Computer-implemented method for supporting a vehicle's driving maneuver, computer program, control unit and vehicle

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for supporting a vehicle's driving maneuver, comprising the following steps: determining an operating situation of the vehicle, in particular a parking maneuver and / or a planned lane change of the vehicle is determined as the operating situation; wherein the following steps are performed: determining the location of at least one relevant area in the vicinity of the vehicle depending on the determined operating situation; receiving a radio signal from at least one external source, in particular from a mobile electronic device, another vehicle, an infrastructure facility and / or a server device, wherein the radio signal represents at least additional data relating to the determined relevant area; and displaying an acoustic, visual and / or haptic warning to the driver depending on the received radio signal;and / or control of a drive and / or steering system of the vehicle depending on the received radio signal for the execution of the driving maneuver.;

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method for assisting a vehicle's driving maneuver. The invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of this method. The invention further relates to a vehicle control unit comprising a processing unit configured to perform the steps of this method. The invention also relates to a vehicle with this control unit. State of the art

[0002] Document DE 10 2020 211 890 A1 discloses a method for fusing environmental parameters, each determined using data from different sensor systems, to determine a representation of the sensor systems' environment. The method comprises providing at least one environmental parameter from a first sensor system and at least one environmental parameter from a second sensor system; and fusing the at least one environmental parameter from the first sensor system with the at least one environmental parameter from the second sensor system according to assigned weighting factors, to determine the representation of the sensor systems' environment.

[0003] Patent application DE 10 2014 216 781 A1 discloses a method for forwarding a data packet containing at least position data, which is received via a vehicle ad-hoc network in a transmission signal, comprising: filtering the received data packet based on a predetermined filter condition; and forwarding the filtered data packet to another receiver based on an identification of whether the filtered data packet should be forwarded to the other receiver.

[0004] Document DE 10 2022 125 794 A1 discloses a method for remotely executing a driving maneuver of a vehicle. The document discloses the acquisition of the environment by means of at least one acquisition device of the remotely controlled vehicle and the provision of this vehicle-acquired environmental information. The document also discloses the acquisition of the environment in a surrounding area of ​​the vehicle by means of at least one infrastructure acquisition device located externally to the vehicle and mounted on a stationary infrastructure unit, and the provision of this vehicle-acquired environmental information. Furthermore, this document discloses the transmission of the vehicle-acquired environmental information and the vehicle-acquired environmental information to a remote control center.

[0005] Document EP2764505 B1 discloses a display method for a vehicle, wherein a vehicle position is determined and vehicle environment data is queried from a database according to the determined vehicle position. Subsequently, the vehicle environment is captured and a vehicle environment view is displayed based on the queried vehicle environment data and the captured vehicle environment.

[0006] The object of the present invention is to improve a method for supporting a driving maneuver of a vehicle. Disclosure of the invention

[0007] The above problem is solved according to the invention in accordance with independent claims 1 and 17 to 19.

