Driver Assistance Collision Avoidance for Unexpected Gear Changes

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing collision avoidance systems for vehicles are limited in effectiveness, particularly when vehicle drivers make unforeseen gear changes or experience unintended pedal actuations, leading to critical and unpredictable traffic situations where the driver's reaction time is compromised, resulting in potential collisions.

Innovation Solution

A driver assistance system that evaluates gear changes and torque shifts to determine the likelihood of a collision, triggering a collision avoidance action, which can include warnings, speed reduction, or braking, based on multiple criteria such as torque change thresholds, vehicle movement, and driver attention, to proactively prevent collisions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the driver assistance system automatically stops or reduces vehicle speed when distance to object falls below threshold, then collision avoidance is improved, but the system cannot handle unforeseen driver actions such as unexpected gear changes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecollision avoidance effectivenessVSAvoidresponse to unforeseen driver actions
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary evaluation of gear changes by detecting the gear selection state before the vehicle actually moves. When a gear change is detected, the system proactively checks whether an object exists in the future travel direction and prepares collision avoidance actions in advance, rather than waiting for the vehicle to approach the object threshold distance.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors gear change states and uses this feedback to adjust collision avoidance decisions. By detecting gear changes as a specific condition, the system adapts its object detection and collision assessment based on the vehicle's intended movement direction, enabling responsive handling of unexpected driver actions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Ease of operation

If the system checks only distance to object, then the system is simple to operate, but it fails to account for vehicle movement direction and gear changes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem simplicityVSAvoidcollision assessment accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The collision assessment is segmented into multiple independent check components: gear change detection, object detection in future travel direction, and distance measurement. Each component operates independently and contributes to the overall collision risk assessment, allowing the system to maintain simplicity while improving accuracy through modular evaluation steps.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Loss of time

If the driver reacts late due to shock from unexpected vehicle movement, then the driver's reaction time is reduced, but the system does not anticipate unexpected gear changes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedriver reaction timeVSAvoidprediction of unexpected actions
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary collision risk assessment based on detected gear changes before the vehicle actually moves toward the object. By evaluating the future travel direction and checking for objects in advance, the system prevents collisions before they occur, eliminating the need for late driver reaction.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3219569B1Method for preventing the collision of a vehicle with an object, taking account of a speed change of the vehicle and driver assistance system
Publication Date: 2024.08.28 VALEO SCHALTER & SENSOREN GMBH
  • EP3219569B1 patent drawingFigure 1~5
  • EP3219569B1 patent drawingFigure 6~10

AI summary

The invention relates to a method for avoiding a collision between a vehicle (1) and an object (8) in a surrounding area (5) of the vehicle (1), in which a collision avoidance action is decided to be carried out depending on whether a collision criterion is met, wherein a change of driving mode of the vehicle (1) is performed and the change of driving mode is evaluated as the collision criterion and it is checked whether the direction of travel (P) of the vehicle (1) associated with the selected driving mode is in the direction of an object (8) detected in the surrounding area (5) of the vehicle (1), wherein this check result is taken into account for a decision as to whether the collision avoidance action is carried out automatically. The invention also relates to a driver assistance system (4) and a motor vehicle (1).