CN110509920B

CN110509920B - Driving assistance system and method

Info

Publication number: CN110509920B
Application number: CN201810495649.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 唐帅; 吕尤; 孙铎
Original assignee: Audi AG
Current assignee: Audi AG
Priority date: 2018-05-22
Filing date: 2018-05-22
Publication date: 2022-10-28
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-22
Also published as: CN110509920A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a driving assistance system and method for a vehicle. The driving assistance system includes a feature acquisition unit for acquiring a feature of a bridge through which the vehicle is to pass; a determination unit configured to determine whether the axle meets a passing condition of the vehicle based on the feature of the axle acquired by the feature acquisition unit; and a path planning unit for planning a travel path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge when the judging unit judges that the bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle. The driving assistance system and the driving assistance method can assist the driver to safely drive under complex road conditions.

Description

Driving assistance system and method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a driving assistance system and method for a vehicle.

Background

It is a great challenge for the driver to drive the vehicle under more complex road conditions. For example, when a driver drives a vehicle on a country road, a simple bridge may be encountered that spans a ditch or stream, the deck of which may be constructed of, for example, two separate panels that are placed over the ditch, and if the driver wants to drive the vehicle across the ditch through such a simple bridge, the driver may need to spend a great deal of time and effort adjusting the position of the vehicle relative to the simple bridge to enable the vehicle to safely pass through the simple bridge.

Therefore, a driving assistance system and method capable of assisting a driver in safely driving under complicated road conditions are desired.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a driving assistance system and a driving assistance method capable of assisting a driver to safely drive under complex road conditions.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving assistance system for a vehicle, including:

a feature acquisition unit for acquiring a feature of an axle through which the vehicle is to pass;

a determination unit configured to determine whether the bridge meets a passing condition of the vehicle based on the feature of the bridge acquired by the feature acquisition unit; and

a path planning unit configured to plan a travel path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge when the determination unit determines that the bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes an execution unit for executing control of the vehicle such that the vehicle travels along the travel path based on the travel path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge planned by the path planning unit.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the feature acquisition unit includes detection means for detecting a feature of an object around the vehicle and determining that the object is the bridge according to the detected feature of the object, and the feature acquisition unit acquires the feature of the bridge through the detection means to be passed by the vehicle when the detection means determines that the object is the bridge.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the characteristics of the bridge comprise at least one of the following: type, shape, inclination.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the passing condition comprises a width of the bridge being greater than a first predetermined threshold.

According to an embodiment of the invention, when the bridge is a two-piece bridge deck type bridge, the passing condition comprises a first width of the bridge being greater than a first predetermined threshold and a second width of the bridge being less than a second predetermined threshold.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a case where the feature acquisition unit acquires that the bridge through which the vehicle is going to pass is a linearly-extended bridge, when the determination unit determines that the linearly-extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the path planning unit plans a predetermined travel path from a current position of the vehicle to a side of the linearly-extended bridge close to the vehicle such that a longitudinal centerline of the vehicle is aligned with a longitudinal centerline of the linearly-extended bridge to be passed when the vehicle reaches the side of the linearly-extended bridge close to the vehicle in accordance with the predetermined travel path.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a case where the feature acquisition unit acquires that the bridge through which the vehicle is going to pass is a curved and extended bridge, when the determination unit determines that the curved and extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the path planning unit plans a predetermined travel path of the vehicle through the curved and extended bridge such that the vehicle is always located in the middle of the curved and extended bridge when the vehicle travels along the predetermined travel path.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the vehicle driving system further comprises a warning unit for warning a driver when the judging unit judges that the bridge does not meet the passing condition of the vehicle.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the alarm unit comprises a visual alarm unit and/or an acoustic alarm unit and/or a tactile alarm unit.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a vehicle including the above-described driving assistance system.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving assistance method for a vehicle including:

obtaining characteristics of a bridge through which the vehicle is to pass;

judging whether the bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle or not based on the acquired characteristics of the bridge; and

and when the bridge is judged to meet the passing condition of the vehicle, planning a driving path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method further comprises the steps of: based on the planned travel path for the vehicle through the bridge, performing control of the vehicle such that the vehicle travels along the travel path.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a characteristic of an object around the vehicle is detected and the object is determined to be the bridge according to the detected characteristic of the object.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the characteristics of the bridge comprise at least one of the following: type, shape, slope.

