A protection method and system for small overlap frontal vehicle collision

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision, and belongs to the field of automotive technology. It solves the problem that existing technologies cannot avoid small offset collisions and still cause great harm to drivers and passengers. The method for avoiding small offset collisions of a vehicle includes: when there is an unavoidable risk of collision between the vehicle and a non-living obstacle in front of the same lane, judging whether there are safe driving areas on the left and right sides of the vehicle; if there is a safe driving area, the vehicle performs an emergency turn according to the planned lane change path; if there is no safe driving area, when it is judged that there is a small offset collision between the vehicle and the non-living obstacle in front and the longitudinal beam of the vehicle is within the collision area, the vehicle performs a steering action according to the adjusted driving path, which is used to increase the collision area of the vehicle or move the collision area of the vehicle away from the longitudinal beam of the vehicle, and at the same time control the vehicle to perform emergency braking. The present invention can reduce injuries to passengers.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of automobiles and relates to a method and system for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision. Background Art

[0002] With economic development, cars have become a common means of transportation in countless households. While providing convenience, vehicle safety has also become a key concern. In current traffic accidents and testing, airbags are the primary means of collision protection. Their protection algorithm is based on the mechanical acceleration signal generated during a collision. Acceleration integration, time-domain, and frequency-domain calculations are compared with the ignition threshold. If the ignition threshold is met, a high current is generated to trigger the airbag. However, in high-speed, low-offset collisions, these can cause significant damage and embedding to the vehicle's longitudinal beams, tires, and A-pillars, severely squeezing the passenger compartment and potentially causing fatal injuries to occupants. Even if the airbag deploys, it cannot effectively mitigate the driver's injury. Furthermore, low-offset collisions differ significantly from traditional 100% head-on and 40% offset collisions: 1. The overlap is reduced. This makes it difficult for traditional front impact beams designed for crush energy absorption to function effectively. 2. Rigid barriers. Traditional deformable barriers deform and absorb some energy during testing, but rigid barriers do not.

[0003] To address the above-mentioned issues, the industry currently focuses on strengthening the driver-side vehicle body structure to cushion and absorb collision energy. Alternatively, a collision mitigation method and device for a vehicle, as disclosed in a Chinese document, comprises obtaining deformation signals from both sides of the vehicle's front end; evaluating the deformation signal, and when only one deformation signal is present, recording the side of the vehicle body where the obstacle generating the deformation signal is located as the collision side, and the other side of the vehicle body opposite the collision side as the non-collision side; obtaining a longitudinal collision intensity signal when the obstacle impacts the vehicle body; evaluating the longitudinal collision intensity signal, and when the intensity value corresponding to the longitudinal collision intensity signal is less than a preset intensity threshold, braking the wheels on the non-collision side. While this invention can, without significantly increasing the weight of the front-end vehicle structure, reduce or completely avoid collisions with the main passenger compartment structure by braking the wheels on the non-collision side, thereby improving safety in small offset collisions, it cannot avoid small offset collisions, and such collisions can still cause significant harm to the driver and passengers. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to address the above-mentioned problems existing in the prior art and to propose a method and system for protecting vehicles from small offset collisions. The technical problem to be solved is: how to reduce occupant injuries.

[0005] The object of the present invention can be achieved by the following technical solutions: A method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision, comprising:

[0006] When there is an unavoidable risk of collision between the vehicle and an inanimate obstacle ahead in the same lane, determine whether there is a safe driving area to the left or right of the vehicle;

[0007] If there is a safe driving area, the vehicle will perform an emergency turn according to the planned lane change path;

[0008] If there is no safe driving area, determine whether there is a small offset collision between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front and whether the longitudinal beam of the vehicle is within the collision area. If both of the above conditions are true, the vehicle performs a steering action according to the adjusted driving path to increase the collision area of the vehicle or move the collision area away from the longitudinal beam of the vehicle, and at the same time controls the vehicle to perform emergency braking; if either condition is false, continue the original driving path and control the vehicle to perform emergency braking.

