DE102004018681A1 - Collision avoidance between road vehicles travelling in opposite directions uses detectors to allow planned overtaking - Google Patents

Abstract

the instantaneous speed and acceleration of a road vehicle [F] in relation to a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction [GF] is determined by a detector. The actual topography of the road is related to the detector range and any out of range areas using input from a GPS system. Overtaking manoerves are planned for safety.

Description

The The invention relates to a method for avoiding collisions of a Vehicle with oncoming vehicles, where from the current Speed, the acceleration capacity of the vehicle and from the current intervals to other vehicles driving in the same direction, driving recommendations, especially for a planned overtaking process, be generated, with any oncoming vehicles through detected at least one detector and taken into account in the driving recommendations become.

The The present invention thus lies in the field of anticipatory Driving assistance system and method. Such systems use for example on radio and / or Radar based remote and / or close range detectors and sensors foresight, that is early Recognizing a specific traffic situation. Above all, these are Systems and methods for early Recognizing a critical traffic situation used as well as Avoiding an accident (crash) or reducing the corresponding Accident.

A generic method goes from the German patent DE 36 22 447 C1 out. Herein is a device described ben that indicates a driver of a vehicle overtaking recommendations. For this purpose, by means of detectors, for example, for example, radar, moving in the same direction (if possible to overtake) vehicles and oncoming (also referred to as oncoming traffic) vehicles located. For example, current and / or minimum overtake durations associated with actual and associated vehicle variables, such as actual distances, absolute and relative speeds, vehicle lengths, and performance determining values such as acceleration, current gear, or mass of one's own vehicle determined at full throttle. This is compared with the available overtaking paths and from this a recommendation against or for the initiation of an overtaking process is generated. This can be visually displayed to the driver, for example.

The known method recognizes overtaking opportunities in normal situations for the own vehicle and can the driver by display or output support appropriate recommendations. However, in the road traffic also situations occur in which the well-known procedure at its Performance limits encountered. In confusing Road sections, for example, in tight corners when driving a serpentine or hilly Landscape can the signals from the detectors sometimes a not quite true Create image. For example, lies in front of your own vehicle Ascending to a summit, the detector could be mistaken do not notice any oncoming traffic, because his signal is over behind the oncoming summit, oncoming vehicles sweeps away and / or any reflected signals over the top not to your own Vehicle back. This driving situation is therefore particularly critical because of the Driver aware of the functioning of his own system as well in these situations in a deceptive seemingly safe driving situation Security thinks. This safe situation is actually not available.

This is a condition that understandably to avoid.

Of the The present invention is based on the object, a method of the type mentioned in such a way that the driver of a motor vehicle even in the special situations described above Get driving recommendations, which safely avoid a collision with oncoming motor vehicle.

According to the invention this Task by a method having the features of the claim 1 solved.

Accordingly, a A method is provided in which from the instantaneous speed, the acceleration capacity of the vehicle and from its current distances to other, in the same direction driving vehicles are derived driving recommendations. It will be any oncoming vehicles through at least one detector recognized and taken into account in the driving recommendations. Furthermore, the current topography at least of the road ahead in the direction of travel determined at least to the range of the detector. It will then determines whether undetectable within the detector range Areas exist. In this case, the driving recommendation is under the assumption that generates an oncoming vehicle is located at the vehicle-closest endpoint of the closest undetectable area.

The idea underlying the present invention consists, inter alia, in increasing the collision protection or timely collision warnings with respect to oncoming vehicles by taking into account whether on or behind critical road sections ahead of one another in their own direction of travel, to could not be located safely detectable vehicles popyography. These can be expected due to normal, permissible oncoming traffic, but also occur unexpectedly in special situations (such as on Ghost drivers on motor roads or highways or vehicles in special operations (for example, police operations)). If a risk of collision is detected, it is possible, for example, to generate a suitable warning or driving recommendation for accident-avoiding or accident-reducing defensive driving.

advantageous Refinements and developments of the invention are the dependent claims and the description with reference to the drawings.

The Invention is particularly advantageous for driving recommendations in connection with a planned overtaking process. In this case, the driving recommendations (FE) may be from a recommended sequence the gear selection and / or the speed selection and / or the Acceleration selection and / or delay selection.

One essential aspect of the invention is that within the supposed detector range lying, undetectable Areas considered become. For example, this is done automatically by a GPS system (GPS = Global Positioning System) gained knowledge of the current vehicle position. From the current vehicle position, for example, using from existing in the vehicle or via radio card data the current Fahrbahntopo graph are determined, which then at the evaluation of the detector signals are taken into account.

Of the Term topography is within the scope of the present application to understand and includes in particular the three-dimensional indication the terrain conditions, such as altitude conditions, Gradients, gradients, but also any tight curves with detector-relevant shields and Bulkheads.

