Vehicle Hazard Alert Relay for Beyond-Line-of-Sight Warnings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current enhanced visual communication systems for vehicles in distress are limited in informing drivers who are far away, behind other vehicles, or obstructed, and do not effectively communicate hazards to self-driving cars, which rely on similar line-of-sight perceptions.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for wirelessly transmitting alerts from a passenger vehicle to other vehicles and safety alert systems, using a microprocessor and transmitter to forward hazard event data, including location and orientation, to vehicles within an approach zone, enabling broader awareness of hazards and facilitating responses from both human and self-driving vehicles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If enhanced visual communication systems using strobing lights are used, then drivers in proximity can be informed to exercise caution, but drivers who are far away, behind other vehicles, or around curves cannot be effectively informed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary component that receives hazard information from the distress vehicle and redistributes it to multiple receiving vehicles. This mediator architecture allows hazard information to reach drivers beyond line-of-sight limitations without requiring direct vehicle-to-vehicle communication between all parties, resolving the contradiction between information reachability and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from two-dimensional visual line-of-sight communication to multi-dimensional wireless communication networks. By adding the spatial dimension of wireless signal propagation and the temporal dimension of real-time information updating, the system can inform drivers regardless of their physical position relative to the distress vehicle, overcoming the line-of-sight limitation.
2Loss of information
If hazard information is transmitted to all vehicles in the area, then more drivers can be informed, but unnecessary information may be transmitted to vehicles not in the approach zone
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements location-aware information distribution where the server determines which vehicles are in the approach zone based on their GPS coordinates and the distress vehicle's location. Hazard information is then selectively transmitted only to vehicles that are both in the approach zone and facing the hazard, ensuring local quality of information delivery that matches each vehicle's specific situational context.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of information transmission from broadcast-to-all to targeted transmission based on multiple parameters including vehicle location, approach zone status, and hazard orientation. By dynamically adjusting transmission targets based on these parameters, the system maximizes information coverage while minimizing unnecessary energy consumption.
3Reliability
If hazard alerts are transmitted to vehicles in the approach zone, then collision risk can be reduced, but the system requires integration with multiple vehicle systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages existing multi-functional vehicle systems (GPS for location, cameras for hazard detection, wireless transmitters for communication) to build the hazard alert system. By making these existing components serve the additional function of hazard information exchange, the system achieves high collision avoidance reliability without proportionally increasing integration complexity, as the same hardware performs multiple functions.
Data Source
AI summary
A microprocessor in a vehicle receives an indication of a hazard event associated with the vehicle and transmits and alerts to a safety alert system. The safety alert system may forward the alert to additional vehicles based upon a number of factors.