[0009] The working principle of this vehicle small offset collision protection method is as follows: When there is a risk of collision with an inanimate obstacle ahead in the same lane and the collision is unavoidable, that is, when there is a risk of collision that cannot be avoided even by emergency braking, the vehicle determines whether there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle, that is, a safe driving area where the vehicle can safely change lanes, thereby avoiding a collision with the inanimate obstacle ahead. If there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle, the vehicle performs an emergency turn according to the planned lane change path. If there is no safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle, it is necessary to further determine whether the longitudinal beam of the vehicle is within the small offset collision area between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead, that is, whether the contact area between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead is less than 40% of the vehicle width. If the contact area is less than 40% of the vehicle width and the longitudinal beam area of the vehicle is included in the collision area, the longitudinal beam of the vehicle is determined to be within the small offset collision area between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead. At this time, if a collision occurs at this collision area, it will cause damage to the passengers in the cab. In order to avoid causing serious injuries to the occupants, the vehicle's driving path is adjusted so that the vehicle can turn according to the adjusted driving path, and the collision position between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front is adjusted to the center of the vehicle, thereby increasing the collision area of the vehicle. Or, when the inanimate obstacle is a small object, this operation can keep it away from the longitudinal beam area of the vehicle, which can maximize the absorption of collision energy and reduce occupant injuries. While changing the frontal collision area, the vehicle is also controlled to perform emergency braking, further reducing the damage caused to the occupants by the collision, thereby improving the driving safety of the occupants.

[0010] In the aforementioned small offset collision protection method, the operations for determining whether there is an unavoidable collision risk between the ego vehicle and a non-living obstacle ahead in the same lane include:

[0011] Real-time acquisition of vehicle speed information, relative distance information and relative speed information between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead;

[0012] The relative distance information and relative speed information obtained are calculated to obtain the relative collision time in real time. When the relative collision time is less than the preset time threshold, it is judged that there is a collision risk. Then, the safe braking distance is obtained based on the vehicle's speed information. When the safe braking distance is greater than the relative distance obtained in real time, it is judged that there is a risk of unavoidable collision between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front of it in the same lane.

[0013] In the above-mentioned method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision, the operation of determining whether there are safe driving areas on the left and right sides of the vehicle includes:

[0014] Detect whether there are lanes on the left and right sides of the vehicle that can be driven through. If there are lanes that can be driven through, the relative distance between the vehicle and the vehicle in the adjacent lane is compared with the safe lane change distance threshold in real time. When the relative distance is greater than the safe lane change distance threshold, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle;

[0015] If there is no lane through which the vehicle can pass or the relative distance between the vehicle and the vehicle in the adjacent lane is less than the safe lane change distance threshold, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on either side of the vehicle.

[0016] In the above-mentioned method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision, the operation of determining whether there are safe driving areas on the left and right sides of the vehicle further includes:

[0017] When there are lanes on the left and right sides of the vehicle that can pass through, detect whether the turn signal of the vehicle behind the vehicle in the same lane is turned on;

[0018] If the left turn signal is on and there is a lane only to the left of the vehicle where the vehicle can pass, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on either side of the vehicle.

[0019] If the left turn signal is on and there are lanes on both the left and right sides of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the right side of the vehicle;

[0020] If the right turn signal is on and there is a lane only to the right of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on either side of the vehicle.

[0021] If the right turn signal is on and there are lanes on both the left and right sides of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the left side of the vehicle;

[0022] If the turn signal of the vehicle behind the vehicle in the same lane is not on, it is determined that there is a safe driving area to the left or right of the vehicle. The turn signal status signal can accurately determine whether the vehicle behind the vehicle in the same lane is turning. This can further improve the accuracy of determining whether there is a safe driving area to the left or right of the vehicle, improving the safety of the vehicle's collision avoidance.

[0023] In the above-mentioned method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision, if a safe driving area exists, the vehicle further includes:

[0024] Based on the planned lane change path, the vehicle determines whether there is a risk of a small offset collision with an inanimate obstacle ahead during the lane change process. If there is no risk of a small offset collision, the vehicle performs an emergency turn according to the planned lane change path.

[0025] When a small offset collision risk exists, the system continues to determine whether there is a small offset collision between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead and whether the vehicle's longitudinal beam is within the collision zone. If both conditions are true, the vehicle steers according to the adjusted path to increase the collision area or move the collision zone away from the longitudinal beam, while simultaneously applying emergency braking. If either condition is false, the system continues along the original path and applies emergency braking. This step mitigates the risk of small offset collisions during lane changes, preventing more serious injuries and further ensuring vehicle safety.

