GB2505325A

GB2505325A - Calculating the risk of a collision

Info

Publication number: GB2505325A
Application number: GB1315086.7A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Holger Mielenz
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 2012-08-23
Filing date: 2013-08-22
Publication date: 2014-02-26
Anticipated expiration: 2033-08-22
Also published as: GB201315086D0; FR2994758B1; FR2994758A1; DE102012214959A1; GB2505325B; DE102012214959B4

Abstract

A collision avoidance process calculates the risk, or probability, of a crash between other road users and a parked vehicle and communicates the likelihood of impact to the driver or user of the parked vehicle. A degree of difficulty for other vehicles to pass the parked vehicle may be obtained and this may form part of the risk assessment of collision. Other factors that may influence the risk calculation may be road layout, speed limit, weather conditions, expected parking time and/or accident databases. The risk may be communicated to the user via a voice or visual message. A claim is included for computer programme that carries out the process and a parking sensor which further incorporates the collision avoidance process.

Description

Description Title

Process for avoiding collisions or for lessening accident damage, and driver-assistance system State of the art The invention takes as its starting-point a process for avoiding collisions or for lessening accident damage as a result of a collision of a subject vehicle (an Ego-vehicle) with other road-users.

The present invention also provides a computer program and a driver-assistance system that are suitable, in particular, for executing the process.

From DE 10 2008 003 662 Al a process is known for displaying an environment of a vehicle, the environment being registered b' at least one registering sensor when the vehicle is at a standstill. Objects that are located very close to the vehicle and that exhibit a heightened risk-factor, for example obstacles that are located on a current trajectory of the vehicle or obstacles that are located in the vicinity of a door, are represented in red on a display.

DE 10 2010 091 930 Al presents an apparatus for driving an adaptive crash structure, said apparatus exhibiting an interface unit via which it has been coupled with a sensor unit for registering crash-relevant information. By evaluating information concerning the drivingbehaviour, position-finding data, navigation data and further data relating to the vehicle, various driving situations are recognised, for example a search for a parking space.

Potential collision-event classes, hazard classes or accident types are assigned to the various driving situations, whereupon the adaptive crash structure is adjusted in situation-dependent manner. If accident situations from. an accident database are known, these are taken into account.

CE 10 2006 041 651 Al presents a process for ascertaining a capacity of a vehicle to pass through a negotiable bottleneck, wherein the bottleneck and, on the size scale of the bottleneck, a vehicle image are represented on a display, so that by a comparison of the bottleneck with the vehicle image it can be established whether the vehicle can pass through the bottleneck in a manner free from damage.

Disclosure of the invention

Advantages of the invention In the case of the process according to the invention with the features of the independent claim there is provision that a risk is ascertained of getting accident damage to the subject vehicle at a parking position, and of communicating the risk to a user of the subject vehicle.

The process according to the invention has the advantage that the user of the subject vehicle is placed in a position, on the basis of the communicated information, to make a decision as to whether he/she would like to remain at the current parking position or would like to select another parking position that promises a lower risk that * damage to the parked vehicle has to be reckoned with. A further advantage is that an awareness is sharpened of many users of the vehicle that they are impeding the ambient traffic at the current parking position. The obstruction of the ambient traffic is indicated by communication of a high risk of accident damage or material damage.

A user of the subject vehicle may be, for example, an occupant of the vehicle, in particular the driver of the vehicle, who is at present in the vehicle or outside the vehicle, in order to park the vehicle. * In the case of semi-autonomous or fully autonomous parking aids it is, in particular, also possible that the user of the vehicle is located outside the vehicle and is controlling the parking procedure by remote control, for example via a smartphone, A parking position may be an arbitrary parking position;* particularly advantageous is a parking space, a residential road, a side road, a supermarket parking space, a driveway, an exit or entrance, a roadside or a country road.

By virtue of the measures listed in the dependent claims, advantageous further developments of, and improvements to, the process specified in the independent claim are possible.

