Motorcycle Overtaking Assist with Temporary Cruise Control Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing overtaking assistance systems for single-track motor vehicles, like motorcycles, face issues where rider-independent acceleration during overtaking maneuvers can conflict with distance and speed control functions, leading to unnatural behavior and potential safety concerns, especially on single-lane roads where the overtaking assistance function is not intended.
Innovation Solution
A method that uses a turning signal lever as an operating element to activate the overtaking assistance function, which performs rider-independent acceleration for a specified time interval, and temporarily suppresses interventions by the distance and/or speed control function if the actuation duration exceeds a threshold, ensuring safe and natural overtaking maneuvers by determining the road type using an environment sensor system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If rider-independent acceleration is activated during overtaking maneuvers, then the convenience and safety of the rider is improved, but conflicts with distance and speed control functions occur leading to unnatural behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the overtaking assistance function as a separate, temporarily activated mode that overrides distance and speed control interventions only during the specific time window of the overtaking maneuver. This isolation prevents conflicts by removing the interfering control logic exactly when it is not needed, while maintaining it during normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the control behavior based on the activation state of the overtaking assistance function. During the maneuver (when the turning signal lever is actuated), the distance and speed control interventions are suppressed. After the maneuver completes, the system automatically transitions back to normal control behavior, creating a dynamic adaptation to operational context.
2Adaptability or versatility
If overtaking assistance function is always activatable, then the functionality is improved, but activation on single-lane roads creates safety concerns
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors road type information from the environment sensor system and uses this feedback to control the activatability of the overtaking assistance function. The function is enabled only when the feedback indicates a multi-lane road, and disabled when single-lane conditions are detected, preventing unsafe activation while maintaining versatility where appropriate.
3Reliability
If distance and speed control interventions are not suppressed, then the safety control is improved, but the overtaking maneuver becomes unnatural and less effective
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies preliminary anti-action by preemptively suppressing distance and speed control interventions before they can interfere with the overtaking maneuver. The suppression is activated in advance when the rider initiates the overtaking function, preventing the harmful effect of conflicting control actions before they occur, while maintaining safety through the time-limited nature of the suppression.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a device for activating an overtaking assistance function of a single-track motor vehicle by way of a rider-actuatable operating element of a turning signal indicator, the single-track motor vehicle additionally having a distance and/or speed control function, in which the duration of actuation of the operating element is determined, and, in the event that the duration of actuation exceeds a specified threshold value, interventions by the distance and/or speed control function are temporarily suppressed during the rider-independent acceleration phase of the overtaking assistance function.