Collision Mitigation Timing Control for Vehicle Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing collision mitigation systems often provide unnecessary drive assists to vehicle drivers, especially on winding or curved roads, leading to driver annoyance due to incorrect detection of objects outside the road as collision threats.
Innovation Solution
A collision mitigation apparatus that includes an object detecting section, a drive assisting section, and a timing setting section. The timing setting section adjusts the start timing of drive assists based on the vehicle's operation state, such as steering and braking operations, to prevent unnecessary interventions when the vehicle is not running straight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If drive assist is performed whenever a collision object is detected, then collision avoidance capability is improved, but driver annoyance increases due to unnecessary interventions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the drive assist start timing variable based on the vehicle's running state. When the vehicle is in a straight running state, drive assist starts earlier for better collision avoidance. When in a not-straight running state (curved road, winding road), drive assist starts later to avoid unnecessary interventions. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between reliable collision avoidance and reducing driver annoyance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of drive assist start timing based on the vehicle's operation state. By detecting whether the vehicle is in a straight or not-straight running state, the system adjusts the timing parameter accordingly. This parameter change allows the system to maintain high collision avoidance capability when needed while reducing false alarms that cause driver annoyance.
2Reliability
If drive assist is activated early to ensure safety, then collision mitigation effectiveness is improved, but false alarms increase on curved roads
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts drive assist timing based on the vehicle's running state detection. On curved roads where the vehicle is in a not-straight running state, the drive assist start timing is delayed, preventing false alarms. On straight roads where collision risk is more straightforward, timing is earlier for better mitigation effectiveness. This dynamic approach reduces false alarm rate while maintaining effectiveness.
3Measurement precision
If the system is highly sensitive to detect all potential collision objects, then detection accuracy is improved, but unnecessary drive assists increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary evaluation step between collision object detection and drive assist activation. The running state detection section acts as an intermediary that evaluates whether the detected collision object actually requires drive assist intervention. By considering the vehicle's running state (straight or not-straight), this intermediary filter prevents unnecessary drive assists while maintaining accurate detection of genuine collision risks.
Data Source
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AI summary
A collision mitigation apparatus includes an object detecting section for detecting a collision object present in front of an own vehicle on which the collision mitigation apparatus is mounted, a drive assisting section that performs drive assist for avoiding a collision between the collision object detected by the object detecting section and the own vehicle or mitigates damage to the own vehicle due to the collision, an operation state detecting section for detecting an operation state of the own vehicle, and a timing setting section for setting start timing to start the drive assist by the drive assisting section in accordance with the operation state detected by the operation state detecting section.