[0008] The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method for supporting a vehicle's driving maneuver. The method comprises determining the vehicle's operating state. The operating state is defined, in particular, as a driving maneuver, specifically a parking maneuver, or a planned lane change during a vehicle's journey, determined, for example, based on a detected speed, steering angle, or position of the vehicle, and / or optionally on sensor data. In other words, the determination of the operating state preferably involves detecting the activation of the vehicle's drive system or the start of a journey, particularly a parking maneuver, and / or the activation of a turn signal, steering angle, or speed.The operating situation is then advantageously determined based on the detected activation of the drive, the detected activation of the turn signal, the detected steering angle greater than a steering angle threshold, and / or the detected speed above a speed threshold, and / or based on optionally acquired sensor data. The determination of the operating situation or the impending driving maneuver can advantageously be carried out using a trained machine recognition method or a trained situation analysis, in particular by a neural network. Subsequently, in a further step of the process, the location of at least one relevant area for the impending driving maneuver in the vicinity of the vehicle is determined based on the identified operating situation.The location of the relevance area is determined, in particular, absolutely in geographical coordinates and / or relative to the vehicle, based on the vehicle's determined operating situation. Advantageously, the relevance area for the upcoming driving maneuver is determined with regard to the presence of potentially collision-relevant moving objects, which are considered relevant and not sufficiently detected by the vehicle's sensors. The determination of the relevance area can preferably be carried out using a further trained machine recognition method, in particular another neural network.The method comprises receiving a radio signal from at least one external source, in particular from a mobile electronic device, another vehicle, an infrastructure facility, and / or a server device, wherein the radio signal represents at least supplementary data for the determined area of ​​relevance. Subsequently, according to the invention, an acoustic, visual, and / or haptic warning is displayed depending on the received radio signal, and / or the vehicle's drive and / or steering is controlled or regulated depending on the received radio signal to execute the driving maneuver. The method results in the technical advantage that information about the area of ​​the environment that is not detectable by the vehicle's sensors is obtained, and this area of ​​the environment is assessed as relevant for executing an upcoming driving maneuver of the vehicle.This allows additional data or information to be taken into account when performing the driving maneuver, thus reducing the driver's stress level and the risk of collision for the vehicle, and increasing safety during the driving maneuver and the comfort of the journey.

[0009] Preferably, the method comprises acquiring sensor data using at least one sensor of the vehicle, wherein the acquired sensor data represents the vehicle's environment. The sensor is advantageously an ultrasonic sensor, a radar sensor, a camera sensor, and / or a lidar sensor. In particular, the sensor data is acquired using a plurality of sensors or a sensor system of the vehicle. Preferably, the sensor data is acquired from at least two sensors of different sensor types. Subsequently, the location of the relevant area is determined based on the acquired sensor data, whereby, in particular, insufficient sensor data and preferably no sensor data are acquired for the relevant area.This embodiment of the invention determines the relevance area based on the acquired sensor data, so that limitations of the field of view and / or contamination of a sensor are advantageously taken into account when determining the relevance area.

[0010] In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the drive and / or steering of the vehicle is controlled depending on the received radio signal. In particular, if no radio signal is received, the vehicle initially travels at a slower speed, for example, walking speed. After the relevant area has been fully detected by the sensors, the vehicle accelerates to a higher speed, for example, 20 km / h. This reduces the risk of collisions, for example, when pulling out of a parking space or changing lanes on a busy road or in high traffic density, especially if no radio signal has been received.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a request signal is sent to the external source to provide additional data on the determined relevance area. The transmitted request signal includes, in particular, at least one piece of information about the location of the relevance area in the vicinity of the vehicle. The request signal is preferably configured to cause the external source to transmit the radio signal. In other words, this embodiment attempts to contact moving objects in the vicinity to request that they send the additional data on the determined relevance area. This embodiment results in high efficiency and lower energy consumption of the method, since the received radio signals are not continuously provided by external sources but are only transmitted upon request and, if necessary, for a fee or a usage license.

[0012] In a further development, the request signal is configured to activate at least one sensor of a third-party vehicle positioned in the vicinity of the vehicle, for example, a parked third-party vehicle, and / or a sensor of an infrastructure facility, as an external source for monitoring the relevant area. This further development activates or triggers the detection of the relevant area by the external source, thus forcing or at least increasing the likelihood of the transmission of the radio signal by the external source or the generation of the additional data for the relevant area. Advantageously, in this configuration, parked vehicles in a standby mode can also be temporarily activated to monitor the relevant area and triggered to transmit the radio signal, provided they are located within the vicinity of the relevant area.

[0013] Preferably, the received radio signal represents the position and / or speed of at least one moving object and / or the presence of a moving object and / or an impending entry and / or exit of a moving object into the determined relevance area as additional data. This advantageously requires only a small amount of data to be exchanged, thus ensuring a low bandwidth of the radio signal and fast reception and transmission.

