A vehicle hitching assist apparatus according to the present invention includes a first mode configured to, when an image pattern of a second hitch portion provided on a trailer is acquired, detect a position of the second hitch portion based on a comparison between the image pattern and an image acquired by an external world perception sensor mounted on a rear portion of a vehicle and output a steering instruction for assisting in hitching between the trailer and the vehicle based on the detected position of the second hitch portion to a steering controller of the vehicle, and a second mode configured to, when the image pattern is not acquired, issue a notification for prompting a driver of the vehicle to manually hitch the trailer and the vehicle

Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided for providing multi-trailer reverse assistance. In a multi-trailer reverse assistance system in an articulated transport system comprising a lead vehicle, an intermediate trailer, and a final trailer, the reverse assist system includes a controller. The controller is configured to: receive a view of an environment behind the final trailer; cause the view to be displayed in a display screen of a user interface device; receive, via a secondary steering device of the user interface device, a user intended direction of travel of the articulated transport system in reverse to direct the final trailer in a desired direction; continuously calculate controllable steering angles for directing the articulated transport system to direct the final trailer in the desired direction; and control the articulated transport system to direct the final trailer in the desired direction using the calculated controllable steering angles.

A method for determining a trailer angle between a tow vehicle and a trailer attached to the tow vehicle includes receiving images from a camera positioned on a rear portion of the tow vehicle with a data processing hardware device, determining visual features from the images, tracking the visual features while the tow vehicle and trailer are moving and calculating, at the data processing hardware, the trailer angle based on the visual features. The trailer angle is then transmitted from the data processing hardware to one or more vehicle systems.

A system for assisting in aligning a vehicle for hitching with a trailer includes an imager outputting image data of a field of view to the rear of the vehicle and a controller identifying at least one of a trailer or a coupler of the trailer within the image data. The controller further determines that the at least one of the trailer or the coupler is outside of a specified area relative to the vehicle and outputs an instruction for movement of the vehicle determined to position the one of the trailer or the coupler within the specified area. Upon determining that the at least one of the coupler and the trailer is within the specified area, the coupler outputs a steering signal to the vehicle to cause the vehicle to steer to align a hitch ball of the vehicle with the coupler.

A system and method for operation of an autonomous vehicle (AV) yard truck is provided. A processor facilitates autonomous movement of the AV yard truck, and connection to and disconnection from trailers. A plurality of sensors are interconnected with the processor that sense terrain/objects and assist in automatically connecting/disconnecting trailers. A server, interconnected, wirelessly with the processor, that tracks movement of the truck around and determines locations for trailer connection and disconnection. A door station unlatches/opens rear doors of the trailer when adjacent thereto, securing them in an opened position via clamps, etc. The system computes a height of the trailer, and/or if landing gear of the trailer is on the ground and interoperates with the fifth wheel to change height, and whether docking is safe, allowing a user to take manual control, and optimum charge time(s). Reversing sensors/safety, automated chocking, and intermodal container organization are also provided.

A system for determining at least one pitch angle of a trailer relative to a towing vehicle, the system including a camera mounted on the towing vehicle and capable of acquiring images of the trailer in which lines of the trailer parallel to the axis of the trailer are visible, and a computer configured to perform the following steps: implementing a line-detection algorithm on at least one image of the trailer acquired by the camera, detecting in the image the lines of the trailer parallel to the trailer axis, corresponding to vanishing lines, and deducing from the vanishing lines a position of the vanishing point, and from the coordinates of the vanishing point, determining at least one pitch angle of the trailer with respect to the towing vehicle.

Systems and methods for determining an alignment of a trailer relative to a docking bay or a vehicle bay door using dynamic depth filtering. Image data and position data is captured by a 3D camera system with an at least partially downward-facing field of view. When a trailer is approaching the docking bay or door, the captured image data includes a top surface of the trailer. A dynamic height range is determined based on an estimated height of the top surface of the trailer in the image data and a dynamic depth filter is applied to filter out image data corresponding to heights outside of the dynamic height range. An angular position and/or lateral offset of the trailer is determined based on the depth-filtered image data.

A system for trailer coupler localization for guidance during a hitching maneuver for a vehicle includes a trailer device including a trailer coupler and a graphic providing structure affixed to the trailer coupler. The structure includes at least one predefined graphic image. The system further includes a rear facing camera device attached to the vehicle and providing a captured image of the predefined graphic image. The system further includes a computerized controller, including programming to receive and analyze the captured image of the predefined graphic image to determine a relative position of the graphic providing structure to the camera device. The controller further includes programming to utilize the analysis to determine a relative position of the trailer coupler to a trailer hitch ball of the vehicle and to provide an output to control the hitching maneuver based upon the relative position.

The present invention relates to a control system (1) for providing assistance to an occupant of a vehicle (V1). The control system (1) is configured to receive hitch angle data indicative of a hitch angle (α) of a towed vehicle (V2) coupled to the towing vehicle (V1). The control system (1) selects first and second image data subsets of at least first image data (DIMG1). The first image data subset represents a first viewport (VPL, VPR) on a first side of the towing vehicle (V1) and the second image data subset representing a second viewport (VPL, VPR) on a second side of the towing vehicle (V1). A signal (SOUT1) indicative of the first image data subset and the second image data subset is output to at least one display (5) for displaying the first viewport (VPL, VPR) and the second viewport (VPL, VPR) to the occupant of the towing vehicle (V1). The control system (1) is configured to select the first image data subset and the second image data subset in dependence on the hitch angle data. The first image data subset is selected to increase the prominence of the first viewport (VPL, VPR) relative to the second viewport (VPL, VPR) when the hitch angle data indicates that the towed vehicle (V2) is disposed on the first side of the towing vehicle (V1); and the second image data subset is selected to increase the prominence of the second viewport (VPL, VPR) relative to the first viewport (VPL, VPR) when the hitch angle data indicates that the towed vehicle (V2) is disposed on the second side of the towing vehicle (V1). In a variant, the control system (1) is configured to adjust the prominence of the first viewport (VPL, VPR) relative to the second viewport (VPL, VPR) in dependence on steering angle data indicative of a steering angle (β) (of the vehicle (V1). The present invention relates to a vehicle (V1, V2) incorporating the control system (1); a method of assisting an occupant of a vehicle (V1); computer software; and a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium.

Upon initiation of trailer-hitching, an image is obtained of an area behind and in a horizontal plane with respect to a vehicle, the area including a rearwardly extending trailer hitch, with a hitch ball mounted thereto, mounted to the vehicle. The hitch ball is located in the image. An overshoot zone, having a length extending from a vehicle rear bumper to a nearest point on the vehicle hitch ball and having a width that is a sum of a diameter of the hitch and two times a lateral offset, is defined within the area, as is a misaligned zone having a border extending from the vehicle rear bumper to a line tangent to a rearmost point of the hitch ball. A vehicle action is caused upon determining that the trailer coupling is detected in the overshoot zone or the misaligned zone.