1530 results about "Cruise control" patented technology

Method and arrangement for controlling a subsystem of a vehicle dependent upon a sensed level of driver inattentiveness to vehicle driving tasks. A variable characteristic is measured, on a substantially real-time basis, which correlates to the driver's inattentiveness. The level of inattentiveness is assessed based at least in part on the measurement. The performance of a subsystem of the vehicle, such as cruise control or lane keeping support, is tailored, based thereupon, to assure that behavior of the vehicle appropriately matches the driver's present level of inattentiveness. The subsystem's operation is controlled in an effort to avoid or prevent the establishment of driving conditions that become inherently more dangerous as the driver's level of inattentiveness increases.

A predictive cruise control system utilizes information about the current vehicle position, and upcoming terrain to save fuel and increase driving comfort. A vehicle operating cost function is defined, based on a plurality of environmental parameters, vehicle parameters, vehicle operating parameters and route parameters. As the vehicle travels over a particular route for which route parameters, such as road gradient and curvature, are stored in a road map, sensors aboard the vehicle detect environmental and vehicle operating parameters, including at least vehicle speed and its position relative to the road map. As the vehicle proceeds, an onboard computer iteratively calculates and stores in a memory vehicle control parameters that optimize the vehicle operating cost function for a predetermined prediction horizon along the route ahead of the vehicle. The optimal vehicle control parameters for the Prediction Horizon are then stored, updated and used to control the vehicle.

In one aspect, the invention is directed to an adaptive cruise control system for a host vehicle, comprising a long-range sensor configured to determine a location of objects positioned ahead of the host vehicle, at least one short-range sensor configured to determine the location of objects in close proximity ahead of the host vehicle, and a controller configured to receive information from the long-range sensor and from the at least one short-range sensor and to control the speed of the host vehicle based at least in part thereon, wherein the controller is configured to operate the at least one short-range sensor in a plurality of operating modes, and to select a short-range sensor operating mode at least in part in response to the location of any objects detected by the long-range sensor.

Methods of assessing driver behavior include monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for a driver's slow reaction time, attention lapse and/or alertness. When it is determined that a driver is drowsy, for example, the response system may modify the operation of one or more vehicle systems. The systems that may be modified include: visual devices, audio devices, tactile devices, antilock brake systems, automatic brake prefill systems, brake assist systems, auto cruise control systems, electronic stability control systems, collision warning systems, lane keep assist systems, blind spot indicator systems, electronic pretensioning systems and climate control systems.

Methods and apparatus for storing, accessing, generating and using information about speed limits and speed traps are described. The system includes a positional sensor such as a GPS device. Position information is used to access a database of speed limit and/or speed trap information. The database may be local or remote. Access to a remote database may be achieved using a wireless communications device such as a wireless (cellular) modem. Encountered speed traps are logged in response to the activation of a speed trap alert button by a user of the device or the output of a radar/laser detector. Speed trap position, date and time information is transmitted to the remote database system. Speed limit information is used to control the speed of the automobile as part of a cruise control operation and/or is used to provide the motor vehicle operator with warnings, e.g., that the applicable speed limit is being exceeded. Speed trap information which is retrieved using positional information provided by the GPS device is used to warn the user of the device of speed traps in the user's vicinity as the user approaches the location of the known speed trap.

A method and system to control forward movement of a vehicle having adaptive control system and a localized communications system, including establishing communications with a target vehicle, identifying the target vehicle to the operator, verifying operator intent, and, executing an automatic following routine. The automatic following routine operates based upon operating parameters of the target vehicle and host vehicle, and, predetermined parameters for following. The operating parameters include vehicle heading, speed, acceleration, operator input to a brake pedal, and, difference in acceleration between the host vehicle and the target vehicle. Disengaging the automatic following routine occurs when one of the target vehicle operating parameters changes by a predetermined amount, e.g., based upon a braking event, interference from third vehicle, operator input, when the target vehicle exceeds a predetermined speed, upon interruption of communications between the host vehicle and the target vehicle, or, upon operator command.