A particularly preferred in the implementation of the method according to the invention, the safety of motor vehicle occupants further increasing training of the method provides that when detecting a bump or a dome in the road ahead also when detecting a vehicle further away than the bump or dome when generating the driving recommendations from a virtual oncoming Vehicle is assumed that is different from the vehicle closest bump or approaching the dome at a predetermined speed.

A particularly advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that in the case of a detected unavoidable accident situation several accident consequences reducing driving recommendations are checked. In the process, the accident consequences are reduced driving recommendations is issued as driving recommendations, which is expected to be the lowest Accident consequences for the vehicle occupants and / or the other road users involved will have. In this way, such a driving recommendation can For example, provide that the motor vehicle from the roadway in a Meadow next to it is steered to such an inevitable Accident with an oncoming motor vehicle escape and still minimize the consequences of accidents to a minimum. On the other hand, can be provided that such a driving recommendation just not is output when there are people next to the roadway. In this case, it may be provided that in case of unavoidable Accident (for example, at low speed), this accident Consciously accepted as the vehicle occupants known about safety systems in the motor vehicle (for example, restraint means such as airbags and seat belt, crumple zone, headrests, etc.) better protected are as persons in the immediate vicinity.

A in the implementation of the method according to the invention that in the case a detected inevitable accident situation reducing several consequences of an accident Driving recommendations are checked and the consequences of accidents reduce driving recommendations as driving recommendations (FE), which is expected to have the least accident consequences for the vehicle occupants and / or other participating road users.

The Driving recommendation is advantageously automatically by optical and / or audible signals. For the acoustic output can For example, a speaker of the vehicle located Audio system or the vehicle horn can be used. For the optical output For example, one can do it for you provided warning light, such as a flashing light used become.

It is also advantageous if, when generating the driving recommendation (FE), traffic and / or environmental data determined by other road users are taken into account. As traffic and / or environmental data, for example, the road friction coefficient, the weather conditions, the vehicle speed, etc. into consideration. This data can be transmitted directly (vehicle-vehicle communication) or via a central transmission point in the vehicle and evaluated when generating the driving recommendation. there For example, from the Fahrbahnreibwert a smooth road section of the road ahead lying in the direction of travel can be detected. From the driving speed of other road users can be closed, for example, to a traffic jam or stagnant traffic. Weather conditions such as rain, low temperatures, etc. are also detected in modern vehicles and can be transferred to the vehicle. Such traffic or environmental data can then be evaluated and taken into account when creating the driving recommendation.

The Invention will be described below with reference to the schematic figures The drawings specified embodiments explained in more detail. Show it attended:

1 a block diagram for the operation of the method according to the invention;

2 a bird's-eye view of a traffic situation in which the procedure is applied;

3 the traffic situation after 2 in lateral view and

4 a second traffic situation in lateral view.

In all figures of the drawing are the same or functionally identical elements and signals - if nothing another is indicated - with the same reference numerals have been provided.

1 shows a block diagram for the sequence of the method according to the invention. To 1 is from a monitoring module 1 the instantaneous velocity v _f and the current acceleration b _{f of} a vehicle F ( 2 ), for example, by tapping the speed values of the vehicle's own tachometer. It is also possible to take into account the actual mass m _f and the acceleration capacity of the vehicle. A distance monitoring module 2 comprises at least one radar device D, hereinafter also referred to as detector, with which, for example via Doppler measurements, the distances (for example s ₁ , s ₂ ) of adjacent, preceding (for example F1 in FIG 2 ) and the following vehicles. The determination of the mentioned parameters, possibly further values serving to enhance the accuracy (examples being the acceleration b _f are the road condition or the rolling resistance of the vehicle), the distances s ₁ , s ₂ , s ₃ and from this the calculation is at least more necessary Overtrains s _min for generating a driving recommendation FE are familiar to the skilled person and in many publications such as the DE 36 22 447 C1 or the DE 43 13 568 C1 described.

Further, a position and topography determination module 4 provided, which includes a GPS receiver G. The signals SIG received by the latter serve in a manner known per se for the exact determination of the current vehicle position Pos (t). In a vehicle-owned on-board computer BR topography data TD are stored at least the currently traveled area. With knowledge of the current position Pos (t), the exact topography top (t) of the route currently being traveled is retrieved from the data TD.

The detector D has a maximum range d _max under normal, undisturbed conditions. However, in unfavorable conditions it can occur that the values supplied by the detector reliably only give information in a range or distance which is less than the range d _max . This route is designated d (Pos (t)).

Unfavorable conditions exist, for example, in tight bends or in hilly driving distance; Here, the signals of the detector D can produce an incorrect image. Lies like in the 2 and 3 shown your own vehicle F to a hilltop 5 rising roadway 6 preceded, the detector could erroneously detect no oncoming traffic, because his signal sweeps over behind the crest located oncoming vehicles GF and / or any reflected signals because of the crest not get back to the own vehicle F. 3 illustrated by the schematic Radarkeule RK, that these behind the dome 5 would not capture an oncoming traffic GF.