According to an embodiment of the invention, when said bridge is a two-piece bridge deck type bridge, said passing conditions include that a first width of said bridge is greater than a first predetermined threshold and a second width of said bridge is less than a second predetermined threshold.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, in a case where it is acquired that the bridge through which the vehicle is to pass is a linearly-extending type trench bridge, when it is determined that the linearly-extending type bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, a predetermined running path from a current position of the vehicle to a side of the linearly-extending type bridge close to the vehicle is planned so that a longitudinal center line of the vehicle is aligned with a longitudinal center line of the linearly-extending type bridge to be passed when the vehicle reaches the side of the linearly-extending type bridge close to the vehicle in accordance with the predetermined running path.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, in the case where it is acquired that the bridge through which the vehicle is going to pass is a curved and extended bridge, when it is determined that the curved and extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, a predetermined running path of the vehicle passing through the curved and extended bridge is planned so that the vehicle is always located in the middle of the curved and extended bridge when the vehicle runs along the predetermined running path.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, further comprising alerting a driver when it is determined that the axle does not comply with the passing condition of the vehicle.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the alert comprises a visual alert and/or an acoustic alert and/or a tactile alert.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a driving assistance system according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of a driving assistance method according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a specific embodiment of the driving assistance system and method according to the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following detailed description and drawings are illustrative of the principles of the invention, which is not to be limited to the preferred embodiments described, but is to be defined by the scope of the appended claims.

The driving assistance system according to the embodiment of the invention may be mounted on or applied to a vehicle to assist a driver in driving safely.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a driving assistance system according to an embodiment of the invention. The driving assist system according to the invention is described below with reference to fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 1, the driving assistance system 100 according to the present invention includes a feature acquisition unit 110, a determination unit 120, and a path planning unit 130.

Hereinafter, the above-described unit will be described in detail.

The feature acquisition unit 110 is used to acquire a feature of a bridge through which the vehicle will pass. An example of the feature acquisition unit 110 is given below.

Example 1-1

The feature acquisition unit 110 may include a detection device for detecting a feature of an object around the vehicle and determining that the object is a bridge according to the detected feature of the object, and the feature acquisition unit 110 acquires the feature of the bridge through the detection device. According to an embodiment of the invention, the detection means may comprise a sensor and a signal processing module in communication with each other. The sensor can comprise a laser sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a camera and the like; the signal processing module is used for processing signals from the sensors.

In an example in which the detection device includes a camera and a signal processing module, a dynamic image of an object around the vehicle may be obtained using a camera mounted on the vehicle (e.g., in front of the vehicle). Then, the camera and the signal processing module perform wired/wireless communication to transfer the moving image to the signal processing module. Next, the signal processing module processes and analyzes the dynamic image, for example, in the case where a bridge is disposed on the trench, if the signal processing module recognizes that there is an object having a depth exceeding a certain value (for example, 50 cm) and a length exceeding a certain value (for example, 3 m) in the dynamic image, the object having a depth exceeding a certain value and a length exceeding a certain value may be determined as the trench; then, whether a bridge is arranged on the ditch or not is identified in the dynamic image, specifically, whether the ditch is discontinuous in the length direction or not is identified, if yes, whether an object crossing the ditch exists at the position of the discontinuity of the ditch is further identified, for example, the object crossing the ditch exists at the position of the discontinuity of the ditch is determined by identifying that the size of the object at the position of the discontinuity of the ditch in the width direction of the ditch is not less than the width of the ditch, and the object crossing the ditch can be determined to be the bridge arranged on the ditch. On this basis, the signal processing module further identifies the object determined to be a bridge to obtain the characteristics of the bridge.