[0026] In the above-mentioned method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision, the lane change path is generated according to the steering angle.

[0027] In the above-mentioned method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision, the steering angle is determined according to the real-time speed of the vehicle and the relative distance between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead.

[0028] In the above-mentioned vehicle small offset collision protection method, the steering angle is obtained by querying a preset steering angle planning table using the vehicle's real-time speed and the relative distance to the front inanimate obstacle as input parameters.

[0029] The steering angle planning table consists of three parameters: steering angle, speed, and relative distance. Each speed and each relative distance corresponds to a steering angle. The steering angle planning table can be obtained through multiple experiments.

[0030] In the aforementioned small offset collision protection method, if a collision risk is determined between the vehicle and an inanimate obstacle ahead in the same lane, the vehicle's seatbelts are pre-tensioned. This small offset collision protection method's seatbelt pre-tensioning action can reduce the forward impact force on occupants, minimizing injuries.

[0031] A vehicle small offset collision protection system includes an on-board controller and an emergency braking system connected to the on-board controller, a vehicle steering system, and on-board sensing equipment for detecting the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and inanimate obstacles within a 360-degree range of the vehicle, as well as the drivable area. The on-board controller includes:

[0032] The collision risk assessment module is used to determine whether there is an unavoidable collision risk between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead in the same lane based on the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead.

[0033] The safety zone analysis module is used to determine whether there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle based on the detected drivable area and the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and vehicles in adjacent lanes;

[0034] The small offset collision judgment module is used to determine whether there is a small offset overlap between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front.

[0035] The first control module is configured to output a control instruction for controlling the vehicle to perform an emergency turn according to a planned lane change path when there is an unavoidable collision risk and there are safe driving areas on the left and right sides of the vehicle;

[0036] a second control module configured to output a path adjustment control instruction for increasing the collision area of the ego vehicle or moving the collision area away from the vehicle longitudinal beam, as well as an emergency braking control instruction, when there is an unavoidable collision risk, there is no safe driving area on the left or right side of the ego vehicle, there is a small offset collision between the ego vehicle and a non-living obstacle in front, and the ego vehicle longitudinal beam is within the collision area;

[0037] The vehicle steering system is used to perform steering actions according to the control instructions output by the first control module or the second control module;

[0038] The emergency braking system is used to perform emergency braking according to the control instruction output by the second control module.

[0039] The working principle of the vehicle's small offset collision protection system is as follows: during vehicle driving, the on-board sensor equipment detects the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and inanimate obstacles within a 360-degree range of the vehicle, as well as the drivable area, and transmits them to the on-board controller. The collision risk judgment module in the on-board controller calculates the relative collision time based on the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front. When the relative collision time is less than a preset time threshold, it is judged that there is a collision risk, and the on-board controller further calculates the vehicle speed information transmitted by the on-board sensor equipment to obtain a safe braking distance. When the safe braking distance is greater than the relative distance obtained in real time by the on-board sensor equipment, it is judged that the collision cannot be avoided by activating the emergency braking system. When a collision cannot be avoided even through emergency braking, the safety area analysis module determines whether there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle based on the drivable area detected by the on-board sensor equipment and the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and the vehicles in the adjacent lane, and transmits the judgment result to the first control module or the second control module. When the first control module receives the judgment result from the safety area analysis module that there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle, it outputs a control instruction to control the vehicle to make an emergency turn according to the planned lane changing path. At this time, the vehicle steering system makes an emergency turn according to the planned lane changing path to achieve safe lane changing of the vehicle, thereby avoiding collision with the collision object in front, thereby improving safety. ; When the second control module receives the judgment result from the safety area analysis module that there is no safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle and receives the judgment result from the small offset collision judgment module that the longitudinal beam of the vehicle is within the small offset collision area between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front, it outputs a control instruction to adjust the driving path and a control instruction to emergency brake. The vehicle steering system controls the vehicle to steer according to the adjusted driving path, thereby increasing the frontal collision area between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front or moving the collision area away from the longitudinal beam of the vehicle. The emergency braking system performs emergency braking to reduce the collision speed of the vehicle, thereby reducing the serious damage caused by the small offset collision and effectively improving the safety of vehicle driving.

