WO2021115659A1

WO2021115659A1 - Light assistance system for a vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2021115659A1
Application number: PCT/EP2020/077679
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alexander Sternberg; Benedikt Rank
Original assignee: Daimler Ag
Priority date: 2019-12-13
Filing date: 2020-10-02
Publication date: 2021-06-17
Also published as: DE102019008661A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a light assistance system for a vehicle. The vehicle may comprise a navigation system and/or an environmental sensor system. Depending on the functionality, it is determined, on the basis of a parked position of the vehicle (7) determined by the navigation system and a danger zone (Z) stored in the map data of the navigation system, whether a potential danger is present, whereupon at least one part of the external lighting system (10) of the parked vehicle (7) is activated. If the parked vehicle (7) has an environmental sensor system, part of the external lighting system (10) is activated if a road user approaching the vehicle (7) is detected by the environmental sensor system. This can also be appropriately combined such that the environmental sensor system is active only if the parked position is in a danger zone.

Description

Light assistance system for a vehicle

The invention relates to a light assistance system for a vehicle according to the type defined in more detail in the preamble of claim 1 or 2.

Nowadays, vehicles with a navigation system are well known and common. The current position of the vehicle is recorded via a so-called global navigation satellite system and compared with the position on a map stored online or offline. Furthermore, vehicles with an environment sensor system, by means of which the environment of the vehicle and in particular road users approaching the vehicle in this environment can be recognized, are generally known and customary.

Goods are very often transported with utility vehicles, which are designed, for example, in the form of so-called semi-trailers. These often move over long distances, for example forwards on a motorway network. The people driving these commercial vehicles must adhere to specified driving times and break times for their own safety and for the safety of other road users. The increasing traffic of commercial vehicles and goods means that rest areas on motorways are often overcrowded in practice. However, a person driving a commercial vehicle who has completed their driving time is now dependent on parking the vehicle for a predetermined period of a few hours and taking a break from driving. Therefore, in practice, especially in the dark, commercial vehicles are often parked in places that were not intended for this in principle. The commercial vehicles can, for example, be parked in the entrance area of a rest stop at the roadside because the person driving the commercial vehicle could not find any other parking area. However, due to the fact that their permitted driving times have been used up, this person was forced to park the vehicle. Especially in the dark, dangerous situations or even rear-end collisions occur very often, since other road users entering the service area do not expect parked vehicles in this area. This also applies in a comparable way to other potential danger zones in which vehicles can be parked without other road users expecting it.

In principle, it is always possible to reduce the risk by actively lighting the vehicle. However, since the vehicle lighting is typically switched off when the vehicle is parked, switching on the vehicle lighting is often forgotten, which can then lead to safety problems and, in the worst case, to rear-end collisions. It is often the case that in the event of a presumably forgotten switch-off of the vehicle lights, the vehicle reminds the person driving the vehicle to switch off the lights or even switches the lights off automatically when a specified parking time has been reached. In the present case, however, this is counterproductive. In principle, permanent lighting in the parked state, which is also conceivable, leads in practice to a relatively high energy consumption and to light emissions in places and in situations in which the lighting is unnecessary.

For further general prior art, reference can also be made to DE 102008 054 348 A1. In this document, a distance sensor and a lighting element are claimed. These are structurally integrated in a single housing and on a single carrier so that they can be controlled simply and efficiently, for example, with a common line routing via a common cable harness. One embodiment describes a connection of the distance sensor and the lighting device via a brake system which, on the one hand, uses the data of the distance sensor and, on the other hand, controls a brake light of the lighting device.

The object of the present invention is now to provide an improved light assistant for a vehicle according to the preamble of claim 1 or 2, which contributes to increasing traffic safety and does this with a minimal expenditure of energy. According to the invention, this object is achieved by a light assistant with the features in claim 1, and here in particular in the characterizing part of claim 1. An alternative solution is given in claim 2, and here again in particular in the characterizing part of claim 2. Advantageous refinements and developments result from the dependent claims.

