Aspects of the disclosure relate to determining and responding to an internal state of a self-driving vehicle. For instance, an image of an interior of the vehicle captured by a camera mounted in the vehicle is received. The image is processed in order to identify one or more visible markers at predetermined locations within the vehicle. The internal state of the vehicle is determined based on the identified one or more visible markers. A responsive action is identified action using the determined internal state, and the vehicle is controlled in order to perform the responsive action.

A vehicle collision avoidance assistance device is configured to perform forced braking or forced steering when a driver's vehicle has a possibility of colliding with an object ahead of the driver's vehicle, acquire at least one of information related to a condition of the driver's vehicle and information related to a situation around the driver's vehicle, determine, based on the acquired information, whether a request condition for requesting execution of the forced steering is satisfied and whether a forbiddance condition for forbidding the execution of the forced steering is satisfied, perform the forced braking when the request condition is not satisfied regardless of whether the forbiddance condition is satisfied, perform the forced steering when the forbiddance condition is not satisfied and the request condition is satisfied, and perform the forced braking when the forbiddance condition is satisfied though the request condition is satisfied.

A vehicle passenger accident prevention system includes a vehicle operation status measurement unit that measures operation states of a vehicle and outputs corresponding signals, a driving unit to drive the vehicle, a braking unit to brake the vehicle, a FCA system that controls the operation of the driving unit and the braking unit, and a controller that detects the seated state of a passenger in the vehicle or a wearing state of a seat belt according to the output signal of the vehicle operation status measurement unit. In particular, the controller controls the operation of the FCA system according to a predetermined control mode in advance when a standing passenger in the vehicle is detected or an unbuckled seat belt is detected.

The vehicle movement control apparatus of the disclosure sets an update movement route as a target movement route when an update condition is satisfied. The apparatus acquires a turning characteristic, an acceleration characteristic, and a deceleration characteristic of a vehicle while executing an automatic movement control to cause the vehicle to move along the update movement route. The apparatus updates vehicle behavior characteristic data so as to represent actual vehicle behavior characteristics, based on the acquired turning characteristics, the acquired acceleration characteristic, and the acquired deceleration characteristic.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to determining and responding to an internal state of a self-driving vehicle. For instance, an image of an interior of the vehicle captured by a camera mounted in the vehicle is received. The image is processed in order to identify one or more visible markers at predetermined locations within the vehicle. The internal state of the vehicle is determined based on the identified one or more visible markers. A responsive action is identified action using the determined internal state, and the vehicle is controlled in order to perform the responsive action.

A method for controlling operations of safety devices of a vehicle includes determining whether there is a possibility of a collision with a preceding vehicle on the basis of vehicle driving information, determining occupancy information of a passenger or a type of a passenger or determining whether a passenger has fastened a seat belt using vehicle sensor information, and determining whether to apply, and applying accordingly, full braking, a full braking profile, or an airbag deployment scheme according to the occupancy information of a passenger, the type of the passenger, or whether the passenger has fastened a seat belt when a possibility of a collision is determined, and fully retracting the passenger's seat belt before full braking is applied after partial braking is applied.

An approach for adjusting driving parameters of an AV (autonomous vehicle) based on the driving style of the passenger is disclosed. The approach utilizes existing driving patterns of the passenger and perform a dynamic comparison and correlation with safe driving patterns of the passengers themselves. Based on that evaluation, the approach would suggest the parameters for adjusting the AV driving style in order to ensure AV riding experience meets the expected level of safe and stress-less riding. Furthermore, the approach can dynamically adjust the driving style during the trip based on the reaction and feedback from the passenger.

There is provided a portable electronic monitoring device for providing an in-vehicle user warning system about how a semi-autonomous vehicle is being driven autonomously during a driving period. The device is removably and securely mountable to the vehicle and comprises: a sensor set comprising at least one sensor for sensing an exterior environment outside of the vehicle and movement of the vehicle within the exterior environment, an interface for receiving user input commands and delivering a warning output; and a processor operatively connected to the sensor set and the interface; wherein the sensor set is configured to monitor the automatic operation of the semi-autonomous vehicle within the exterior environment during the driving period and to generate sensor data representing driving events concerning the automated driving behaviour of the vehicle with respect to the exterior environment occurring during the driving period. The processor is configured to: process the sensor data during the driving period to compare the detected automated driving behaviour of the vehicle in the external environment with a model of expected automated vehicle driving behaviour for a particular driving event; identify a dangerous driving event, if the detected automated driving behaviour deviates beyond a threshold from the expected automated vehicle driving behaviour; and if a dangerous driving event has been detected, generate a warning alert via the interface to alert the driver to the occurrence of the dangerous driving event.

An approach is provided for determining an autonomous vehicle reaction strategy when facing a wrong way driving vehicle. The approach, for example, involves processing mapping data, sensor data, or a combination thereof to develop a map of an area within a threshold distance of an autonomous vehicle in response to a detection of an oncoming vehicle that is driving in a wrong direction towards the autonomous vehicle. The approach also involves using a decision tree of a plurality of candidate strategies for avoiding the oncoming vehicle to select a strategy based on one or more attributes of the map. The approach further involves presenting the selected strategy in a user interface of the autonomous vehicle.

A vehicle is a vehicle on which an ADK is mountable. The vehicle includes: a VP that controls the vehicle in accordance with an instruction from the ADK; and a VCIB that serves as an interface between the ADK and the VP. The VP outputs an accelerator pedal position signal in accordance with an amount of depression of an accelerator pedal by a driver, and outputs an accelerator pedal intervention signal, to the ADK through the VCIB. The accelerator pedal intervention signal indicates that the accelerator pedal is depressed, when the accelerator pedal position signal indicates that the amount of depression is larger than a threshold value, and indicates beyond autonomy acceleration of the vehicle, when an acceleration request in accordance with the amount of depression is higher than a system acceleration request.