[0040] In the above-mentioned vehicle small offset collision protection system, the on-board sensing equipment includes several cameras, several laser radars and several millimeter-wave radars distributed around the vehicle, and each camera, each laser radar and each millimeter-wave radar is connected to the on-board controller.

[0041] In the above-mentioned vehicle small offset collision protection system, the system also includes a seat belt pre-tensioning system for performing a seat belt pre-tensioning action when it is determined that the vehicle has a collision risk, and the seat belt pre-tensioning system is connected to the vehicle-mounted controller.

[0042] Compared with the existing technology, the vehicle small offset collision protection method and system have the following advantages:

[0043] 1. The present invention can adopt corresponding safety measures to avoid collision when there is a risk of collision, or reduce the damage caused by collision as much as possible when collision cannot be avoided, thereby effectively reducing the damage to passengers.

[0044] 2. The present invention can avoid small offset collision conditions by adjusting the driving path when a small offset collision occurs, thereby reducing the serious damage caused by the small offset collision and improving the safety of vehicle driving to a certain extent. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] Figure 1 It is a control flow chart of the present invention.

[0046] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of the present invention.

[0047] In the figure, 1. Vehicle-mounted controller; 11. Collision risk judgment module; 12. Safety area analysis module; 13. Small offset collision judgment module; 14. First control module; 15. Second control module; 2. Vehicle-mounted sensing equipment; 21. Camera; 22. LiDAR; 23. Millimeter-wave radar; 3. Emergency braking system; 4. Vehicle steering system; 5. Seat belt pretensioning system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] The following are specific embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings to further describe the technical solutions of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

[0049] like Figure 2 As shown, the vehicle's small offset collision protection system includes an on-board controller 1 and an emergency braking system 3 connected to the on-board controller 1, a vehicle steering system 4, a seat belt pre-tensioning system 5 for pre-tightening the seat belt when it is determined that the vehicle is at risk of collision, and an on-board sensor device 2 for detecting the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and non-living obstacles within a 360-degree range of the vehicle and the drivable area. The on-board sensor device 2 includes a number of cameras 21, a number of laser radars 22 and a number of millimeter-wave radars 23 distributed around the vehicle, and each camera 21, each laser radar 22 and each millimeter-wave radar 23 is connected to the on-board controller 1. By arranging the cameras 21, the laser radars 22, and the millimeter-wave radars 23 around the vehicle, it is possible to detect information such as the type of inanimate obstacles within a 360-degree range around the vehicle, the relative distance to the inanimate obstacles, the relative speed, acceleration, azimuth, height and width of the inanimate obstacles, and the drivable area. The application of the cameras 21, the laser radars 22, and the millimeter-wave radars 23, and the complementary functions of the various detection devices, enable accurate detection of data information within a 360-degree range around the vehicle.

[0050] The vehicle controller 1 includes:

[0051] A collision risk judgment module 11 is used to judge whether there is a collision risk between the vehicle and a non-living obstacle ahead in the same lane based on the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and the non-living obstacle ahead, and whether the collision cannot be avoided by activating the emergency braking system 3;

[0052] The safety zone analysis module 12 is used to determine whether there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle based on the detected drivable area and the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and the vehicles in the adjacent lanes;

[0053] The small offset collision judgment module 13 is used to judge whether there is a small offset overlap between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front;

[0054] The first control module 14 is configured to output a control instruction for controlling the vehicle to perform an emergency turn according to a planned lane change path when a collision cannot be avoided by activating the emergency braking system 3 and there is a safe driving area on the left and right sides of the vehicle;

[0055] The second control module 15 is configured to output a control instruction for increasing the frontal collision area between the ego vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead according to the adjusted driving path and a control instruction for emergency braking when the collision cannot be avoided by activating the emergency braking system 3, there is no safe driving area on the left or right side of the ego vehicle, and it is determined that there is a small offset collision between the ego vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead, and the ego vehicle's longitudinal beam is within the small offset collision area;

[0056] The vehicle steering system 4 is used to perform steering actions according to the control instructions output by the first control module 14 or the second control module 15;

[0057] The emergency braking system 3 is used to perform emergency braking according to the control instruction output by the second control module 15 .