[0014] Alternatively or additionally, in a preferred embodiment, the received radio signal from the external source, i.e., for example, from another vehicle and / or an infrastructure facility, represents external sensor data acquired within the determined relevance area as supplementary data. This advantageously transmits a high information density and augments the sensor data of the vehicle's own sensor system with external sensor data from a third-party sensor or sensor system.

[0015] In a further development, the acquired sensor data is combined or fused with the received external sensor data to create fused sensor data. Subsequently, in this configuration, the drive and / or steering is controlled based on the fused sensor data. This advantageously makes the execution of the driving maneuver particularly safe and reliable.

[0016] In one embodiment of the invention, the determination of the relevance area comprises sending a query request via radio signal to a server device and receiving a result signal from the server device, wherein the server device is configured to determine the relevance area based on the received query request. In this embodiment, the result signal transmitted by the server device represents the relevance area determined by the server device. This outsources the determination to the server device, thus advantageously eliminating the need for dedicated computing resources in the vehicle, thereby reducing the costs of the control unit or the vehicle configured to execute the method.

[0017] In another implementation, map data relating to the vehicle's surroundings is provided. The vehicle's position is also recorded, for example, by a satellite-based navigation system such as GPS. In the event of an investigation request, this represents at least the vehicle's position and optionally the map data, which is alternatively provided via the server device. In this implementation, the determination of the relevant area in the vehicle's vicinity is additionally based on the recorded vehicle position and the provided map data, with the determination of the relevant area being carried out primarily via the server device.

[0018] The determination of the relevance zone in the vehicle's vicinity is preferably also dependent on a safety requirement. This safety requirement is specifically adjusted based on user input, a received radio signal from a server, the time of day, and / or traffic density in the vehicle's vicinity determined from sensor data. In the case of a query, this query also represents the safety requirement, which is either determined or provided by the server. This approach offers the advantage that the determined relevance zone varies depending on the safety requirement, allowing it to be flexibly adapted to different boundary conditions.

[0019] It can also be provided that the relevance zone in the vicinity of the vehicle is additionally determined based on a maximum permitted speed in the vicinity, a coefficient of friction, and / or the topography of the road on which the vehicle is located, and / or based on current environmental and / or weather conditions. These dependencies or parameters are detected and / or determined by the vehicle and, in the event of a query, are preferably represented by the vehicle or, alternatively, provided on the server device. For example, the relevance zone increases with increasing maximum speed, and at least the more distant boundary of the relevance zone is located further away from the vehicle. This has the advantage that the safety of executing the driving maneuver is adapted to the situation.

[0020] Furthermore, the received additional data may include at least one assignment to further information: a perspective and / or a position from which the additional data was acquired by the external source, and / or a time of acquisition of the additional data, and / or a confidence measure for the additional data. In this implementation, the fusion of the acquired sensor data with the additional data received from the external source, and / or the control of the drive and / or steering, is additionally performed depending on the assigned further information. This implementation advantageously allows received additional data from multiple external sources to be filtered, selected, and / or weighted for the relevance of the warning and / or the control of the drive and / or steering.

[0021] Preferably, a communication signal is transmitted to at least one moving object in the vicinity of the vehicle and / or a server device, wherein the communication signal represents information about the vehicle and its operating status, and optionally about the location of the relevant area. This allows moving objects in the vicinity of the vehicle to be advantageously warned of the vehicle's operating status or planned driving maneuver.

[0022] In a recommended further development, a response signal is subsequently received from at least one moving object in response to the transmitted communication signal. This represents, in particular, an acknowledgment of the moving object and / or an adjustment of the moving object's movement to the vehicle's operating situation. In this implementation, the control of the drive and / or steering is dependent on the received response signal, whereby, in particular, the initiation of a driving maneuver and / or the duration of the vehicle's inactivity are modified depending on the response signal. In other words, in this implementation, the execution of the driving maneuver is coordinated with a moving object in the vicinity, whereby the moving object, by transmitting the response signal, can either grant priority to the planned driving maneuver of the vehicle or demand priority itself with regard to its own movement.

