Methods and apparatuses disclosed within provide a solution to problems associated with sensing apparatus of an automated vehicle (AV) not being able to adequately evaluate risks associated with objects that are not characteristic with a given driving environment. A sensing apparatus tuned to drive at quickly down highway may not adequately identify risks associated with pedestrians walking along that highway. A solution to this problem involves configuring a sensing apparatus to operate in two different modes, for example, a highway mode and a pedestrian mode at virtually the same time. This may include allocating a first percentage of processing resources to a highway mode and allocating a second percentage of processing resources to a pedestrian mode. When objects along the highway are consistent with a pedestrian, additional processing resources of the sensing apparatus may be allocated to the pedestrian mode to reduce a risk of impacting the pedestrian.

The present embodiment relates to a vehicle control apparatus or a rear-end collision avoidance apparatus, and may optimally set a reactivation condition for performing reactivation of a rear emergency braking function based on whether an engine operates after the rear emergency braking function is deactivated by a driver's braking input in an operation such as backward parking or the like, a vehicle speed and vehicle traveling distance after the rear emergency braking function is deactivated, a separation distance from an initial stoppage position to an obstacle after the rear emergency braking function is deactivated, and the like, thereby securing both convenience and safety of the driver.

An obstacle warning apparatus in a vehicle specifies a position of an obstacle relative to the vehicle based on a detection result by an obstacle sensor. A warning determination section determines whether a warning about the obstacle needs to be executed, based on the specified position of the obstacle. The warning determination section determines that the warning about the obstacle does not need to be executed when an overlap determination section determines that a vehicle range overlaps with a range where the obstacle exists.

A target vehicle speed generating device basically includes a determination unit and a correction unit. The determination unit determines whether or not a sudden change point is present in the target vehicle speed contained in the corrects the target vehicle speed so as to eliminate the sudden change point upon determining that the sudden change point is present by the determination unit. The sudden change point corresponds to a point at which acceleration changes in excess of a predetermined condition.

Methods and systems are provided for adjusting a position of an exhaust valve that regulates engine exhaust noise. In one example, the position of the exhaust valve is adjusted according to a distance between a first vehicle and a second vehicle. The exhaust valve may be adjusted to reduce an exhaust noise level when the distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle is less than a threshold distance.

A RADAR system and associated methods are used to detect obstacles obscured from view when backing a trailer. An autonomous tractor is equipped with a rear facing RADAR device that has a field-of-view under the trailer and is configured to output RADAR returns from reflections. A controller of the tractor classifies RADAR returns from the RADAR device according to a number of reflections by a dock wall and a trailer face (e.g., a back end of the trailer) of a corresponding RADAR beam. The RADAR returns are correlated based on distance, and distance of a RADAR return from an obstacle is corrected based on the number of reflections. Advantageously, by processing RADAR returns from both direct and reflected RADAR beams, the controller is able to detect obstacles hidden behind the trailer and flag the obstacles as a hazard.

The invention relates to a method for detecting a screening of a sensor device (4) of a motor vehicle (1) by an object (8), in which at least one echo signal, captured by the sensor device (4), that characterizes a spacing between the sensor device (4) and the object (8) is received (S1) by means of a computing device (3), a capture region (E) for the sensor device (4) is determined, and on the basis of the at least one received echo signal it is checked whether the capture region (E) of the sensor device (4) is being screened by the object (8), at least in some regions, wherein the at least one echo signal is assigned by means of the computing device (3) to a discrete spacing value (B1, B2, B3) from a plurality of discrete spacing values (B1, B2, B3), for each of the discrete spacing values (B1, B2, B3) a power value (P) is determined (S2) on the basis of the echo signal, and on the basis of the power values (P) a decision is made by means of a classifier as to whether at least a predetermined proportion of the capture region (E) of the sensor device (4) is being screened (S6) by the object (8).

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods that facilitate active sensor systems. An example method includes receiving information indicative of an operating context of a vehicle, wherein at least one Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor or at least one radar sensor are coupled to the vehicle. The method also includes selecting, from a plurality of sensor power configurations, a desired sensor power configuration based on the operating context of the vehicle. The method further includes causing at least one of: the at least one LIDAR sensor to emit light pulses according to the desired sensor power configuration or the at least one radar sensor to emit radar energy according to the desired sensor power configuration.

A trailer angle detection system for a vehicle includes a camera disposed at a rear portion of the vehicle and viewing rearward of the vehicle. A plurality of ultrasonic sensors is disposed at the rear portion of the vehicle and sense rearward of the vehicle. A control has at least one processor operable to process image data captured by the camera. Responsive to processing of image data captured by the camera, the control detects a trailer rearward of the vehicle and in the field of view of the camera. The at least one processor is operable to process sensor data captured by the ultrasonic sensors to determine a distance to portions of the trailer rearward of the vehicle. Responsive to processing of captured image data and processing of captured sensor data, the trailer angle detection system is operable to determine an angle of the trailer relative to the vehicle.

A system that assists a driver with properly positioning a vehicle. Such systems may include an interface to information from vehicle sensor(s), light strip(s), and computing device(s) including one or more tangible computing elements. The computing device(s) may perform steps that include determining a position of the vehicle using the information from the vehicle sensor(s), and generating optical indication(s) using the light strip(s) of an action that the driver should take based on the position. In some aspects, the system is deployed in a carwash bay and assists the driver with properly positioning the vehicle in the carwash bay. The optical indication may be green light to indicate that the vehicle should be moved forward, blue light to indicate that the vehicle should be moved backward, and red light to indicate that the vehicle should be stopped. Also, associated methods.