[0058] like Figure 1 As shown, the protection method of the vehicle in small offset collision is based on Figure 2 The method implemented by the vehicle small offset collision protection system in the vehicle, when applied, determines through the vehicle controller 1 that there is a risk of collision between the vehicle and an inanimate obstacle in front of the same lane and that the collision cannot be avoided by activating the emergency braking system 3, determines whether there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle;

[0059] The specific operation is as follows: first, the vehicle speed information, the relative distance information and relative speed information between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead are obtained in real time through the vehicle-mounted sensor device 2; the inanimate obstacle ahead can be a vehicle, pedestrian, object, etc.;

[0060] The vehicle controller 1 calculates the relative distance information and relative speed information sent by the vehicle sensor device 2 to obtain the relative collision time in real time. When the relative collision time is less than a preset time threshold, it is determined that there is a collision risk. Conversely, when the relative collision time is greater than a preset time threshold, it is determined that there is no collision risk and the vehicle continues to travel.

[0061] When it is determined that there is a risk of collision between the vehicle and the vehicle in front, the vehicle controller 1 further calculates the vehicle speed information transmitted by the vehicle sensor device 2 to obtain a safe braking distance. When the safe braking distance is less than the relative distance obtained in real time by the vehicle sensor device 2, it is determined that the collision can be avoided by activating the emergency braking system 3, and the emergency braking system 3 is activated for emergency braking and the seat belt pretensioning system 5 is used to pretension the seat belt to protect the occupants. Conversely, when the safe braking distance is greater than the relative distance obtained in real time by the vehicle sensor device 2, it is determined that the collision cannot be avoided by activating the emergency braking system 3.

[0062] When the collision cannot be avoided by activating the emergency braking system 3, determine whether there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle;

[0063] The specific operation is as follows: first, the vehicle-mounted sensing device 2 is used to detect whether there are lanes on the left and right sides of the vehicle that can be passed by vehicles. When it is detected that there is a lane that can be passed by vehicles only on the left side of the vehicle, the vehicle-mounted sensing device 2 is further used to detect whether there are vehicles traveling in the adjacent lane on the left side of the vehicle. If there are no vehicles traveling, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the left side of the vehicle. Conversely, when there are vehicles traveling, the relative distance between the vehicle and the vehicles traveling in the adjacent lane on the left side of the vehicle is detected, and the vehicle-mounted controller 1 compares the detected relative distance with the safe lane-changing distance threshold. When the relative distance is greater than the safe lane-changing distance threshold, it indicates that it is safe for the vehicle to change lanes, and at this time, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the left side of the vehicle.

[0064] Alternatively, when it is detected that there is only a lane on the right side of the vehicle that can be passed by vehicles, the on-board sensor device 2 further detects whether there is a vehicle in the adjacent lane on the right side of the vehicle. If there is no vehicle, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the right side of the vehicle. Conversely, when there is a vehicle, the relative distance between the vehicle and the vehicle in the adjacent lane on the right side of the vehicle is detected, and the on-board controller 1 compares the detected relative distance with the safe lane-changing distance threshold. When the relative distance is greater than the safe lane-changing distance threshold, it indicates that it is safe for the vehicle to change lanes, and it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the right side of the vehicle.

[0065] Alternatively, when it is detected that there are lanes that vehicles can pass through on both the left and right sides of the vehicle, the on-board sensing device 2 is used to further detect whether there are vehicles traveling on the adjacent lanes on the left and right sides of the vehicle. If there are no vehicles traveling on both sides, it is determined that there are safe driving areas on the left and right sides of the vehicle; conversely, if there are vehicles traveling on both sides, the relative distance between the vehicle and the vehicles traveling on the adjacent lanes on the left and right sides of the vehicle is detected, and the on-board controller 1 compares the detected relative distance with the safe lane-changing distance threshold. When the relative distance on one side is greater than the safe lane-changing distance threshold, it indicates that it is safe for the vehicle to change lanes, and at this time it is determined that there is a safe driving area on one side of the vehicle; conversely, when the relative distance between the vehicle and the vehicles traveling on the adjacent lanes on the left and right sides is less than the safe lane-changing distance threshold, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on both the left and right sides of the vehicle.