[0023] The invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause it to perform the steps of the computer-implemented method according to the invention to support a driving maneuver.

[0024] The invention further relates to a vehicle control unit, in particular a central computing device. The control unit optionally comprises at least one signal input for providing a sensor signal, which represents sensor data acquired by at least one sensor of the vehicle, wherein the acquired sensor data represents the vehicle's environment. The control unit has a receiver for receiving a radio signal from at least one external source, wherein the received radio signal represents at least additional data relating to a determined relevance area in the vehicle's environment. The control unit also comprises a signal output for outputting a control signal for an acoustic and / or visual and / or haptic display device for displaying an acoustic and / or visual and / or haptic warning.Alternatively or additionally, the control unit includes a signal output for outputting a control signal for a drive and / or for a steering device of the vehicle. Furthermore, the control unit includes a processing unit configured to perform the steps of the method according to the invention.

[0025] The invention also relates to a vehicle comprising the control unit according to the invention.

[0026] Further advantages will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the figures. Fig. 1: Flowchart of the procedure as a block diagram Fig. 2: Parking maneuver as a driving maneuver with a determined relevance area Fig. 3: Temporal dependency of considering radio signals from different external sources Fig. 4: Prediction of the trajectories of different moving objects Examples of implementation

[0027] In Fig. Figure 1 shows a flowchart of the computer-implemented method for supporting a vehicle's driving maneuver, presented as a block diagram. In an optional step 110, sensor data representing the vehicle's surroundings are acquired. In a further optional step 111, map data relating to the vehicle's surroundings can be provided. This map data includes, for example, road layouts and / or the locations of parking spaces and / or static objects or obstacles and / or buildings. Furthermore, in optional step 112, a vehicle position can be acquired, for example, by a satellite-based navigation system such as GPS. In step 120 according to the invention, an operating situation of the vehicle is determined.Preferably, the operating situation or planned driving maneuver is determined to be a parking maneuver of the vehicle and / or a planned lane change of the vehicle and / or lane keeping or a planned straight-ahead drive of the vehicle. In a further step 130, the location of at least one relevance area in the vicinity of the vehicle is determined depending on the identified operating situation. The location of the relevance area is advantageously determined in geographical coordinates and / or relative to the vehicle. The relevance area represents a sub-area of ​​the vehicle's environment that is relevant or essential for the operating situation or the planned driving maneuver, wherein, in particular, no, insufficient, or not reliably enough sensor data can be acquired by a sensor of the vehicle within the relevance area.For example, if moving objects or other vehicles are present in a relevant area for a maneuver to exit a parallel parking space, whereby this relevant area is positioned diagonally behind the vehicle on the roadway relative to the vehicle and may be difficult to see, for example in curves and / or with obstructed visibility, then these moving objects would influence the planned driving maneuver or the operating situation of the vehicle or pose a collision risk.For example, if moving objects or other vehicles are present in the relevant area for a lane change on a multi-lane road, and this relevant area is positioned diagonally behind the vehicle relative to the roadway and may be difficult to see, for example, in curves and / or when visibility is obstructed by a truck or similar object behind the vehicle, then these moving objects would influence the planned driving maneuver or the vehicle's operating situation and / or pose a collision risk. For the operating situation of maintaining a lane, the relevant area may be located in front of the vehicle on the same lane, and this area may be obscured, not visible, or not detectable by sensors due to another vehicle driving in front.Even within such a relevance zone located in front of the vehicle, potentially static or moving objects may be present that influence the vehicle's operating situation or pose a collision risk. Optionally, several relevance zones with different positions relative to the vehicle can be determined simultaneously for a specific operating situation. These relevance zones can overlap, and different priorities are assigned to them, particularly based on their distance from the vehicle. The determination of the relevance zone's position is preferably based on the acquired sensor data, the provided map data, and / or the acquired vehicle position, although it is possible that no sensor data may be acquired for the relevance zone itself.Advantageously, the relevance area lies within a surrounding area that can include road users or external objects which pose a potential collision risk for the planned driving maneuver or the operating situation. The determination of the relevance area is optionally carried out in the vicinity of the vehicle, also depending on a safety requirement. This safety requirement is adjusted by a user input, a received radio signal from a server, the current time, and / or the traffic density in the vicinity of the vehicle, determined based on the sensor data.The determination of the relevance area 130 in the vicinity of the vehicle can optionally also be carried out depending on a permitted maximum speed in the vicinity of the vehicle, a coefficient of friction and / or the topography of the road on which the vehicle is located and / or depending on current environmental and / or weather conditions. