Parking Rollaway Warning via Inclination and Steering Angle
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Solution Overview
Problem
Motor vehicles often roll away when parked on inclined roadways due to insufficient securing, as existing systems fail to adequately detect and alert drivers to the need for proper steering and braking measures.
Innovation Solution
A method and device that assess the roadway inclination and steering angle to issue a driver warning if conditions are not met, ensuring the vehicle is securely parked by detecting vehicle standstill, inclination, and steering angle, and optionally correcting the steering angle using a parking assistant system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the driver parks the vehicle without adequate steering angle on an inclined roadway, then the parking operation is simple and quick, but the vehicle may roll away causing safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple existing vehicle systems (inclination sensor from chassis, steering angle sensor from steering system, brake status from brake system) into a unified parking monitoring function. By merging these already-present sensors and systems, the patent achieves reliable roll-away prevention without adding substantial new hardware complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The evaluation unit serves multiple functions: it monitors parking safety, provides driver warnings, and can trigger immobilization. This multi-functionality allows a single system to address various aspects of parking safety, reducing the need for separate dedicated systems for each function.
2Reliability
If the driver turns the steering wheel to a sufficient degree for parking security, then the vehicle is better secured against rolling away, but the parking operation becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time feedback to the driver through warnings when the steering angle is insufficient for the given inclination. This feedback loop guides the driver to adjust the steering angle appropriately, ensuring secure parking without requiring the driver to memorize or understand complex parking procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The system evaluates parking conditions and issues warnings before the driver completes the parking operation and leaves the vehicle. This preliminary assessment allows the driver to make necessary adjustments while still in control, preventing roll-away incidents without requiring post-parking intervention.
3Reliability
If the system issues warnings for insufficient steering angle, then parking safety is improved, but the driver may experience information overload or unnecessary warnings
Solution Approach 1:
The warning system activates selectively based on local conditions: it only warns when both the inclination exceeds a threshold AND the steering angle is insufficient. This conditional, localized warning approach ensures warnings are issued only when genuinely needed, avoiding unnecessary alerts while maintaining high reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for warning a driver when parking a motor vehicle, in which an inclination variable describing the roadway inclination in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is ascertained, a vehicle standstill is ascertained, a steering angle variable describing the steering angle is ascertained, and in the case of a standstill of the vehicle a driver warning information is output if the inclination variable fulfills a specified inclination condition and the steering angle variable fulfills a specified steering angle condition.