A simple solution for a light assistant that solves the above-mentioned task provides that it is used in a vehicle with a navigation system. According to the invention, it is provided that a parking position of the vehicle is detected via the positioning system of the navigation system. This recorded parking position is then compared with the danger zones stored in the map material of the navigation system, which can be provided online or offline. These danger zones can include, for example, confusing areas or, in particular, the above-mentioned entrance areas of motorway service stations. These danger areas can then be defined using the geo-fencing mechanism. According to the invention, it is now provided that in the event that the parking position is in such a danger zone, at least part of the exterior lighting of the parked vehicle is activated. The light assistant in this embodiment variant of the invention therefore directly activates the exterior lighting of the vehicle or part of this exterior lighting, in particular the rear exterior lighting, since the primary risk of a rear-end collision threatens from behind, especially in the area of motorways. The corresponding backlighting, which is always activated via the light assistant when the vehicle is parked in a specified danger zone, prevents the person driving the vehicle from forgetting to activate the lighting and thus enables a decisive safety advantage over vehicles without such a light assistance system , in which there is always the risk of the lighting being forgotten and the vehicle not being recognized or being recognized too late to avoid an accident.

According to the invention, the light assistance system according to the invention for a vehicle with an environment sensor system provides that the environment sensor system is activated at least temporarily for a light control when the vehicle is parked. The light control is then able to use the in the event of one Environment sensors detected approaching road users to activate at least part of the exterior lighting of the parked vehicle. The light is only switched on when another road user approaches and it is actually needed. This also makes it possible to improve the visibility of the parked vehicle in the event of a road user approaching and at the same time save energy due to the fact that the lighting is only activated when a road user approaches. The light assistance system works completely independently of the person driving the vehicle, so that they can also be outside the vehicle, for example in a rest area of the service station, can sleep in the vehicle or the like.

The light assistance system becomes particularly efficient and targeted if the two approaches are appropriately combined, so that in a vehicle with the environment sensor system, as just described, the light control takes place as a function of a detected approaching road user, and that in addition the environment sensor system and thus, in fact, the light assistance system is only activated when a parking position determined by a navigation system in the vehicle lies within a danger zone which is stored in the map material of the navigation system. Here, too, the map material can again be available offline in the navigation system or online when the navigation system is connected to a backend server or the like.

In this ideal combination, the light assistance system is only activated in the first place within a danger zone defined in the maps of the navigation system when the vehicle is parked. Nevertheless, the light remains off until another road user, who is detected by the vehicle's surroundings sensors, approaches and it is therefore clear that the lighting is necessary to identify the vehicle. This combines safety and energy-saving use of the electrical power in the vehicle's battery.

According to an extremely favorable development of this, it can be provided that the environment sensor system only includes the rear area of the vehicle. This rear area of the vehicle is typically the critical area, so that it is generally sufficient to only use this area via the surroundings sensors to encompass the rear area accordingly, and only if a road user approaches in this rear area to switch on the light accordingly. According to an extremely favorable development of this idea, it is provided that only those parts of the exterior lighting that are oriented in the direction of the approaching road user are activated. If the road user approaches from behind (in the event that the environment sensors can also detect other areas around the vehicle), only the vehicle's rear light is activated. If he were to approach from the front, only the front lighting would be activated in order to avoid unnecessary activation of lights.

The activated exterior lighting can be operated according to an extremely favorable development of the idea with changing light intensity. It can therefore become lighter and darker or also be operated in a pulsating manner, i.e. switch between states with full brightness and states with low or even without brightness. According to an advantageous development, it can be provided that this change takes place as a function of the distance of the approaching road user. The closer the road user comes, the stronger the lighting and thus the warning function for the corresponding road user in order to warn him of the parked vehicle as he approaches.

An extremely favorable development of both solution variants of the light assistance systems can provide that the activated exterior lighting includes the rear lights, the brake lights and / or the turn signals. In this way, for example, red light can be emitted in a first light brightness via the rear lights. In a second brightness level, this light can then be amplified accordingly via the additionally activated brake lights. Furthermore, alternatively or in addition, the blinkers or direction indicators can also be included, which are particularly well suited with an orange steady light or with a blinking light to draw the attention of other road users to the vehicle. According to an extremely favorable development, both variants of the light assistance systems can be used in such a way that the activation of the exterior lighting takes place as a function of the ambient brightness only when the ambient brightness falls below a specified value. The lighting via the light assistant in all of these described design variants can therefore be made dependent on the ambient brightness, so that the light assistants work primarily in the dark and at dusk, but not in bright daylight, since they are typically not needed there.