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a query for determining the relevance area 130 is sent via radio signal to a server device, and a result signal is received from a server device. In this embodiment, the server device is configured to determine the relevance area, with the received result signal representing the relevance area determined by the server device.In other words, the determination of the relevance area can optionally be outsourced to a server device via communication with that server device, thus saving computing resources in the vehicle. The steps for determining the relevance area, particularly for the radio signals, exhibit a low maximum time delay or low maximum latency, which can be achieved, for example, with radio signals in the 5G and 6G standards and modern data centers. Furthermore, the communication and determination times—specifically, the time to send the determination request and the time to receive the result signal, as well as the processing time in the server device—can be of minor importance, for example, in the case of a planned driving maneuver during parking or exiting a parking space, or in the case of a determined operational situation.In a further optional step 140 of the method, a request signal for providing additional data on the determined relevance area is sent to the external source, wherein the sent request signal includes, in particular, at least one piece of information on the location of the relevance area in the vicinity of the vehicle. In other words, the external source is requested to send a radio signal with additional data on the relevance area. The sent request signal can optionally be configured to activate at least one sensor of a third-party vehicle and / or an infrastructure facility positioned in the vicinity of the vehicle for monitoring the relevance area. Subsequently, in step 150 of the invention, at least one radio signal is received from at least one external source.The external source is, in particular, a mobile electronic device, such as a pedestrian's smartphone, a third-party vehicle, an infrastructure facility, and / or a server. The received radio signal represents at least supplementary data for the determined relevance area. For example, the received radio signal represents the position and / or speed of at least one moving object, and / or the presence of a moving object, and / or the imminent entry and / or exit of a moving object into the determined relevance area as supplementary data. The received radio signal can also represent external sensor data acquired by a third-party vehicle and / or an infrastructure facility for the determined relevance area as supplementary data. The supplementary data received by the radio signal in step 150 advantageously includes at least one mapping to further information.Additional information can include, for example, a perspective and / or position from which the supplementary data from the external source was acquired. Alternatively or additionally, the time of acquisition of the supplementary data can be assigned. Alternatively or additionally, a confidence measure for the supplementary data can also be assigned. If the radio signal or the supplementary data represents acquired external sensor data, an optional step 160 involves fusing the acquired sensor data with the received external sensor data to create fused sensor data. Alternatively or additionally, the fusion 160 of the acquired sensor data with the supplementary data received from the external source can be performed at a higher level of interpretation, for example, at the level of detected moving objects and their positions and / or movements.In a further embodiment of the invention, in optional step 170, a communication signal is transmitted to at least one moving object in the vicinity of the vehicle and / or a server device, wherein the communication signal represents information about the vehicle and its operating status and, optionally, the location of the relevant area. Subsequently, in the also optional step 175, a response signal to the transmitted communication signal can be received from at least one moving object, wherein the response signal particularly represents an acknowledgment of the moving object and / or an adjustment of the movement of the moving object to the operating status of the vehicle. In step 180, an acoustic, visual, and / or haptic warning is displayed to the driver depending on the received radio signal.Alternatively or additionally, in step 190, the vehicle's drive and / or steering is controlled or regulated based on the received radio signal to execute the driving maneuver. Optionally, the control of the drive and / or steering in step 190 is also performed based on the associated additional information from the received supplementary data. Furthermore, the control of the drive and / or steering in step 190 is optionally performed based on the fused sensor data. It can also be provided that the control of the drive and / or steering in step 190, based on the received radio signal, initially occurs at a slower vehicle speed, for example, walking speed. Subsequently, after the relevant area has been fully sensor-acquired, the vehicle is accelerated to a higher speed, for example, 20 km / h.In this advantageous configuration, the risk of collision is minimized, for example, when backing out of parking spaces on busy streets. Furthermore, the control 190 of the drive and / or steering can optionally be carried out depending on the received response signal, whereby, in particular, the start of a driving maneuver and / or the period of time the vehicle remains stationary without any adjustment of movement is modified depending on the response signal.