In an example in which the detection device includes a laser sensor and a signal processing module, a three-dimensional reconstructed stereoscopic image of an object around the vehicle may be obtained using the laser sensor mounted on the vehicle (e.g., in front of the vehicle). Then, the signal processing module processes and analyzes the above-mentioned stereoscopic image, for example, in a case where a bridge is disposed on a trench, if the signal processing module recognizes that there is an object having a depth exceeding a certain value (for example, 50 cm) and a length exceeding a certain value (for example, 3 m) in the stereoscopic image, the object having a depth exceeding a certain value and a length exceeding a certain value may be determined as a trench; then, whether a bridge is arranged on the ditch is identified in the stereoscopic image, specifically, whether the ditch is discontinuous in the length direction is identified firstly, if so, whether an object crossing the ditch exists at the discontinuous position of the ditch is further identified, for example, the object crossing the ditch exists at the discontinuous position of the ditch by identifying that the size of the object at the discontinuous position of the ditch in the width direction of the ditch is not less than the width of the ditch, and the object crossing the ditch can be determined as the bridge arranged on the ditch. On this basis, the signal processing module further identifies the object determined to be a bridge to obtain the characteristics of the bridge. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other sensors such as ultrasonic sensors may be selected in place of the laser sensor in the above embodiments.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that in the above embodiment, the description has been given taking the example in which the bridge is provided on the trench, but the driving assistance system according to the present invention is not limited thereto, and for example, the bridge may also be provided on a horizontal ground.

Examples 1 to 2

According to further embodiments of the present invention, the feature acquisition unit 110 may also acquire the feature of the bridge to be passed by manual input, for example, the driver may acquire the feature of the bridge through experience or measurement and manually input into the feature acquisition unit 110 through an input device (e.g., a keyboard) of the feature acquisition unit 110.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the characteristics of the bridge may comprise at least one of the following: type, shape, slope. The type of bridge may be, for example, differentiated in an extended manner, including a linearly extended bridge and a bent extended bridge; the component mode according to the bridge floor distinguishes, including integral type bridge floor type bridge and two formula bridge floor type bridges, and integral type bridge floor type bridge is that the bridge floor is a monoblock bridge, and two formula bridge floors are that the bridge floor comprises two bridge floors that separate. Two spaced bridge decks are used to carry the left and right wheels of the vehicle, respectively, and such a bridge is also referred to as a "double-sided bridge".

The determination unit 120 is configured to determine whether the bridge meets a passing condition of the vehicle based on the feature of the bridge acquired by the feature acquisition unit 110. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the bridge is an integral bridge deck type bridge, the passing condition includes that the width of the bridge is greater than a first predetermined threshold, which is greater than a distance between outer side faces of the wheels, for example, 5cm greater than a distance between the outer side faces of the wheels, as will be understood by those skilled in the art; when the bridge is a two-piece bridge deck type bridge having a deck formed by two spaced apart deck faces, the passing conditions include that a first width of the bridge is greater than a first predetermined threshold value and a second width of the bridge is less than a second predetermined threshold value, wherein the first width of the bridge is a distance between outer sides in a length direction of the two-piece bridge deck type bridge, the second width of the bridge is a distance between inner sides in the length direction of the two-piece bridge deck type bridge, the first predetermined threshold value is greater than a distance between outer sides of the wheels, for example, by 5cm greater than a distance between outer sides of the wheels, and the second predetermined threshold value is less than a distance between inner sides of the wheels, for example, by 5cm less than a distance between inner sides of the wheels. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the driving assistance system according to the present invention is not limited to the above example, and for example, the wheel itself may be considered to have a width when the first predetermined threshold value and/or the second predetermined threshold value are set, and the first predetermined threshold value and/or the second predetermined threshold value may be set so that the wheel is partially located on the axle. According to a further embodiment of the invention, the pass condition may further comprise that the inclination of the bridge is smaller than a predetermined inclination angle, which may be, for example, 5 ° with respect to the horizontal plane.

