Vehicle Equipment Control via Risk Assessment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle control systems face challenges in allowing safe operation of vehicle-mounted equipment during travel while ensuring driver safety, particularly when no passenger is present to assist with navigation system inputs, leading to inconvenience and potential safety issues due to complex mechanisms and incorrect operator identification.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle control apparatus that includes an outside information acquisition unit, a determination unit to assess travel conditions, and an equipment operation controller, enabling or disabling equipment operation based on risk evaluation and travel assistance, using imaging and vehicle state detection data to permit operation when conditions are safe.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If operation of vehicle-mounted equipment is completely disabled during travel, then driver safety is ensured, but convenience of use is impaired
Solution Approach 1:
The operation control system dynamically adjusts between enabled and disabled states based on real-time travel conditions. The equipment operation controller enables operation when travel conditions are safe (e.g., vehicle stopped or moving slowly) and disables operation when travel conditions are dangerous, creating a dynamic control system that adapts to changing conditions rather than using a fixed enabled/disabled state
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameter of equipment accessibility based on travel condition parameters. When the determination unit detects safe conditions (such as vehicle speed below threshold or temporary safe zones), it changes the equipment operation state from disabled to enabled, allowing drivers to interact with navigation systems during safe moments in travel
2Ease of operation
If operation is enabled during travel by allowing fellow passengers to operate equipment, then convenience is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the operator identification function from the equipment operation control system and places it in the travel condition determination system. Instead of adding a separate complex identification mechanism, the system uses existing travel condition detection data to infer whether operation should be permitted, thereby avoiding additional complexity while maintaining convenience
3Ease of operation
If operation is enabled during travel based on fellow passenger presence, then convenience is improved, but reliability decreases due to incorrect identification
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where the determination unit constantly monitors travel conditions and provides feedback to the equipment operation controller. This real-time feedback mechanism ensures that operation permissions are continuously validated against current safety conditions, preventing incorrect identification issues and maintaining high reliability throughout the travel process
Data Source
AI summary
An equipment operation controller implements control to disable an operation of equipment that is operated inside a vehicle cabin and not perform functions of the equipment according to such the operation, when a vehicle is traveling at or above a prescribed speed. However, even when the vehicle is traveling at or above the prescribed speed, if a travel assistance unit implements a control for travel assistance and a determination unit determines to permit the operation of the equipment then the operation of the equipment is enabled. The determination unit determines whether or not to permit the operation of the equipment, based on a risk evaluated based on information on the outside of the vehicle acquired by an outside information acquisition unit, and a state of the vehicle, and determines to permit the operation of the equipment when the risk is equal to or lower than a prescribed level.