[0028] In Fig. Figure 2a shows a planned parking maneuver of a vehicle 200 in a top view, see arrow 201, wherein the vehicle 200 is supported by an exemplary computer-implemented method according to the invention during the parking maneuver along arrow 201. The vehicle 200 is parked in a parallel parking space 210 on a street 220. Other vehicles 230 are parked in front of and behind the vehicle. On the roadway 225 of the street 220, another vehicle is approaching the vehicle 200 as an external source 290 and as a moving object 240. This external source 290, which as a moving object 240 is not detectable or only detectable with great difficulty by a sensor of the vehicle 200, can become relevant for the planned parking maneuver of the vehicle 200, since it represents a collision risk depending on when the parking maneuver starts and depending on its position and speed. The depicted hazard situation may be more pronounced in perpendicular parking spaces or on curves in the road.Also shown are several relevance areas 250, 251, and 252 determined by a processing unit of a vehicle control unit. The other vehicle, acting as an external source 290, can transmit a radio signal according to the proposed method, which represents additional data for at least one of the relevance areas 250, 251, and 252. The radio signal can be received and / or transmitted via a V2V communication standard and / or via a mobile communication connection and a server. For example, the additional data includes at least a current or predicted position and / or a current or predicted speed and / or a current or predicted trajectory of the other vehicle as a moving object 240 in at least one of the relevance areas 250, 251, and / or 252.The additional data of the transmitted or received radio signal from vehicle 200 can alternatively or additionally include external sensor data for at least one of the relevance areas 250, 251, and / or 252, whereby this external sensor data was acquired by means of at least one sensor of the other vehicle. The additional data can alternatively or additionally include time information regarding the acquisition or a perspective of the vehicle as an external source 290. By receiving the radio signal transmitted by external source 29, vehicle 200 thus receives collision-relevant information about the relevance areas 250, 251, and / or 252 for the planned parking maneuver or for the currently determined operating situation.

[0029] In Fig. 2b is the temporal change in the position of the relevance areas 250, 251 and / or 252 during the vehicle's parking maneuver. Fig. 2a is shown schematically. The safety requirement in relevance area 250 is higher in this example than the safety requirement in relevance area 251, which in turn is higher than the safety requirement in relevance area 252. In other words, when starting the parking maneuver, it is important that no moving object 240 is present in relevance area 250. For later points in the planned parking maneuver, it is important to avoid collisions that no moving objects 240 are present in relevance areas 251 and 252 either. A [missing text] from the [missing text] Fig. The radio signal received by the moving object 240 shown in Figure 2a as an external source 290 can transmit information to the vehicle 200 via the additional data, which concerns the presence of itself or other moving objects 240 in one of the relevance areas 250 to 252. Advantageously, the additional data also includes sensor data acquired by the external source 290. For example, the additional data can also include information about other moving objects 241 acquired by the external source 290, which are located in Fig. 2a are located in front of or behind the foreign vehicle or the external source 290, for example, the additional data received by the radio signal may include a position and / or a speed and / or a likely time of entry of another moving object 241 into at least one of the relevance areas 250 to 252.