The path planning unit 130 is configured to plan a driving path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge when the judging unit 120 judges that the bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle. The operation of the path planning unit 130 is described below.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a case where the feature acquiring unit 110 acquires that the bridge through which the vehicle is going to pass is a linearly-extended bridge, when the judging unit judges that the linearly-extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the path planning unit 130 plans a predetermined travel path from the current position of the vehicle to the side of the linearly-extended bridge close to the vehicle such that the longitudinal centerline of the vehicle is aligned with the longitudinal centerline of the linearly-extended bridge to pass when the vehicle reaches the side of the linearly-extended bridge close to the vehicle in accordance with the predetermined travel path. For example, referring to the description related to the feature acquisition unit 110, the detection means of the feature acquisition unit 110 obtains a dynamic image or a stereoscopic image of the bridge and performs analysis processing on the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image to obtain the feature of the bridge, the path planning unit 130 communicates with the feature acquisition unit 110 by wire/wirelessly to obtain the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image and the feature of the bridge, in the case where the type of the bridge is identified as a linearly extended bridge, when the determination unit 120 determines that the linearly extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the path planning unit 130 obtains the relative coordinates of the start point and the end point of the vehicle when the vehicle passes through the bridge with respect to the vehicle from the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image, and in conjunction with the positioning means of the vehicle, obtains the coordinates of the start point and the end point of the bridge; then, the path planning unit 130 plans a predetermined running path from the current position of the vehicle to the starting point of the axle based on the straight line determined by the starting point and the end point of the axle such that the longitudinal center line of the vehicle is aligned with the longitudinal center line of the linearly-extending axle to be passed through when the vehicle reaches the starting point of the linearly-extending axle according to the predetermined running path; next, the vehicle travels straight through the bridge, either automatically or under the operation of the driver.

As an alternative to the above embodiment, the path planning unit 130 may manually select (e.g., click or press a button on a screen) the start point and the end point of the vehicle passing through the bridge by the driver on the display displaying the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image to determine the start point and the end point of the bridge, and subsequent steps are similar to the above embodiment and are not described here to avoid redundancy.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the system further comprises an execution unit for executing control of the vehicle such that the vehicle travels along the travel path, based on the travel path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge, which is planned by the path planning unit 130.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, in a case where the bridge through which the vehicle is to pass is the bent and extended bridge acquired by the feature acquisition unit 110, when the determination unit 120 determines that the bent and extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the path planning unit 130 plans the predetermined travel path of the vehicle passing through the bent and extended bridge such that the vehicle is always located in the middle of the bent and extended bridge when the vehicle travels along the predetermined travel path. For example, referring to the description related to the feature acquisition unit 110, the detection means of the feature acquisition unit 110 obtains a dynamic image or a stereoscopic image of the bridge and performs analysis processing on the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image to obtain the feature of the bridge, the path planning unit 130 communicates with the feature acquisition unit 110 by wire/wireless to obtain the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image and the feature of the bridge, in the case where the type of the bridge is identified as a curved-extension type bridge, when the judgment unit 120 judges that the curved-extension type bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the path planning unit 130 obtains the relative coordinates of the start point, the end point, and several points between the start point and the end point of the vehicle passing through the bridge from the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image with respect to the vehicle, and in conjunction with the positioning means of the vehicle, obtains the coordinates of the start point, the end point, and points between them of the bridge; then, the path planning unit 130 plans a predetermined travel path for the vehicle to pass through the bent and extended bridge based on curves determined by the start point, the end point, and points therebetween of the bridge, and in planning the predetermined travel path, determines whether the calculated travel path satisfies a condition that the vehicle can pass through the bridge and the vehicle is held on the bridge when the front wheels of the vehicle travel along the predetermined travel path (i.e., determines whether the rear wheels of the vehicle are held on the bridge mainly based on the width and the wheel base of the vehicle), and if the condition is not satisfied, recalculates another calculated travel path; if the above condition is satisfied, the above calculated running path is determined as a predetermined running path, and thereafter, the vehicle is caused to be always positioned in the middle of the bent and extended bridge while running along the predetermined running path automatically or under the operation of the driver. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the point between the beginning and end points of the bridge may be a point spaced evenly between the beginning and end points or an inflection point.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the driver may reverse automatically or manually to change the current position of the vehicle depending on the actual situation, and then the path planning unit 130 plans a driving path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge.

