628 results about "Vehicle guidance" patented technology

An apparatus for guiding a vehicle autonomously to a target point by finding a current position based on radio waives from satellites and comparing the current position with the target point comprises a means for storing a reference position data of a reference point whose accurate position is known, a means for obtaining a position data of the vehicle when the vehicle is located on the reference point, a means for obtaining a correction data by calculating a difference between the reference position data and the position data, and a means for correcting the current position by using the correction data to obtain a real position of the vehicle.

A system and method provide for precision guiding of agricultural vehicles along a series of adjacent paths to form rows for cultivating a field. In one aspect of the invention the vehicle is moved along a first path while receiving positioning information from a navigational system (e.g., RTK GPS). This positioning information is stored in a processor and is used by the processor to compute a second path adjacent to said first path by calculating piecewise perpendicular offsets from the first path at multiple locations along the first path. The process is repeated to compute a third and subsequent paths so as to cover the field. Because of the offset process, the field may be covered with paths that have varying curvature along their length, while providing substantially no gaps or overlaps in the coverage of the field. In another aspect of the invention, the system may propose alternative paths and the user can intervene by steering the vehicle or using a graphical user interface to select among the alternative paths. A still further aspect of the invention allows for the recording of the paths that provide coverage of a field in the form of a template. This template can then be used to cause the vehicle to automatically steer along a previously calculated path in subsequent operations on the field, and in subsequent years.

The present invention relates to vehicle guidance software for use with an agricultural vehicle having a guidance system. The software includes a processing portion (24) for generating a set of guidance indicators from a set of waypoints. The software further includes an adapting portion (26) for analyzing the guidance indicators produced by the processing portion (24) and determining whether the guidance indicators define a path that cannot be traversed by the vehicle due to its minimum turning radius. In the event that a path cannot be traversed by the vehicle the adaptive portion (26) generates a set of alternative guidance indicators that define a path that is traversable by the vehicle.

A parking assist apparatus allows a target parking position to be set by a user moving a target parking frame displayed together with an actual image of surroundings of a vehicle, and automatically guides the vehicle to the set target parking position. In the parking assist apparatus, the target parking frame is initially displayed through the use of past setting of the target parking position by the user.