For this reason, it is determined according to the invention whether an undetectable region UB exists within the current detector range d = d (Pos (t)). This is here for the area (seen in direction of travel R) behind the crest 5 the case. Therefore, when calculating the driving recommendation FE, it is assumed that an oncoming vehicle GF is at the end point close to the vehicle 8th the undetectable area is located; To calculate the driving recommendations, a virtual vehicle VF is assumed there. The recommendation may be, for example, an estimate of the possibility of overtaking the preceding vehicle F1. This assessment is now made as if behind the dome 5 a virtual vehicle VF moving at a given speed. In the simplest case, this vehicle is simulated as a stationary obstacle. However, the virtual vehicle VF can advantageously have an opposite speed v _g be assigned, which corresponds to the usual speed in the driving range ent. This can be based in the simplest case on the airspeed v _{f of} the vehicle F.

Corresponding conditions exist when the carriageway 6 according to 4 an undetectable area in the form of a bump 10 or a valley. In this case as well, the radar lobe RK of the detector D would possibly not capture the oncoming traffic correctly everywhere. Even if as shown here behind the bump 10 a vehicle GF is detected, it is assumed in the generation of the driving recommendation that a virtual vehicle VF at the vehicle next end point of the non-detectable area 10 located at a given speed v _g .

In 2 is shown as an additional application of the method according to the invention, the own vehicle F 'when driving on a motor road or highway dash-dotted lines. In this situation, the method according to the invention can also be advantageously used in order to avoid that an improperly oncoming vehicle leads to a collision. In this case, the vehicle F 'is on the left lane 12 , for a calculation of a necessary passing distance s _min, an unrestricted free distance is assumed only for the distance E = d (Pos (t)) between the own vehicle F 'and the end point 8th lies.

Although the present invention above based on a preferred embodiment It is not limited to this, but in many ways and modifiable.

Although the invention has been described above with reference to a radar-based system, do not be limited to that. In particular, you can Of course all systems for predictive monitoring be included here, for example, also radio based or infrared based systems.

Also have to the driving recommendations are not necessarily for a planned overtaking be used. These could for example, in the case of a lane change or the left or Turn right.

Next the current speed, the acceleration capacity of the Vehicles and from its current intervals may also include other sizes and information for the respective driving recommendation considered for example the knowledge of the outside temperature (because of the danger of frost), wet, Etc.

Claims (10)

A method for avoiding collisions of a vehicle (F) with oncoming vehicles (GF), in which - from the current speed (v _f ), the acceleration capacity of the vehicle and from its current distances (s ₁ , s ₂ ) to further, in the same Driving direction (R) driving vehicles (F1) driving recommendations (FE) are generated, - where any, by at least one detector (D) detected oncoming vehicles (GF) in the driving recommendations (FE) are taken into account, characterized in that - the current topography (Top (t)) at least the road ahead in the direction of travel (R) ( 6 ) is determined at least up to the range of the detector (D), - that it is determined whether undetectable areas (UB) are present within the detector range, - and that in this case the driving recommendation (FE) is generated under the assumption that an oncoming vehicle (GF) at the end of the vehicle ( 8th ) of the undetectable region (s) (UB). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that that the driving recommendations (FE) for a planned overtaking process be issued. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that that the driving recommendations (FE) in the case of overtaking a consequence of the gear selection and / or the speed selection and / or the acceleration selection and / or the delay selection provides. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the current vehicle position (Pos (t)) by means of a satellite-supported Position determining device, in particular by means of GPS, determined becomes. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized characterized in that the topography (top (t)) of the motor vehicle by topographically stored or radio-recorded topographical data (TD) is determined. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that when the driving recommendations (FE) are generated, a signal is emitted from the end point ( 8th ) of the currently undetectable area (UB) is approached at a predetermined speed (v _g ) approaching virtual oncoming vehicle (VF). Method according to one of the preceding An claims, characterized in that when detecting a bump ( 10 ) or a dome ( 5 ) in the road ahead ( 6 ) also when detecting one further than the bump ( 10 ) or dome ( 5 ) is generated in generating the driving recommendations (FE) of a virtual oncoming vehicle (VF), which approaches from the vehicle closest to the end of the bump or dome at a predetermined speed. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized characterized in that in case of detected unavoidable Accident situation several accident consequences reducing driving recommendations are checked and those consequences of accidents reducing driving recommendations as a driving recommendation (FE), which is expected to cause the least accident for the Vehicle occupants and / or the other road users involved will have. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized characterized in that the driving recommendation (FE) visually and / or acoustically is issued. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized characterized in that when generating the driving recommendation (FE) of traffic and / or environmental data collected by other road users considered become.