Optionally, the driving assistance system according to the present invention further includes a warning unit 140. The warning unit 140 is configured to warn the driver when the determination unit determines that the axle does not meet the passing condition of the vehicle. The alarm unit comprises a visual alarm unit and/or an acoustic alarm unit and/or a tactile alarm unit. For example, the visual alert unit may include a display capable of illuminated, graphical and textual alerts. In this case, when it is judged that the axle does not conform to the passing condition of the vehicle, the words "attention! Bridge width mismatch! "is displayed on the display to alert the driver. For example, the acoustic warning unit may comprise an alarm emitting a sound which, when it is determined that the bridge is not in accordance with the passing condition of the vehicle, emits "attention! Bridge width mismatch! "to alert the driver. For example, the haptic alarm unit may include an alarm that vibrates. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, when the determination unit determines that the bridge does not meet the passing condition of the vehicle, it is not limited to alerting the driver by the alerting unit 140, and for example, the driving assistance system may further include a prompting device that prompts the driver to select another traveling path, and for example, the driving assistance system may further continue to acquire the characteristics of another bridge adjacent to the bridge through which the vehicle will pass, and for example, the driving assistance system may further select to end the operation.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the driving assistance system according to the invention may be activated manually by the driver at a moment deemed appropriate by the driver. The appropriate time may be, for example, the time when the driver is driving into a rural road. The driver can manually activate the system by entering commands through buttons, touch, voice, etc. As an alternative, the driving assistance system according to the invention may be automatically activated when the trigger condition is met. The trigger condition may be, for example, that the vehicle enters a rural road (e.g., obtained via a navigation device of the vehicle).

Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of a driving assistance method according to an embodiment of the invention. The driving assistance method according to the invention is described below with reference to fig. 2.

In step S210, the characteristics of the bridge through which the vehicle is going to pass are acquired. An example of step S210 is given below.

Example 2-1

When the detection means determines that the object is a bridge, the feature of the bridge through which the vehicle will pass is acquired by the detection means for detecting the feature of the object around the vehicle and determining that the object is a bridge from the detected feature of the object.

A dynamic image of objects around the vehicle may be obtained by the detection device. Then, the dynamic image is processed and analyzed, for example, in the case where a bridge is disposed on the trench, if an object having a depth exceeding a certain value (for example, 50 cm) and a length exceeding a certain value (for example, 3 m) is identified in the dynamic image, the object having the depth exceeding the certain value and the length exceeding the certain value may be determined as the trench; then, whether a bridge is arranged on the ditch or not is identified in the dynamic image, specifically, whether the ditch is discontinuous in the length direction or not is identified, if yes, whether an object crossing the ditch exists at the position of the discontinuity of the ditch is further identified, for example, the object crossing the ditch exists at the position of the discontinuity of the ditch is determined by identifying that the size of the object at the position of the discontinuity of the ditch in the width direction of the ditch is not less than the width of the ditch, and the object crossing the ditch can be determined to be the bridge arranged on the ditch. On the basis of this, the object determined to be a bridge is further identified to obtain the characteristics of the bridge.

And a three-dimensional image of an object around the vehicle after three-dimensional reconstruction can be obtained through the detection device. Then, the above-described stereoscopic image is processed and analyzed, and for example, if an object having a depth exceeding a certain value (for example, 50 cm) and a length exceeding a certain value (for example, 3 m) is identified in the stereoscopic image, the object having the depth exceeding the certain value and the length exceeding the certain value may be determined as a trench; then, whether a bridge is arranged on the ditch is identified in the stereoscopic image, specifically, whether the ditch is discontinuous in the length direction is identified firstly, if so, whether an object crossing the ditch exists at the discontinuous position of the ditch is further identified, for example, the object crossing the ditch exists at the discontinuous position of the ditch by identifying that the size of the object at the discontinuous position of the ditch in the width direction of the ditch is not less than the width of the ditch, and the object crossing the ditch can be determined as the bridge arranged on the ditch. On this basis, the object determined to be a bridge is further identified to obtain the characteristics of the bridge.

It can be understood by those skilled in the art that in the above embodiment, the description has been given taking the example in which the bridge is provided on the trench, but the driving assistance method according to the present invention is not limited thereto, and for example, the bridge may be provided on a horizontal ground.