[0066] When there are lanes on the left and right sides of the vehicle that can pass through, detect whether the turn signal of the vehicle behind the vehicle in the same lane is turned on;

[0067] If the left turn signal is on and there is a lane only on the left side of the vehicle that can be driven through, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on either side of the vehicle;

[0068] If the left turn signal is on and there are lanes on both the left and right sides of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the right side of the vehicle;

[0069] If the right turn signal is on and there is a lane only on the right side of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on either side of the vehicle;

[0070] If the right turn signal is on and there are lanes on both the left and right sides of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the left side of the vehicle;

[0071] If the turn signal of the vehicle behind your vehicle in the same lane is not on, it is determined that there are safe driving areas on both the left and right sides of your vehicle.

[0072] When there is a safe driving area on the left and / or right side of the vehicle, the onboard controller 1 controls the vehicle to trigger the vehicle steering system 4 to perform an emergency turn according to the planned lane change path;

[0073] The specific operation includes: when there is a safe driving area on the left and / or right side of the vehicle, the vehicle controller 1 first plans a lane change path, such as changing lanes to the left or right, and the steering angle for changing lanes; the steering angle is obtained by comparing the vehicle's real-time speed and the relative distance to the inanimate obstacle ahead detected by the vehicle sensor device 2 with the preset steering angle planning table;

[0074] Afterwards, the on-board controller 1 also determines whether there is a risk of a small offset collision with an inanimate obstacle in front of the vehicle during the lane changing process based on the planned lane changing path. When there is a risk of a small offset collision, the vehicle steering system 4 is suppressed from taking action, and the emergency braking system 3 is activated for emergency braking. When there is no risk of a small offset collision, the on-board controller 1 controls the vehicle to trigger the vehicle steering system 4 for emergency steering according to the planned lane changing path.

[0075] When there is no safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle, the vehicle controller 1 determines whether there is a small offset collision between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front. When it is determined that there is a small offset collision between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front and the longitudinal beam of the vehicle is located in the small offset collision area, the vehicle controller 1 controls the vehicle steering system 4 to perform steering according to the adjusted driving path. For example, when there is a small offset overlap between the left side of the vehicle and the right side of the inanimate obstacle in front, the vehicle driving path is adjusted to a driving path turning left. When the area of the inanimate obstacle in front is large, the frontal collision area between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front is increased. When the area is small, such as a telephone pole, the collision area of the vehicle can be transferred to the middle position of the vehicle to deviate from the longitudinal beam area of the vehicle to improve the safety of the vehicle occupants. Or, for example, when there is a small offset overlap between the right side of the vehicle and the left side of the inanimate obstacle in front, the vehicle's driving path is adjusted to a driving path turning to the right, thereby increasing the frontal collision area between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front. While controlling the vehicle to move along the adjusted driving path, the emergency braking system 3 is controlled to brake, and the seat belt pretensioning system 5 is controlled to pretension the seat belt to maximize the protection of the occupants' safety and alleviate the occupant safety issues caused by small offset collisions.

[0076] If it is determined that there is no small offset collision between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead, or that the vehicle's longitudinal beam is not located within the small offset collision zone, the vehicle's travel path is not changed, and only the emergency braking system 3 is controlled to brake and the seatbelt pretensioning system 5 is controlled to pretension the seatbelts. The specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present invention. Persons skilled in the art may make various modifications, additions, or substitute similar methods to the described specific embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention or exceeding the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision, characterized in that: include: When there is an unavoidable risk of collision between the vehicle and an inanimate obstacle ahead in the same lane, determine whether there is a safe driving area to the left or right of the vehicle; If a safe driving area exists, the vehicle determines whether there is a risk of a small offset collision with an inanimate obstacle ahead during the lane change based on the planned lane change path. If there is no risk of a small offset collision, the vehicle performs an emergency turn based on the planned lane change path. If there is no safe driving area or there is a risk of a small offset collision during the lane change process, determine whether there is a small offset collision between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead on the original driving path and whether the longitudinal beam of the vehicle is within the collision area. If both of the above conditions are true, the vehicle performs a steering action according to the adjusted driving path to increase the collision area of the vehicle or move the collision area away from the longitudinal beam of the vehicle, and at the same time controls the vehicle for emergency braking. If either condition is false, continue working on the original driving path and control the vehicle for emergency braking.

