Emergency Vehicle Control Device Driver State Estimation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing emergency vehicle control devices face challenges in accurately and easily estimating a driver's state that makes it difficult to continue driving, leading to potential accidental activation of automatic vehicle stop control.
Innovation Solution
The emergency vehicle control device incorporates an emergency situation detector, an accelerator operation detector, and optionally a road slope detector, using signals such as accelerator non-operation and simultaneous accelerator and brake operations to accurately determine the driver's state, allowing for reliable automatic vehicle stop control without cancellation by steering operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If driver state detection methods are made more comprehensive to accurately estimate driver illness, then measurement precision improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple detection signals (accelerator operation status, brake operation status, steering operation status) into a unified driver state estimation system. By merging these existing vehicle sensor signals, the system achieves comprehensive driver state monitoring without adding complex dedicated detection devices, thus improving measurement precision while controlling device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses multi-functional existing vehicle sensors (accelerator position sensor, brake sensor, steering angle sensor) for their primary vehicle control functions while simultaneously utilizing them for driver state estimation. This multi-functionality approach allows accurate driver state detection without requiring additional specialized devices, resolving the contradiction between precision and complexity.
2Reliability
If automatic vehicle stop control is made more sensitive to detect driver illness earlier, then reliability improves, but accidental activation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different weighting and threshold criteria to different detection signals based on their local characteristics. Accelerator non-operation is given higher weight than steering operations because it is more specific to driver illness. This localized quality adjustment allows the system to be sensitive to true driver illness while filtering out normal driving variations that could cause accidental activation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors multiple driver operation signals and uses feedback from their combined pattern to determine when to activate automatic stop control. By requiring consistent feedback from multiple signals (accelerator, brake, steering) over time, the system achieves high reliability while preventing accidental activation from transient or isolated signal variations.
3Productivity
If the automatic vehicle stop control is made insensitive to steering operations to ensure reliable execution, then productivity improves, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection and confirmation of driver illness state using multiple signals before executing automatic vehicle stop control. By establishing the driver illness condition in advance through sustained accelerator non-operation combined with other signal patterns, the system ensures reliable automatic stop execution while providing a buffer that prevents premature or erroneous activation, thereby maintaining operational ease.
Data Source
AI summary
An emergency vehicle control device includes an emergency vehicle stop switch (emergency situation detector) that detects or estimates an emergency situation; and an accelerator operation detector that detects whether or not an accelerator is being operated. When an emergency situation is detected or estimated by the emergency situation detector and an accelerator non-operation state lasting for an accelerator non-operation time threshold value or longer is detected by the accelerator operation detector while the vehicle is running, the vehicle is automatically stopped regardless of whether or not a steering operation is performed.