According to a preferred embodiment, the risk is communicated *to the user of the subject vehicle through an emission of an acoustic and/or optical and/or haptic * 4 4 signal, with communication by means of a visual message or by means of a voice message being preferred. The acoustic signal may be, for example, a permanent or periodically recurring beep, in which case a transmitter of the beep signal may have been arranged in the interior of the vehicle, and/or a voice message which is corrimunicated, for example; via the radio speaker units or via a mobile appliance such as a smartphone for instance. An optical signal may include, for example, an overlay of a symbol or of a message on a head-up display or on a head-down display or on a mobile appliance such as, for instance, on a smartphone. The haptic signal may include a vibration which, where appropriate, acts repeatedly on the steering wheel or on a mobile appliance within a period of a few seconds and which can be felt by the driver. 1-laptic signals are preferably accompanied by meaningful visual messages or voice messages.

The acoustic and/or haptic communication is preferaby provided in the case bf heightened risk. In connection with the communication of a heightened risk there may, in addition, be provision that an optical signal or a message is represented in a manner emphasised in colour and/or by flashing. The communication concerning the risk may include merely an item of information concerning the level of risk, or reasons can be communicated textually concerning why a particular risk exists.

The ascertained risk may, for example, include an absolute number, for example a number of cases of material damage that have been reported in respect of vehicles parked at the parking position, in which case the number may be -5-.

restricted to a particular period, for example to the last year or to the last ten years, or a number of cases of material damage ever reported. An absolute number may also specify a number of reported cases Of material damage that have occurred after a recorded aggravated change to the environment of the parking position, by virtue of which a risk of damage has been lessened or increased.

According to a further embodiment, the ascertained risk includes an element from a number of classified risk-levels and may, for example, have been selected from the following group: very low, low, medium, high, very high. For example, a very low and a low risk can be represented visually with a green colour, a medium risk with a yellow cplour, and a high to very high risk, for example, with a red colour.

It is particularly advantageous if a degree of difficulty, which exists for other road-users, of passing the subject vehicle arranged at the parking position is ascertained and, in connection with the ascertaibment of the risk of getting accident damage to the subject vehicle at the parking position, the ascertained degree of difficulty is incorporated -Other road-users may be, for example, vehicles driving past, pedestrians,, cyclists and, in particular for example, pushchairs' or wheelchair-users.

According to one embodiment, in connection with the ascertainment of the degree of difficulty a road contour of a road adjoining the parking position is taken into p + account. The road contour mayrelate, for example, to a width of the road adjoining the parking position, to a presence of a curve, of a crossroads, of a bottleneck and/or of a construction site.

Alternatively or in addition to this, a location of the parking position is taken into account. The location of the parking position may, for example, have been characterised by parking-space-bounding elements situated nearby, by an adjacent footpath, but also bywhether public or special buildings -such as a hospital, a swimming pool or a kindergarten -are located in the vicinity of the parking position. In the latter cases it has to be expected that road-users -such as wheelchair-users or parents with pushchairs, for example -will pass the parking position.

Alternatively or in addition to this, driver-related data are taken into account pertaining to those drivers who will pass the parking position during the expected parking-time.

Data of such a type may, for example, be made available by users of social-media channels such as Facebook for example (www.facebook.com), and may be retrievabie via a clpud system. Driver-related data of such a type may comprise, for example, a simple number of passers-by who will pass the parking position during the expected parking-time, but also, for instance, a mean age, a driving ability and/or the purpose of passage.

Alternatively or in addition to this, in connection with the ascertainment of the degree of difficulty a permitted speed on a road adjoining the parking position is taken into account. A high speed limit, for example more. than km/h or more than 70 km/h, may in this case be associated with a high risk of getting accident damage to the subject vehicle, and a low permitted speed -for example, 50 1cm/h, 30 km/h or 6 km/h -may be associated with a lower risk.

Alternatively or in addition to this, current weather conditions or weather conditions to.be expected are incorporated in connection with the ascertainment of the risk. Weather conditions may be ascertained, for example, by evaluation of information provided by teJ.emedia services or by vehicle-specific weather sensors. Information concerning weather conditions can be used for estimating a coefficient of friction of the roadway surface. In particular, the ascertainment of risk can be refined by taking account of weather conditions in conjunction with the known speed profile or road contour.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the ascertainment of the r.isk incorporates a query of an accident database that provides information concerning road conditions and traffic conditions in the ambient field of a vehicle. Advantageously, data pertaining to accident databases are used for ascertaining the risk of suffering material damage to the parked vehicle at a parking space.