Example 2-2

According to further embodiments of the invention, the characteristics of the bridge to be passed may also be obtained by manual input, e.g. the driver may obtain the characteristics of the bridge by experience or measurement.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the bridge may be characterized by at least one of the following items: type, shape, inclination. The type of bridge may be, for example, differentiated in an extended manner, including a linearly extended bridge and a bent extended bridge; the bridge comprises an integrated bridge deck type bridge and two bridge deck type bridges, wherein the integrated bridge deck type bridge is a whole bridge, and the two bridge decks are bridges formed by two separated bridge decks.

In step S220, it is determined whether the bridge meets a passing condition of the vehicle based on the acquired feature of the bridge. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the bridge is an integral deck type bridge, the passing condition includes that the width of the bridge is greater than a first predetermined threshold, which is greater than a distance between outer side faces of the wheels, for example, by 5cm, as can be understood by those skilled in the art; when the bridge is a two-piece bridge deck type bridge having a deck formed by two spaced apart deck faces, the passing conditions include that a first width of the bridge is greater than a first predetermined threshold value and a second width of the bridge is less than a second predetermined threshold value, wherein the first width of the bridge is a distance between outer sides in a length direction of the two-piece bridge deck type bridge, the second width of the bridge is a distance between inner sides in the length direction of the two-piece bridge deck type bridge, the first predetermined threshold value is greater than a distance between outer sides of the wheels, for example, by 5cm greater than a distance between outer sides of the wheels, and the second predetermined threshold value is less than a distance between inner sides of the wheels, for example, by 5cm less than a distance between inner sides of the wheels. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the driving assistance system according to the present invention is not limited to the above example, and for example, the wheel itself may be considered to have a width when the first predetermined threshold value and/or the second predetermined threshold value are set, and the first predetermined threshold value and/or the second predetermined threshold value may be set so that the wheel is partially located on the axle. According to a further embodiment of the invention, the pass condition may further comprise that the inclination of the bridge is smaller than a predetermined inclination angle, which may be, for example, 5 ° with respect to the horizontal plane.

In this case, if it is determined in step S220 that the bridge does not comply with the passing condition of the vehicle based on the acquired feature of the bridge, the method proceeds to step S240 to alert the driver. If it is determined in step S230 that the axle meets the passing condition of the vehicle based on the acquired features of the axle, the method proceeds to step S230.

In step S230, when it is determined that the axle meets the passing condition of the vehicle, a travel path for the vehicle to pass the axle is planned. Step S230 is described in detail below.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, in a case where it is acquired that the bridge through which the vehicle is to pass is the linearly-extending bridge, when it is judged that the linearly-extending bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the predetermined running path from the current position of the vehicle to the side of the linearly-extending bridge close to the vehicle is planned such that the longitudinal center line of the vehicle is aligned with the longitudinal center line of the linearly-extending bridge through which the vehicle is to pass when the vehicle reaches the side of the linearly-extending bridge close to the vehicle in accordance with the predetermined running path. For example, referring to the description related to step S210, the detection means obtains a dynamic image or a stereoscopic image of the bridge and performs analysis processing on the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image to obtain the characteristics of the bridge, and in the case where the type of the bridge is identified as a linearly extended bridge, when it is judged that the linearly extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, obtains the relative coordinates of the start point and the end point of the vehicle when passing through the bridge with respect to the vehicle from the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image, and in conjunction with the positioning means of the vehicle, obtains the coordinates of the start point and the end point of the bridge; then, planning a preset driving path from the current position of the vehicle to the starting point of the bridge based on a straight line determined by the starting point and the end point of the bridge, so that when the vehicle reaches the starting point of the linearly-extended bridge according to the preset driving path, the longitudinal center line of the vehicle is aligned with the longitudinal center line of the linearly-extended bridge to be passed through; next, the vehicle travels straight through the bridge, either automatically or under the operation of the driver.

