Vehicle Seat Retraction for Autonomous Driving Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
In autonomous driving mode, vehicles face challenges with inadvertent driver inputs due to the disengagement of steering wheels and pedals, which increases transition time and risks operational failures during mode changes.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for retracting the front seat in a vehicle during autonomous driving mode, using a control unit to detect user commands and move the seat along rails to position the occupant out of reach of driving controls, maintaining these controls engaged and reducing transition time and operational risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If driving controls (steering wheel, foot pedals) are disengaged during autonomous driving mode to prevent inadvertent inputs, then safety against inadvertent inputs is improved, but transition time to manual mode increases and operational reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves the problem from the control engagement/disengagement dimension to the spatial dimension by retracting the seat. Instead of disengaging controls, the occupant is positioned away from them through seat retraction, allowing controls to remain engaged while preventing inadvertent contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the occupant from the interaction zone with the driving controls through seat retraction. This separates the occupant's potential inadvertent inputs from the controls while maintaining the controls' engaged state, resolving the contradiction between safety and transition readiness.
2Loss of time
If seat is retracted during autonomous driving mode, then inadvertent inputs are prevented and transition time is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The seat retraction system serves multiple functions: it prevents inadvertent inputs during autonomous mode, enables rapid transition to manual mode, and can provide additional benefits such as increased legroom or emergency egress assistance. This multi-functionality justifies the added complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat retraction system can be integrated with the vehicle's existing autonomous mode detection and seat adjustment mechanisms, allowing it to operate automatically based on mode transitions without requiring separate complex control systems.
Data Source
AI summary
Example embodiments presented herein are directed toward a seat assembly, and corresponding method, for seat retraction in a vehicle during an autonomous driving mode. Seat refraction is provided by detecting a user initiated input for the retraction. Thereafter, a front seat is refracted such that an occupant of the front seat is out of reach of at least one driving control input device, for example, a steering wheel, pedals or a gear shift, during an autonomous driving mode. Such seat retraction prevents the occupant from providing inadvertent driving inputs to the driving control input devices during the autonomous driving mode.