The accident database may, for thcample, have been stored on a machine-readable storage medium, for instance on a permanent or rewritable storage medium, with assignment to a computer device, or on a removable CD-ROM, DVD or on a USB stick. The accident database may, in particular, have been provided, for example. on a computer device, such as a t. . server for instance, or on a cloud system for downloading, for example via a data network. such as, for instance, the Internet or a communications link such as, for instance, a telephone line or a wireless link.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the ascertainment of the risk incorporates an evaluation of information provided by an environment-registering device.

The environment-registering device may include.an odometry system that is suitable for ascertaining a travelled distance and for orienting the vehicle in a base coordinate system. The environment-registering device may, in addition, include an ultrasound system, a radar system, an infrared system and/or a lidar system, but also several image sensors, in particular front-view cameras, rear-view cameras, RSD cameras (blind-spot-detection cameras), SVA cameras (side-view-assistant cameras) and/or SVS cameras (surround-view-system cameras) , which, for example, may be employed by further driver-assistance systems for other purposes. The cameras may be monocular cameras or cameras of a stereoscopic camera system. In the case of optical sensors, image-processing software may, as is generally known, be drawn upon for the purpose pf evaluating the camera data.

In optical systems a video sensor is preferably arranged in the front region, preferentially centrically, a video sensor is preferably arranged in the rear region, likewise preferentially centrically, and a video sensor is preferably arranged on each side of the motor vehicle. The video sensors in the front region and in the rear region may, for example, have been positioned in the region of the windscreen, for example in the mount of the interior mirror, and in the region of the rear window.. In addition, video sensors are preferably arranged in the region of the bumpers. By this means, it is possible to register the

entire ambient field around the motor vehicle.

An ultrasound system may include a group of ultrasonic sensors which jointly register a partial environment of the vehicle; for example,. the ultrasonic sensors in the front region for tegistering a f±ontal vehicle environment, and/or the ultrasonic sensors in the side region for registering a side region of the vehicle, and/or ultrasonic sensors in the rear region for registering a rear environment of the vehicle may in each instance have been assigned to an ultrasound system. In this case, for example, four to six sensors may be integrated within a bumper, whereby in general only a maximum of four sensors with approximately the same line of sight have been installed. In particular, in order to register also the region alongside the vehicle, sensors that have their coverage area to the left and to the right are positioned in the front bumper. Additionally or alternatively, sensors may. also have been positioned in the reat' bumper in such a manner that these register a region to the left and to the right alongside the motor vehicle. Over and above this, the ultrasound system may also include a drive device assigned to the respective group, .or a common drive device and a signal-processing device.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment, a map of the environment is enhanced with the data concerning the ascertained risk. The.fflap of the environment may, for -10 -example, be overlaid on a head-up display or on a head-down display and/or represented on the display of a mobile appliance such as, for example, a smartphone. Parking positicns, for example, may be represented in labelled manner on the map of the environment, and with respect to each represented parking position an item of information can be represented concerning the risk of getting accident damage to the subject vehicle at the parking position. For example, parking positions may be represented in green, in e1low and in red colours on the map of the environment.

The process may, for example, be applied within the scope of a navigation system that makes uses of telemedia services or even Internet-based services for the purpose of updating or optirnising the trip distances to a destination selected by the driver, in order to minimise the travelling-time, for example. The process may in this case be a software-based sUpplement to the navigation system.

The process is preferably applied within a parking-assistance system. Parking-assistance systems of such a type inform the driver, when driving past or looking ahead, about a parking positiQn, and assist a parking procedure or carry out this procedure semi-autonomously or. fully autonomously. Shortly before, during, or at the end of a parking procedure, the system according to the invention informs the driver of the vehicle about the risk of * suffering material damage at the current parking position.

The process may in this case be a software-based supplement to the parking-assistance system. * * *

-:ii -In accordance with the invention, moreover a computer program is proposed, according tc which one of the processes described herein is carried out when the computer program is executed on a programmable computer device. The computer program may be, for example, a module for implementing a driving-assistance system or a subsystem thereof in a vehicle, or an application for driving-assistance functions that is capable of being executed on a smartphone. The computer program may be stored on a machine-readable storage medium, for instance on a permanent or rewritable storage medium, or with assignment to a computer device, or on a removable CD-ROM, DVD or on a USB stick: Additionally or alternatively, the computer program may be provided on a computer detice, such as on a server for instance, or on a cloud system for downloading, for example via a data network such as the Internet or a communications link such as, for instance, a telephone line or a wireless link.