[0030] In Fig. Figure 3 depicts a parking maneuver of a vehicle 200 from a parallel parking space 210, viewed from above, on a road 220 with a right-hand curve, at two different times T1 and T2. The vehicle is supported, by way of example, by a computer-implemented method according to the invention. It is shown in particular that external sources 391, 392, 393, which can detect the relevance areas 350, 351, and 352, can switch over time, specifically between time T1 and time T2. At time T1, a radio signal from the first external source 391 is considered for the relevance area 351 because this area is detected more completely by the first external source 391 than by the second external source 392.In contrast, at time T1, the radio signals of external sources 391 and 392 are considered for relevance area 350 because this relevance area is adequately covered by both the first and second external sources 391. The consideration of the external sources for the corresponding or different relevance areas 350, 351, and 352 preferably depends on the distance of the respective external source 391, 392, or 393 from the respective relevance area 350, 351, or 352. At time T2, due to the inherent movement of the external sources 391, 392, and 393, the radio signals of the second and third external sources 392 and 393 are considered for relevance area 350, and the radio signal of the second external source 392 is considered for relevance area 351.

[0031] In Fig. Figure 4 shows a parking maneuver of a vehicle in a top view, wherein the vehicle is supported by an exemplary computer-implemented method according to the invention. Fig. Figure 4 schematically depicts the trajectory predictions 460, 461, 462 of different moving objects 440, 441, 442, 443 and illustrates the cyclist's field of vision 470 as a moving object 440. These predicted trajectories and the field of vision can be determined, for example, based on external sensor data from the external source 491. It may be provided that the radio signal of the external source 491 includes, as additional data, at least one piece of information depending on the predicted trajectories 460, 461, 462 of the moving objects 440, 441, 442, 443 and / or their field of view 470, if these trajectories 460, 461, 462 and / or the field of view 470 are deemed relevant for the respective relevance area 450, 451, 452 or 453. QUOTES INCLUDED IN THE DESCRIPTION

[0000] This list of documents cited by the applicant was automatically generated and is included solely for the reader's convenience. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA accepts no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature

[0000] DE 10 2020 211 890 A1

[0002] DE 10 2014 216 781 A1

[0003] DE 10 2022 125 794 A1

[0004] EP 2764505 B1

[0005]