As an alternative to the above embodiment, the start point and the end point of the bridge may be determined by the driver manually selecting (e.g., clicking or pressing a button on a screen) the start point and the end point of the vehicle passing through the bridge on a display on which the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image is displayed, and subsequent steps are similar to the above embodiment and will not be described here to avoid redundancy.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method further comprises the steps of: based on the planned travel path for the vehicle across the bridge, control of the vehicle is performed such that the vehicle travels along the travel path.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, in a case where it is acquired that the bridge through which the vehicle is going to pass is a bent and extended bridge, when it is judged that the bent and extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, a predetermined running path of the vehicle passing through the bent and extended bridge is planned so that the vehicle is always located in the middle of the bent and extended bridge when the vehicle runs along the predetermined running path. For example, referring to the description related to step S210, the detection means obtains a dynamic image or a stereoscopic image of the bridge and performs analysis processing on the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image to obtain the characteristics of the bridge, obtains, when it is judged that the curved-extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle in the case where the type of the bridge is identified as the curved-extended bridge, relative coordinates of the start point, the end point, and several points between the start point and the end point of the vehicle passing through the bridge with respect to the vehicle from the dynamic image or the stereoscopic image, and obtains the coordinates of the start point, the end point, and the points therebetween of the bridge in conjunction with the positioning means of the vehicle; then, planning a predetermined travel path of the vehicle passing through the bent and extended bridge based on curves determined by the start point, the end point and points therebetween of the bridge, judging whether the calculated travel path satisfies that the vehicle can pass through the bridge and the vehicle is held on the bridge when the front wheels of the vehicle travel along the predetermined travel path when planning the predetermined travel path (i.e., judging whether the rear wheels of the vehicle are held on the bridge mainly based on the width and the wheel base of the vehicle), and recalculating another calculated travel path if the conditions do not satisfy; if the above condition is satisfied, the above calculated running path is determined as a predetermined running path, and thereafter, the vehicle is caused to be always located in the middle of the curved elongated bridge while running along the predetermined running path automatically or under the operation of the driver. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the point between the beginning and end points of the bridge may be a uniformly spaced point or an inflection point.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the driver may reverse automatically or manually depending on the actual situation to change the current position of the vehicle and then plan a travel path for the vehicle across the bridge.

Optionally, the driving assistance method according to the invention further includes a step S240 of warning the driver when it is judged that the axle does not comply with the passing condition of the vehicle. The alarm comprises a visual alarm and/or an acoustic alarm and/or a tactile alarm. For example, visual alerts may include lighted alerts, graphical alerts, and text alerts. In this case, when it is judged that the axle does not conform to the passing condition of the vehicle, the text "attention! Bridge width mismatch! "to alert the driver. For example, the acoustic alarm may comprise an alarm sound which, when it is determined that the bridge is not in accordance with a passing condition of the vehicle, gives "attention! Bridge width mismatch! "to alert the driver. For example, the tactile alert may be a vibratory alert. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the method of driving assistance is not limited to alerting the driver when it is determined that the bridge does not comply with the passing conditions of the vehicle, for example the method of driving assistance may further comprise the step of prompting the driver to select other driving paths not crossing the bridge, for example the method of driving assistance may further continue to obtain characteristics of further bridges adjacent to the bridge the vehicle is about to pass, for example the method of driving assistance may further select an end operation.

Before starting the execution of the driving assistance method according to the invention, the appropriate moment at which the execution of the method is started may be determined by the driver. The appropriate time may be, for example, the time when the driver drives into a rural road. The driver can manually activate the system by entering commands through buttons, touch, voice, etc. As an alternative, the driving assistance method according to the invention may be automatically started when the trigger condition is met. The trigger condition may be, for example, that the vehicle enters a rural road (e.g., obtained via a navigation device of the vehicle).

As described above, although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described in the description with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the scope of the present invention should be defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A drive assist system for a vehicle, characterized by comprising:

a feature acquisition unit for acquiring a feature of a bridge through which the vehicle is to pass;

a path planning unit for planning a travel path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge when the judgment unit judges that the bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle,

wherein the feature acquisition unit includes detection means for detecting a feature of an object around the vehicle and determining that the object is the bridge according to the detected feature of the object, and the feature acquisition unit acquires the feature of the bridge through the detection means when the detection means determines that the object is the bridge.