In accordance with the invention, in addition a driver-assistance system having the features of the further independeht claim has been provided that is suitable, in particular, for executing one of the processes described above. The driver-assistance system includes a risk-ascertaining module that has been set up to ascertain the risk of getting accident damage to the subject vehicle at a parking position, and an output unit that has been set up to communicate the ascertained risk to a user of the subject vehicle.

In accordance with the invention, in addition a. parking-assistance system has been provided that exhibits such a driver-assistance system.

Brief description of the drawings

Exemplary embodiments of the invention have been represented in the drawings and elucidated in more detail

in the following description.

Fig. 1 shdws a schematic representation of functional components of a driver-assistance system; Fig. 2 a top view of a first parking-space scene, Fig. 3 a top view of a second parking-space scene, Fig. 4 a top view of a third parking-space scene and Fig. 5 a top view of a fourth parking-space scene.

Embodiments of the invention Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of functional components of a driver-assistane system 1 according to the present invention. With a view to avoiding collisions or for lessening accident damage as a result of a collision of a subject vehicle with other road-users, the driver-assistance system 1 has been set up to ascertain a risk of getting accident damage to the subject vehicle at a parking position, and to communicate the risk to a user of the subject vehicle. --t

-13 -The driver-assistance system 1 includes for this purpose an environment-registering device 2, for example ultrasonic sensors, radar sensors, infrared sensors, lidar sensors and/or a camera system. In addition, weather sensors, for example temperature detectors or rain sensors, may also have been assigned to the environment-registering device 2.

The driver-assistance system 1 includes, moreover, a communications interface 3 via which a communications link to a cloud System, to an Internet server, to a mobile appliance or to a remote computer device is capable of being set up. The driver-assistance system 1 includes, moreover, a GPS device 4 and also an odometry system 5.

The signals of the environment-registering device 2, of the communications interface 3, of the GPS device 4 and of the odometry system 5 are received in an input circuit 6, The input circuit 6 has been connected to a bus system 7 for data exchange with a data-processing device 8. The data-processing device B has been connected to an output circuit by a further 9 or by the same 7 bus system. Via the output circuit 10, output devices 15, 16, 17 can be driven, via which the ascertained risk can be communicated to the user of the subject vehicle.

The data-processing device B includes a risk-ascertaining module 12 for processing the data provided by the environment-registering device 2, by the communications interface 3, by the GPS device 4 and/Qr by the odometry system 5. The risk-ascertaining module 12 can ascertain the risk, for example via the communications interface 3, through a query of an accident database. The risk-ascertaining module 12 can, additionally or alternatively t -+ -14 -to this, ascertain the risk by evaluating information prcvided by the environment-register±ng device 2. In the course of the query of the accident database the risk-ascertaining nodule 12' can transmit information concerning the current position and orientation of the vehicle that it has received via the GPS device 4 or the odometry system 5.

The data-processing device 8 includes or has, moreover, access to a memory unit 13 which holds historical data.

The data-processing device includes, in addition, a module 14 for map-creation. From data provided by the * environment-registering device 2 and/or GPS data, using the data pertaining to the memory unit 13' and data provided by the risk-ascertaining unit 12, an enhanced ambient-field map is created in which negotiable roads and/or obstacles may have been represented, as well as parking positions with assigned risks of suffering damage there.

Consequently the driver-assistance system 1 possesses a software product that has been set up to classify the ambient field of the vehicle into road-types and, based thereon, to allocate levels of difficulty to the ambient field of the vehicle. With the knowledge of the negotiable areas and obstacles in the environment of the parked vehicle, the software product has been set up to analyse the routes and to ascertain the difficulty for other drivers that they find themselves confronted with when driving past the parked vehicle. The level of difficulty is ascertained, in particular, on the basis of the permitted speed, the road contour and further location-related data pertaining to the parking position.