Claims

[1] Computer-implemented method for assisting a vehicle driving maneuver (200), comprising the steps • Determination (120) of an operating situation of the vehicle (200), characterized by that the following steps are carried out • Determination (130) of the location of at least one relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) in the vicinity of the vehicle (200) depending on the determined operating situation, • Reception (150) of a radio signal from at least one external source (290, 391, 392, 393, 491), wherein the radio signal represents at least additional data to the determined relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453), and • Display (180) an acoustic, visual and / or haptic warning for the driver of the vehicle (200) depending on the received radio signal, and / or • Control (190) of a drive and / or steering system of the vehicle (200) depending on the received radio signal for carrying out the driving maneuver. [2] The method of claim 1, wherein the following steps are carried out • Acquisition (110) of sensor data representing the vehicle's environment (200), and • wherein the determination (130) of the location of the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) is additionally carried out depending on the sensor data recorded. [3] Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the control (190) of the drive and / or steering of the vehicle (200) is carried out depending on the received radio signal, initially with a slower speed of the vehicle (200), wherein after sensor detection of at least a substantial part of the relevance range (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) an acceleration to a higher speed of the vehicle (200) takes place. [4] A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the following step is carried out • Transmission (140) of a request signal to provide additional data on the determined relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) to the external source (290, 391, 392, 393, 491), wherein the transmitted request signal includes, in particular, at least one piece of information on the location of the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) in the vicinity of the vehicle (200). [5] Method according to claim 4, wherein the transmitted request signal is configured to activate at least one sensor of a foreign vehicle (230, 290, 391, 392, 393, 491) positioned in the vicinity of the vehicle and / or an infrastructure facility for monitoring the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453). [6] Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the received radio signal represents the position and / or the speed of at least one moving object and / or the presence of a moving object and / or an impending entry and / or exit of a moving object into the determined relevance area as additional data. [7] Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the received radio signal from the external source (230, 290, 391, 392, 393, 491) represents external sensor data acquired for the determined relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) as additional data. [8] The method of claim 7, wherein the following steps are carried out • Fusion (160) of the acquired sensor data with the received external sensor data to form fused sensor data, and • wherein the display (180) of the acoustic, visual and / or haptic warning occurs depending on the fused sensor data, and / or • wherein the control (190) of the drive and / or steering is carried out depending on the fused sensor data. [9] Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the location of the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) is determined in geographical coordinates and / or relative to the vehicle (200). [10] Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determination (130) of the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) comprises sending a determination request by radio signal and receiving a result signal from a server device, wherein the server device is configured to determine the relevance area and the result signal represents the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) determined by the server device. [11] Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the following additional steps are carried out • Provision (111) of map data relating to the vehicle's surroundings (200), and • Vehicle position detection (112), and • wherein the determination (130) of the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) in the vicinity of the vehicle is additionally carried out depending on the recorded vehicle position and the map data provided. [12] Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determination (130) of the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) in the vicinity of the vehicle is additionally carried out depending on a safety requirement, wherein the safety requirement is adapted by a detected input from the user and / or by a received setting radio signal from a server device and / or depending on the time and / or depending on a traffic density in the vicinity of the vehicle (200) determined based on the detected sensor data. [13] Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determination (130) of the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) in the vicinity of the vehicle (200) is additionally carried out depending on a maximum permitted speed in the vicinity of the vehicle (200), a coefficient of friction and / or a topography of the road on which the vehicle (200) is located and / or depending on current environmental and / or weather conditions. [14] Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein • the received additional data includes at least one assignment to further information: i. a perspective and / or a position from which the additional data from the external source (290, 391, 392, 393, 491) were collected, ii. a time of collection of the additional data, and / or iii. a confidence measure for the additional data, and • wherein the fusion (160) of the captured sensor data and / or the display (180) of the warning and / or the control (190) of the drive and / or steering is each additionally carried out depending on the associated further information of the received additional data. [15] A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the following steps are carried out • Transmission (170) of a communication signal to at least one moving object in the vicinity of the vehicle and / or a server device, wherein the communication signal represents information about the vehicle (200) and its operating situation and optionally about the location of the relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453). [16] The method of claim 15, wherein the following steps are carried out • Receipt (175) of a response signal to the transmitted communication signal from the at least one moving object, wherein the response signal in particular represents an awareness of the moving object and / or an adjustment of the movement of the moving object to the operating situation of the vehicle, and • wherein the control (190) of the drive and / or steering is carried out depending on the received response signal, wherein in particular a start to carry out a driving maneuver and / or a period of time of the vehicle without movement adjustment is changed depending on the response signal. [17] Computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause it to perform the steps of the computer-implemented method for assisting a driving maneuver according to any of the preceding claims. [18] Control unit, in particular central computing device, of a vehicle, comprising at least the following components • a receiving device for receiving a radio signal from at least one external source (290, 391, 392, 393, 491), wherein the received radio signal represents at least additional data to a determined relevance area (250, 251, 252, 350, 351, 352, 450, 451, 452, 453) in the vicinity of the vehicle (200), • a signal output for outputting a control signal for a display device and / or for a drive and / or for a steering device of the vehicle (200), and • a computing unit configured to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16. [19] Vehicle (200) comprising a control unit according to claim 18.

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