In both variants of the light assistance systems according to the invention, according to a very advantageous further development of these systems, in addition to activating the exterior lighting, a communication link is established via vehicle-to-vehicle communication between the parked vehicle and the approaching road user in order to achieve a Transmit warning message. Information can be exchanged among vehicles participating in the system via such a vehicle-to-vehicle communication, which is common today and which is also referred to as vehicle-to-vehicle communication or abbreviated as V2V. This is suitable for the case described, in particular to transmit a corresponding warning message so that the environment sensors of the approaching road user and / or the person driving this road user are not exclusively dependent on the visual visibility of the parked vehicle.

The light assistance systems described in all of the solution variants described can be used for any vehicle. Due to the problems described at the beginning, which are primarily to be observed when moving commercial vehicles on motorways, according to a very advantageous embodiment of these light assistance systems it can be provided that they are used in commercial vehicles, since these commercial vehicles primarily deal with the described problem of compliance with Driving times and the corresponding shortage of available parking spaces at motorway service stations benefit. Further advantageous refinements of the light assistants according to the invention emerge on the basis of exemplary embodiments which are explained in more detail below with reference to the figures.

Show:

1 shows a schematically illustrated scenario in a view from above to explain the invention;

2 shows an exemplary scenario for explaining a preferred embodiment of the scenario according to the invention; and

3 shows a flow chart for a preferred embodiment variant of the light assistant according to the invention.

In the illustration of FIG. 1, a section of a motorway designated 1 with two directional lanes 2, 3 can be seen when viewed from above. From the directional lane 2, which here runs from top to bottom with the direction of travel, an entrance lane denoted by 4 branches off into a parking and rest area 5. Corresponding parking spaces for commercial vehicles are available within this parking and rest area 5. In the area of these parking spaces, a utility vehicle designated by 6 is indicated in principle. In practice, it is now often the case that these parking areas for the commercial vehicles within the rest areas 5 are overcrowded very quickly. If people with other commercial vehicles now come via the branch lane 4 into the area of the rest stop 5 and have to take a break in order to comply with their driving times, then they are forced to park their vehicles in areas within the rest stop 5, which in principle are not actually intended for this are.

It is now common practice for utility vehicles to be parked along the entrance lane, in particular, to the side. Such a utility vehicle is shown purely by way of example and is provided with the reference symbol 7. This utility vehicle 7 is intended to be the parked vehicle in the explanations below. A zone designated as danger zone Z is now drawn in with a dash-dotted line, which zone comprises the edges along the entrance lane 4, which can be used in principle for the parking of commercial vehicles. If commercial vehicles such as the commercial vehicle 7 are parked in the area of this danger zone Z, a corresponding danger can arise from them, in particular in the dark, since road users approaching the parked vehicles 7 recognize too late if necessary. This can lead to dangerous situations or accidents. Purely by way of example, in the illustration in FIG. 1, a vehicle designated by 8 approaches the parked vehicle 7 as a further road user. It is now important that a person driving the vehicle 8 or, in the case of an autonomous or partially autonomous ferry operation, the environment sensors of this vehicle 8 reliably recognize the parked vehicle 7. In order to increase safety here, a light assistance system can now be available in the parked vehicle 7, which ensures that at least the lighting of the parked vehicle 7 and in particular the rear lighting directed towards the approaching vehicle 8 is activated in any case . In order to ensure this without a person driving the vehicle 7 being able to forget this or switching off the lighting when they move away from the vehicle 7, the light assistance system now detects whether the vehicle 7 is parked. If this is the case, it is checked whether a parking position P of the vehicle 7 is within the danger zone Z. If this is also the case, then in the simplest variant of the light assistance system the lighting of the vehicle 7 is forcibly switched on so that its exterior lighting is active and the visibility of the parked vehicle 7 is improved for the approaching vehicle 8 and other approaching road users.

A particularly favorable variant of the light assistance system now also provides that the parked vehicle 7 has an environment sensor system, and here in particular a rear area monitoring system. This is explained on the basis of the scenario shown in FIG. 2. Here, too, the parked vehicle is again provided with the reference number 7, the approaching vehicle with the reference number 8. The parked vehicle 7 now has a schematically indicated environment sensor system 9, which at least for rear area monitoring in the direction of travel behind the vehicle 7 and thus in the illustration 2 below the vehicle 7, the direction of travel of which is directed upwards, is arranged. This environment sensor system 9 can now detect the vehicle 8. Once it has detected the vehicle 8, the exterior lighting is activated accordingly, for example in the form of the taillights 10 indicated here, in order to increase the visibility of the parked vehicle 7 for a person driving the vehicle 8 or its environment sensors and thus improve traffic safety. Both variants of the light assistance system can be operated independently of one another. In particular, however, they can also be combined so that in parked vehicles 7 with environment sensors 9, these environment sensors are activated accordingly at a parking position P within the danger zone Z, and then whenever another road user such as vehicle 8 approaches, the exterior lighting, for example in the form the rear lights 10 is switched on, so that the lighting can be dispensed with in periods in which no other road user is approaching. This combination is ideal and creates a high level of security with simultaneously reduced energy consumption and reduced light emissions into the environment.