-15 -Via the output cirouit 10, an optical 15, acoustic 16 and/or haptic 17 system i.s/are driven. The optical system may be, for example, a display unit that is an integral part of a driving-assistance system, for example a head-up display, a head-down display or a mobile appliance such as, for instance; a smartphone. The optical system 15 may also be a smartphone app. The optical system may, in particular, represent the enhanced ambient-field map created by the module 14 for map-creation, map the current road configuration, and clarify the risk, for example through a colour coding of the parking spaces. The acoustic system 16 preferably includes a car radio or a voice output on a mobile appliance such as a smartphone.

Fig. 2 shows a top view of a parking-space situation. A subject vehicle 20 is parking at a parking position 21 which is located on a lateral parking lane 23 in relation to a road 22. The road 22 has a straight contour. For the purpose of ascertaining the level of difficulty of the ambient field of the parking position 21, the driver-assistance s'stem of the subject vehicle 20 ascertains the infrastructural marginal conditions and the demands made of the cQgnitive skills and the knowledge concerning the dimensions of the vehicle and possibilities for movement of the drivers of vehicles that are driving past the parked subject vehicle 20. The parking-space situation represented in Fig. 2 represents in exemplary manner a very simple drive-past, since no hazard is apparent. -Nevertheless, a hazard. may exist by virtue of the fact that cae-s of material damage at the parking position 21 have in fact frequently been reported, this having been stored in an accIdent database. By query of the accident -database + * .+ -16 -and/or by evaluation of the data provided by the environment-registering device, the driver-assistance system of the subject vehicle 20 can determine appropriately the risk of suffering material damage to the subject vehicle 20 at the current parking situation 21 by virtue of the ambient traffic-Fig. 3 shows a further parking-space scene with the subject vehicle 20 in a parking position 21 which is likewise located on a shoulder 23 in relation to a road 22. In contrast to the scene represented in Fig. 2, the parking position 21 is located on a curve 24 of the road 22. By virtue of the curvy road contour there may be a hazard.

Consequently, the subject vehicle 20 parked at the parking position 21 may be allocated a heightened risk, for example a medium, high or very high risk, of suffering material damage to the vehicle at the parking position 21 by virtue of the ambient traffic.

Fig. 4 shows a further parking-space scene in top view.

The subject vehicle 20 has been parked at a parking position 21 on a shoulder 23 in relation to a road 22.

Located in the vicinity of the parking position 21 is a parking-space-bounding element 25, for example a streetlamp, by virtue of which a dangerous situation arises. The road 22 is narrowed at this location, and a dtive-past makes greater demands of the cognitive skills and the knowledge concerning the dimensions and possibilities for movement of the vehicle of the drivers of vehicles driving past. In the parking position 21 represented in Fig. 4, for example, a heightened risk + . 4 -17 -arises of getting material damage tO the vehicle 20 at the parking position 21.

Fig. 5 shows a top view of a further parking-space scene.

The subject vehicle 20 has been parked to the side of a road 22 and is standing partly on a pedestrian traffic route 26. The pedestrian traffic route 26 is bounded on the right side by an obstacle 27, for example a wall. The driver-assistance system of the subject vehicle 20 ascertains whether the pedestrians have sufficient space available for passage by virtue of the current parking position. Should the vehicle restrict this space in such a way that no pushchairs or wheelchairs can pass through any longer, the risk of getting material damage to the subject vehicle 20 at the current parking position may have been heightened. The driver-assistance system may, in this case in particular, incorporate location-related data, for example whether the parking position 21 is located in a densely populated region or in a less densely populated region, and/or whether a school or a hospital is in the vicinity. These factors, inter alia, can be taken into account for the purpose of ascertaining the risk.

In the situations represented in Figures 3 to 5, moreover a hazard may exist by virtue of the fact that cases of material damag have in fact frequently been reported at the corresponding parking position 21. By query of the accident database *and/or by evaluation of the data provided by the environment-registering device, the driver-assistance system of the subject vehicle 20 can determine the risk of suffering material damage to the subject 4 + t -18 -vehicle 20 at the respective parking situation 21 by virtue of the ambient traffic.

The invention is not restricted to the exemplary embodiments described herein or to the aspects emphasised therein. Rather, within the range specified by the claims a large number of modifications are possible which lie within the scope of expert activity.