An adaptive control system for an automotive vehicle, which warns of a driver and/or reduces the vehicle speed in consideration of a future trajectory. Receiving from a navigation system node information about nodes within a preview section, a control unit calculates a path radius at each of the nodes within the preview section, and identifies curve sections in accordance with the path radius of the preview section. Subsequently, the control unit estimates a lateral acceleration based on the current vehicle speed and the path radius. Subsequently, the control unit determines an estimated total driver load in accordance with the estimated lateral acceleration. Subsequently, the control unit determines a reference total driver load which is applied to the driver during the host vehicle traveling at an allowable cornering speed. Subsequently, the control unit calculates a driver load deviation between the estimated total driver load and the reference total driver load.

A system for an adaptive cruise control system to regulate vehicle fuel consumption. A velocity of a vehicle is monitored in response to receiving a user input to engage the adaptive cruise control system. The velocity is regulated within a velocity bound range in response to monitoring the velocity of the vehicle. An ideal velocity is calculated for the vehicle within the velocity bound range using a plurality of factors. Then the velocity of the vehicle is automatically adjusted to the calculated ideal velocity in advance of a topographical feature in order to regulate fuel consumption of the vehicle.

The invention relates to a multi-objective coordination-typed self-adaptive cruise control method for a vehicle, comprising the following steps: 1) according to the detail requirements of the multi-objective coordination-typed self-adaptive cruise control for a vehicle, the performance indicators and I/O restriction of MTC ACC are designed, and multi-objective optimization control problem is established; and 2) MTC ACC control law rolling time domain is used for solving the objective optimal control problem, and the optimal open-loop control quantity is used for carrying out feedback and achieving closed-loop control. Based on the steps, the control method comprises the following four parts of contents: 1. the modeling for the longitudinal dynamics of a traction system; 2. the performance indicators of MTC ACC; 3. the I/O restriction design of MTC ACC; and 4. solution by the MTC ACC control law rolling time domain. By constructing multi-objective optimization problem, the control method not only solves the contradiction among the fuel economy, the track performance and the feeling of the driver, moreover, on the same simulation conditions, compared with the LQ ACC control, the control method simultaneously reduces the fuel consumption and vehicle tracking error of the vehicle, and achieves the multi-objective coordinating control function.

The invention relates to a vehicle multi-target coordinating lane changing assisting adaptive cruise control method. The method comprises the following steps that 1) LCACC combination property indexes are set according to two-front-vehicle traceability, multi-vehicle movement safety and longitudinal driving comfort requirements, and the LCACC combination property indexes comprise a cost function and I/O constraints; 2) a multi-target coordinating optimal control problem is built, solving is carried out through a rolling time domain optimization algorithm, the optimal control quantity is obtained, and optimal control is achieved. The LCACC cost function is set according to the following steps that a) a traceability cost function is built through a two-norm linear combination of the vehicle distance errors and vehicle speed errors of the own vehicle and two front vehicles; b) a comfort cost function is built by restraining longitudinal acceleration. The LCACC I/O constraints are set according to the steps that a) in the respect of tracking performance, vehicle following error constraints which are used for limiting the vehicle speed errors and the vehicle distance errors and allowed by a driver are obtained through driver experimental data in a statistic mode; b) in the respect of safety performance, the safety distance between the own vehicle and multiple surrounding vehicles is restrained in the view of vehicle following and collision avoidance; c) in the respect of comfort performance, the expected longitudinal acceleration data range is restrained.

A method for controlling an engine of a vehicle in response to an operator input, comprising of during a first non-cruise control condition and at first distance to a forward vehicle, adjusting engine output in response to said operator input with a first relationship; and during a second non-cruise control condition and at second, greater, distance to a forward vehicle, adjusting engine output in response to said operator input with a second relationship different from said first.

The invention is a curve control system for an automobile self-adaptive cruise control system, comprising a data acquisition module for acquiring the signals of each sensor from the CAN bus of the automobile in real time; Whether it is in the state of entering a curve; the road curvature calculation module of the vehicle's driving trajectory, used to calculate the road curvature of the vehicle's driving trajectory; the effective target screening module, used to filter the effective targets ahead; the maximum cornering speed calculation module of the vehicle , which is used to calculate the maximum cornering speed that the vehicle can reach through the curve under the turning radius of the vehicle; the vehicle speed control module is used to make reasonable control of the vehicle according to the driving conditions of the vehicle, and improve the adaptive cruise control system. Environmental awareness in cornering conditions.