2. The method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision according to claim 1, characterized in that: The operations for determining whether there is an unavoidable collision risk between the vehicle and an inanimate obstacle ahead in the same lane include: Real-time acquisition of vehicle speed information, relative distance information and relative speed information between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead; The relative distance information and relative speed information obtained are calculated to obtain the relative collision time in real time. When the relative collision time is less than the preset time threshold, it is judged that there is a collision risk. Then, the safe braking distance is obtained based on the vehicle's speed information. When the safe braking distance is greater than the relative distance obtained in real time, it is judged that there is a risk of unavoidable collision between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle in front of it in the same lane.

3. The method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The operations for determining whether there are safe driving areas on the left and right sides of the vehicle include: Detect whether there are lanes on the left and right sides of the vehicle that can be driven through. If there are lanes that can be driven through, the relative distance between the vehicle and the vehicle in the adjacent lane is compared with the safe lane change distance threshold in real time. When the relative distance is greater than the safe lane change distance threshold, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle; If there is no lane through which the vehicle can pass or the relative distance between the vehicle and the vehicle in the adjacent lane is less than the safe lane change distance threshold, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on either side of the vehicle.

4. The method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision according to claim 3, characterized in that: The operation of determining whether there is a safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle also includes: When there are lanes on the left and right sides of the vehicle that can be driven by other vehicles, detect whether the turn signal of the vehicle behind the vehicle in the same lane is turned on; If the left turn signal is on and there is a lane only to the left of the vehicle where the vehicle can pass, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on either side of the vehicle. If the left turn signal is on and there are lanes on both the left and right sides of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the right side of the vehicle; If the right turn signal is on and there is a lane only to the right of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is no safe driving area on either side of the vehicle. If the right turn signal is on and there are lanes on both the left and right sides of the vehicle where vehicles can pass, it is determined that there is a safe driving area on the left side of the vehicle; If the turn signal of the vehicle behind your vehicle in the same lane is not on, it is determined that there are safe driving areas on the left and right sides of your vehicle.

5. The method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision according to claim 1, characterized in that: The lane change path is generated according to the steering angle.

6. The method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision according to claim 5, characterized in that: The steering angle is determined according to the real-time speed of the vehicle and the relative distance to the inanimate obstacle in front.

7. The method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision according to claim 6, characterized in that: The steering angle is obtained by querying a preset steering angle planning table using the vehicle's real-time speed and the relative distance to the inanimate obstacle in front as input parameters.

8. The method for protecting a vehicle from a small offset collision according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: When it is determined that there is a risk of collision between the vehicle and an inanimate obstacle ahead in the same lane, the vehicle seat belts are pre-tightened.

9. A vehicle small offset collision protection system, comprising an onboard controller (1), an emergency braking system (3) connected to the onboard controller (1), a vehicle steering system (4), and an onboard sensor device (2) for detecting the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and non-living obstacles within a 360-degree range of the vehicle and a drivable area, wherein: The vehicle-mounted controller (1) comprises: A collision risk judgment module (11) is used to judge whether there is an unavoidable collision risk between the vehicle and the non-living obstacle in front of the vehicle in the same lane based on the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and the non-living obstacle in front; A safety zone analysis module (12) is used to determine whether there is a safe driving zone on the left or right side of the vehicle based on the detected drivable zone and the relative distance and relative speed between the vehicle and the vehicles in the adjacent lanes; A small offset collision judgment module (13) is used to judge whether there is a small offset overlap between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead and to judge whether there is a small offset collision risk between the vehicle and the inanimate obstacle ahead during the lane change process based on the planned lane change path; A first control module (14) is configured to output a control instruction for controlling the vehicle to perform an emergency turn according to a planned lane change path when there is an unavoidable collision risk and there are safe driving areas on the left and right sides of the vehicle; A second control module (15) is configured to output a path adjustment control instruction for increasing the collision area of the vehicle or moving the collision area of the vehicle away from the longitudinal beam of the vehicle, and output an emergency braking control instruction when there is an unavoidable collision risk, there is no safe driving area on the left or right side of the vehicle, there is a small offset collision between the vehicle and a non-living obstacle in front, and the longitudinal beam of the vehicle is located in the collision area; The vehicle steering system (4) is used to perform steering actions according to control instructions output by the first control module (14) or the second control module (15); The emergency braking system (3) is used for performing emergency braking according to the control instruction output by the second control module (15).

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