2. The driving assistance system according to claim 1, further comprising an execution unit for executing control of the vehicle such that the vehicle travels along the travel path based on the travel path for the vehicle to pass through the bridge planned by the path planning unit.

3. The driving assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic of the bridge includes at least one of: type, shape, inclination.

4. The driving assistance system according to claim 3, wherein the passing condition includes that a width of the bridge is greater than a first predetermined threshold.

5. The driving assistance system according to claim 4, wherein, when the bridge is a two-piece bridge deck type bridge, the passing condition includes a first width of the bridge being greater than a first predetermined threshold and a second width of the bridge being less than a second predetermined threshold.

6. The driving assist system according to claim 3, wherein, in a case where the feature acquisition unit acquires that the bridge through which the vehicle is to pass is a linearly-extended bridge, when the determination unit determines that the linearly-extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the path planning unit plans a predetermined travel path from a current position of the vehicle to a side of the linearly-extended bridge close to the vehicle such that a longitudinal centerline of the vehicle is aligned with a longitudinal centerline of the linearly-extended bridge through which the vehicle is to pass when the vehicle reaches the side of the linearly-extended bridge close to the vehicle in accordance with the predetermined travel path.

7. The driving assist system according to claim 3, wherein, in a case where the bridge through which the vehicle is to pass is a curved-extended bridge, when the determination unit determines that the curved-extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, the path planning unit plans a predetermined running path of the vehicle through the curved-extended bridge such that the vehicle is always located in the middle of the curved-extended bridge when the vehicle runs along the predetermined running path, in the case where the bridge through which the vehicle is to pass is the curved-extended bridge.

8. The driving assist system according to claim 3, further comprising a warning unit configured to warn a driver when the judging unit judges that the axle does not meet the passing condition of the vehicle.

9. The driving assistance system according to claim 8, wherein the warning unit includes a visual warning unit and/or an acoustic warning unit and/or a haptic warning unit.

10. A vehicle characterized by comprising the driving assist system of any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. A driving assistance method for a vehicle, characterized by comprising the steps of:

obtaining characteristics of an axle through which the vehicle is to pass;

planning a travel path for the vehicle to pass the bridge when it is determined that the bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle,

wherein a characteristic of an object around the vehicle is detected and the object is determined to be the bridge according to the detected characteristic of the object.

12. The driving assistance method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of: based on the planned travel path for the vehicle through the bridge, performing control of the vehicle such that the vehicle travels along the travel path.

13. The driving assistance method according to claim 12, wherein the characteristic of the bridge includes at least one of: type, shape, inclination.

14. The driving assistance method according to claim 13, wherein the passing condition includes that a width of the bridge is larger than a first predetermined threshold.

15. The driving assistance method according to claim 14, wherein, when the bridge is a two-piece bridge deck type bridge, the passing condition includes a first width of the bridge being greater than a first predetermined threshold and a second width of the bridge being less than a second predetermined threshold.

16. The driving assist method according to claim 13, wherein in a case where it is acquired that the bridge through which the vehicle is to pass is a linearly-extending type trench bridge, when it is judged that the linearly-extending type bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, a predetermined running path from a current position of the vehicle to a side of the linearly-extending type bridge near the vehicle is planned such that a longitudinal centerline of the vehicle is aligned with a longitudinal centerline of the linearly-extending type bridge to pass when the vehicle reaches the side of the linearly-extending type bridge near the vehicle in accordance with the predetermined running path.

17. The drive assist method according to claim 13, wherein in a case where it is acquired that the bridge through which the vehicle is to pass is a curved-extended bridge, when it is determined that the curved-extended bridge meets the passing condition of the vehicle, a predetermined running path of the vehicle through the curved-extended bridge is planned so that the vehicle is always located in the middle of the curved-extended trench bridge when the vehicle runs along the predetermined running path.

18. The drive assist method according to claim 13, further comprising alerting a driver when it is determined that the axle does not comply with the passing condition of the vehicle.

19. The driving assistance method according to claim 18, wherein the warning includes a visual warning and/or an acoustic warning and/or a tactile warning.