A control system 20 for an automotive vehicle 22, such as an adaptive cruise control system, is provided including a navigation system 34. The navigation system 34 includes a global positioning system 38. The navigation system 34 detects a ramp and generates a navigation signal including navigation data and map data. A controller 24 is electrically coupled to the navigation system 34. The controller 24 in response to the navigation signal adjusts the speed of the vehicle 22.

A cruise control system includes: a traffic condition acquisition unit that acquires a traffic condition that includes a vehicle density on a road on which a vehicle runs; and a cruise control unit that performs cruise control on the vehicle so that a following distance has a less tendency to decrease as the road gets busier.

The invention discloses a vehicle and a glide feedback control method thereof, wherein the glide feedback control method comprises the following steps: the present speed of the vehicle, the depth of a brake pedal of the vehicle and the depth of an accelerator pedal are detected; and when the present speed of the vehicle is greater than the preset vehicle speed, the depth of the brake pedal and the depth of the accelerator pedal are both 0, the present gear of the vehicle is D gear, the vehicle is not in a cruise control mode, and an anti-locking braking system of the vehicle is in a unworking state, the vehicle is controlled to enter a glide feedback control mode, wherein when the vehicle is in the glide feedback control mode, the glide feedback torque of a first electric generator and the glide feedback torque of a second electric generator are distributed according to the selected glide feedback torque curve of the vehicle. The glide feedback control method of the vehicle can recover the energy to the greatest extent under the precondition of guaranteeing the driving comfort of the vehicle, so that the energy feedback efficiency is improved.

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for controlling the speed of a vehicle comprising: during a pulse phase of cruise control, applying engine torque to raise speed, the amount and duration of which being responsive to engine speed; and during a glide phase of cruise control, discontinuing engine combustion. In this way cruise control may maintain a mean speed equivalent to a desired, threshold speed while reducing fuel consumption, and NVH effects felt by the end user compared to traditional cruise control methods.

A head-up display system for representing an object of a space external to the vehicle, having a device for recording a position of a passenger of the vehicle and a device for the correct-location representation of the object with respect to the position of the driver. The head-up display system may be applied to navigation systems and to automatic cruise control systems.

On the basis of headway distance information issued from a headway distance detecting device for detecting a headway distance between a controlled vehicle and a preceding vehicle and terrain shape information issued from a terrain shape estimating device for estimating a terrain shape around the position of the controlled vehicle, a terrain shape at a position spaced from the position of the controlled vehicle by the headway distance is detected, and the speed of the controlled vehicle is controlled according to the terrain shape information.

The invention discloses a fuzzy control based automotive intelligent cruise assisted driving system control method. The method includes the steps: firstly, acquiring speed VF of a front key target vehicle, relative distance Sr and real-time speed Vh of a cruiser; judging whether the front vehicle exists or not, and entering an intelligent following mode if yes; otherwise, entering a constant-speed cruise mode; for the intelligent following mode, taking relative distance deviation RD and relative speed deviation RV as input parameters, and taking an output linguistic variable as pedal increment u of an accelerator pedal or brake pedal at one movement; according to the fuzzy rule, determining a fuzzy value of an output variable u; adopting a centroid method to perform defuzzification computation to obtain an accurate controlled variable so as to control throttle percentage or brake pedal travel. By the control method, automatic regulation and trigger control of the throttle percentage and brake pedal travel can be realized at the same time, an integrated control function integrating ACC(active cruise control) and run-stop control can be realized, running safety of an automobile is improved, and driving fatigue of a driver is alleviated.

An active suspension system senses roadway defects and adjusts an active and controllable suspension system of the vehicle before tires come in contact with the defect. The active suspension system identifies a type of defect or debris, e.g., pothole, bump, object, etc., along with the size, width, depth, and/or height information of the defect to more accurately control operation of the suspension system to prepare for, or avoid contact with the roadway defects and obstacles. Imaging techniques are employed to identify the defect or debris. Operation of a serviced cruise control system is controlled to enhance passenger safety and comfort.