In addition to simply switching on the tail lights 10, the light intensities can be adjusted accordingly, in particular also as a function of the distance between the vehicle 8 and the parked vehicle 7, for example by additionally switching on the brake lights or by generating a warning that generates greater attention, by switching on the direction indicators as hazard warning lights, for example. Other variants of pulsating or flashing light or the like are also conceivable.

A possible process sequence is now shown schematically in the illustration in FIG. 3. The sequence of the lighting assistance system begins in the "Start" box at the top left. A query then takes place as to whether the vehicle 7 is parked. If this is answered in the negative, the system jumps back to the start. If this is answered in the affirmative, then a parking position P is recorded accordingly, for example via the navigation system of the parked vehicle 7. In the following query, it is checked whether this parking position P lies within a danger zone Z, which is stored accordingly in the maps of the navigation system. If this is not the case, the process is aborted and jumps back to the start. If this is the case, the environment sensor system 9 of the parked vehicle 7 is activated. When the environment sensor system 9 is activated, as is indicated in the illustration in FIG. 2, a rear area located behind the parked vehicle 7, denoted by R in FIG. 2, is monitored accordingly. A query is then used to clarify whether there is another road user such as vehicle 8 in this rear area. If this is the case, then the rear lights 10 are switched on and then it jumps back to monitor the rear area. This loop is run through with the rear lights 10 switched on as long as the vehicle 8 is detected in the rear space R of the parked vehicle 7. If this is no longer detected, the query is correspondingly answered in the negative and the taillights are switched off. The process then also jumps back and continues the monitoring accordingly.

In the event that the taillights are switched on because an object 8 has been detected in the rear area R, a vehicle-to-vehicle communication, which often also with the English term V2V for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication is to be built. In this case, warning messages can be exchanged between vehicles that are capable of such vehicle-to-vehicle communication and, for example, the position of the parked vehicle 7 can be communicated to the approaching vehicle 8, so that a corresponding warning message there can be generated, or that, in the case of an autonomous journey, the corresponding driving systems of the vehicle 8 can react to the parked vehicle 7 in order to reduce the risk of a potential accident

Claims

1. Light assistance system for a vehicle (7) with a navigation system, characterized in that a parking position (P) determined by the navigation system is recorded and compared with the danger zones (Z) stored in the map material of the navigation system, in the event that the parking position (P) is in a danger zone (Z), at least part of the exterior lighting (10) of the parked vehicle (7) is activated.

2. Light assistance system for a vehicle (7) with an environment sensor (9) for detecting other road users (8) in the environment of the vehicle (7), characterized in that the environment sensor (9) in a parked state of the vehicle (7) at least temporarily is activated for a light control, the light control activating at least part of the exterior lighting (10) of the parked vehicle (7) in the case of an approaching road user (8) detected by the environment sensor system (9).

3. Light assistance system according to claim 2, characterized in that the environment sensor system is only activated when a parking position (P) determined by a navigation system in the vehicle (7) lies within a danger zone (Z) which is stored in the map material of the navigation system .

4. Light assistance system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the environment sensor system (9) monitors only the rear area (R) of the vehicle (7).

5. Light assistance system according to claim 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that only the parts of the exterior lighting (10) which are aligned in the direction of the approaching road user (8) are activated.

6. Light assistance system according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the activated external lighting (10) is operated with changing light intensity, the change taking place as a function of the distance of the approaching road user (8).

7. Light assistance system according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the activated external lighting (10) comprises the rear lights, brake lights and / or indicators.

8. Light assistance system according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the activation of the exterior lighting (10) takes place as a function of a detected ambient brightness only when the ambient brightness falls below a preset value.

9. Light assistance system according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, in addition to activating the exterior lighting (10), a communication link is established via vehicle-to-vehicle communication between the parked vehicle (7) and the approaching road user (8) to transmit at least one warning message.

10. Light assistance system according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it is used in a commercial vehicle, in particular in a commercial vehicle combination.