Trailer Connection Validation via Distance Stability Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Reverse park aid (RPA) systems in vehicles with trailers often generate false positives due to faulty trailer connections, leading to user annoyance and safety concerns, as existing methods like continuity tests and load tests are unreliable and require manual disabling/enabling.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that use a controller to detect an object rearward of the vehicle, monitor distance changes while reversing, and determine if a trailer is connected by assessing distance stability over time, thereby automatically validating the trailer connection and deactivating RPA warnings when a trailer is present.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If continuity tests and load tests are used to detect trailer presence, then trailer connection detection is attempted, but false positives occur due to faulty connections requiring manual intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines trailer presence by monitoring distance sensor data and vehicle reverse signals without requiring manual intervention. The controller self-validates the trailer connection status by analyzing whether the distance to the detected object remains stable during reverse operation, eliminating the need for users to manually enable/disable RPA warnings
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces unreliable electrical continuity tests and load tests with an optical/acoustic distance sensing system. By using distance sensors to monitor the physical gap between the vehicle and trailer, the system achieves more reliable trailer detection without the false positives inherent in electrical connection tests
2Reliability
If distance monitoring while reversing is used to validate trailer connection, then false positives are reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller leverages existing vehicle systems (distance sensors already present for other purposes, transmission status signals already available) to perform trailer validation. By making these existing components serve the additional function of trailer presence detection, the system reduces false positives without adding significant complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors distance sensor data and compares it against expected values during reverse operation. This feedback mechanism automatically validates trailer presence by detecting whether the distance remains stable, providing reliable false positive reduction through a relatively simple computational process
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for validating a connection between a vehicle and a trailer is provided. The apparatus comprising a controller configured to detect an object positioned rearward of the vehicle and to receive first information indicative of a first distance between the object and the vehicle. The controller further configured to monitor transmission status of the vehicle in response to the first information and to determine whether the first distance between the object and the vehicle is decreasing in response to transmission status indicating that the vehicle is in reverse. The controller being further configured to determine that the object is a trailer in the event the first distance between the object and the vehicle has not decreased while the vehicle is in reverse.