Driver Seat Exit Assistance With Adaptive Steering Wheel Lowering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing alighting assistance devices for vehicle driver seats primarily focus on expanding foot space, neglecting the need for upper body clearance and ergonomic adjustments, making it difficult for occupants to exit the vehicle, especially those with varying body heights and arm lengths.
Innovation Solution
An alighting assistance device that includes a height change unit for the steering wheel, a sitting height acquisition unit, and a height controller to lower the steering wheel as the occupant's sitting height increases, and a position change unit for the driver seat to move rearward, with optional arm length consideration, to enhance upper body clearance and ease alighting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If the steering wheel is lifted up to expand upper body space, then upper body clearance is improved, but gripping difficulty increases for tall occupants
Solution Approach 1:
The steering wheel height is made dynamically adjustable rather than fixed. The system automatically adjusts the steering wheel to an optimal height based on detected occupant characteristics, ensuring both sufficient upper body clearance and easy gripping for each occupant.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses occupant detection technology to automatically determine the appropriate steering wheel height based on the occupant's body characteristics, eliminating the need for manual adjustment and ensuring optimal positioning for each user.
2Device complexity
If the steering wheel height is fixed, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability to different occupant heights is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs automatic occupant detection and analysis to self-determine the optimal steering wheel height for each occupant, eliminating complex manual adjustment mechanisms while maintaining high adaptability to different body types.
Solution Approach 2:
The steering wheel height parameter is dynamically changed based on detected occupant characteristics such as height and arm length, allowing the system to adapt to different users without requiring complex mechanical adjustment devices.
Data Source
AI summary
An alighting assistance device D of the present disclosure may be a device moving a driver seat rearward in a case where a determination may be made that an occupant seated on the driver seat of a vehicle alights. The device may include a height changer which changes a height of a steering wheel, a sitting height acquirer which acquires a sitting height of the occupant, and a steering wheel controller 33 as one example of a height controller which controls the height changer such that the height of the steering wheel becomes lower as the sitting height acquired by the sitting height acquirer may be higher in the case where a determination is made that the occupant alights.