) receiver to receive RTTI information, a Car2X communication unit to implement such as Car2Car, Car2Roadside and Car2Home communications.

Continue referring to Fig. 6, the parking warning system 600 may further comprise a parking light 650, a daytime running light 652, a dashboard indicator 660, a speaker 670, and a warning signal transmitter 680. The warning signal transmitter 680 may transmit a warning signal, for example, by the Car2Car communication, to surrounding vehicles.

The parking warning system 600 may further comprise a controller 690 that is connected to the foregoing components by a bus 692, such as a CAN bus. The bus 692 may communicate data between components connected thereto. By the bus 692, the controller 690 may corporate with the foregoing components 610-690 to perform a plurality of operations of the parking warning system 600. For example, the controller 690 may receive sensor signals from the sensors 610 to judge whether the vehicle is in the parking state. The controller 690 may also receive RTTI information via the communication interface 640 or the current position information from the GPS device 630 to correct the previous judgment. If it is finally determined that the vehicle is in the parking state, then the controller 690 may compare the current position of the vehicle, which may be acquired from the GPS device 630, with the parking risk map stored in the risk map unit 620 to determine a corresponding risk level. Based on the risk level, the controller 690 may control the parking light 650, the daytime running light 652, the dashboard indicator 660, the speaker 670, and the warning signal transmitter 680 to generate various warning signals. Since operations of the parking light 650, the daytime running light 652, the dashboard indicator 660, the speaker 670, and the warning signal transmitter 680 have been discussed above； the repetitive description thereof will be omitted here.

Those skilled in the art can understand the controller 690 may be a general purpose processor, such a central processing unit (CPU) , which may execute instructions stored in a memory (not shown) to implement the above operation. In other embodiments, the controller 690 may be implemented by hardware, which includes a plurality of modules to implement the above operations, respectively.

So far some exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed. As can be seen, the present invention can improve traffic safety, especially in high-speed expressway or in dim tunnel. Specifically, the present invention can prevent or reduce occurrence of rear-end collisions with automatic warning signals to remind the inattentive drivers that there is vehicle improperly/unsafely parked on the expressway or in the tunnel.

In addition, the combination of multiple information sources including speed, gear position, door state, RTTI information, current position, Car2Car communication and the like serves as the basis to determine the parking state and thus to activate the generation of the parking warning signals, which results in a more precise and more user friendly automatic parking warning for the customers. The false or unnecessary activation of parking warning signals at certain circumstances will be very annoying, but it can be avoided in the present invention.

In the foregoing specification, exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that may vary from implementation to implementation. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The sole and exclusive indicator of the scope of the invention, and what is intended by the applicants to be the scope of the invention, is the literal and equivalent scope of the set of claims that issue from this application, in the specific form in which such claims issue, including any subsequent correction.

Claims

A method for a vehicle to automatically provide parking warnings, comprising:

detecting, by a parking detection section, whether the vehicle is in a parking state；

assessing, by a risk assessment section, a level of parking risk for the vehicle if the parking detection section detects that the vehicle is in the parking state； and

providing, by a parking warning section, parking warnings corresponding to the risk level.
The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the step of detecting further comprises one or more of following steps:

sensing, by a gear sensor, whether the vehicle is in a parking or null gear；

sensing, by a speed sensor, speed of the vehicle；

sensing, by a parking brake sensor, whether a parking brake of the vehicle is applied； and

sensing, by a door sensor, whether a door of the vehicle is open.
The method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

correcting, by a state correction section, a false indication for the parking state output from the parking detection section.
The method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the step of correcting further comprises one or more of following steps:

determining whether the vehicle is stuck in traffic jam based on real-time traffic information；

determining whether the vehicle is stopping before a traffic light； and

determining whether there are other vehicles around with a low speed or almost stopping.
The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the step of assessing further comprises:

comparing a current parking position of the vehicle with a risk map which includes parking risk information associated with respective geographic positions, to determine a risk level that is associated with the current parking position.
The method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

automatically activating the parking warning section by a risk message including the risk level output from the risk assessment section.
The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the step of providing parking warnings comprises one or more of following steps:

activating a dashboard indicator to notify the driver of parking risk；

turning on a parking light；

turning on a daytime running light； and

transmitting, by a warning signal transmitter, warning signals to surrounding vehicles.
An automatic parking warning system for a vehicle, comprising:

a parking detection section configured to detect whether the vehicle is in a parking state；

a risk assessment section configured to assess a level of parking risk for the vehicle if the parking detection section detects that the vehicle is in the parking state； and

a parking warning section configured to output warning signals corresponding to the risk level.
The automatic parking warning system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the parking detection section further comprises at least one of:

a gear sensor configured to sense whether the vehicle is in a parking or null gear；

a speed sensor configured to sense speed of the vehicle；

a door sensor configured to sense whether a door of the vehicle is open； and

a parking brake sensor configured to sense whether a parking brake of the vehicle is applied.
The automatic parking warning system in accordance with claim 8, further comprising:

a state correction section configured to prevent a false indication for the parking state output from the parking detection section.
The automatic parking warning system in accordance with claim 10, wherein the state correction section further comprises at least one of:

a real-time traffic information (RTTI) receiver configured to receive real-time traffic information, wherein the real-time traffic information is used to determine whether the vehicle is stuck in traffic jam；

a positioning device configured to determine whether the vehicle is stopping before a traffic light； and

a Car2X communication interface configured to determine whether there are other vehicles around with a low speed or almost stopping.
The automatic parking warning system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the risk assessment section further comprises:

a risk map unit configured to maintain a risk map including parking risk information associated with respective geographic positions； and

a comparison unit configured to compare a current parking position of the vehicle with the risk map so as to determine a risk level associated with the current parking position.
The automatic parking warning system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the risk assessment section outputs a risk message including the risk level to automatically activate the parking warning section.
The automatic parking warning system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the parking warning section comprises one or more of the following components:

a dashboard indicator to notify the driver of parking risk；

a parking light；

a daytime running light；

a speaker； and

a warning signal transmitter configured to transmit warning signals to surrounding vehicles.
A vehicle equipped with an automatic parking warning system in accordance with any one of claims 8-14.