An automatic driving assistance apparatus includes a driving state acquirer, an own vehicle location acquirer, a traveling environment information acquirer, a branch lane determining unit, a lane change calculator, and a traveling state controller. The driving state acquirer acquires a driving state of an own vehicle. The own vehicle location acquirer acquires a location of the own vehicle. The traveling environment acquirer acquires a traveling environment in which the own vehicle is traveling. The branch lane determining unit examines whether a target travel path toward which the own vehicle travels is set to a branch lane direction. The lane change calculator obtains a deceleration start position and a lane change start position of the own vehicle. The traveling state controller controls a traveling state of the own vehicle based on the deceleration start position and the lane change start position.

A method for parameterizing a functional software of a vehicle, including: receiving information about a vehicle state, transmitting the information about the vehicle state via a communication interface addressed to a remote processing unit outside the vehicle, and receiving, at the local processing unit in the vehicle, information about at least one parameter for influencing the vehicle behavior, which was transmitted by the remote processing unit outside the vehicle, via the communication interface.

A driving change control device in a vehicle equipped with an autonomous driving function for performing a driving operation on behalf of a driver and controlling an exchange of the driving operation between the autonomous driving function and the driver includes: a section setting unit that sets a change execution section where a driving change from the autonomous driving function to the driver is performed; and a parameter adjustment unit that changes a travel control parameter referred to by the autonomous driving function in a switching section before the change execution section, to adjust a traveling state of the vehicle to be a state with a driving load lower than a driving load before arrival at the switching section.

An information processing system that appropriately estimates a driving conduct includes: a detector that detects a vehicle environment state, which is at least one of surroundings of a vehicle and a driving state of the vehicle; a behavior learning unit configured to cause a neural network to learn a relationship between the vehicle environment state detected by the detector and a behavior of the vehicle implemented after the vehicle environment state; and a behavior estimation unit configured to estimate a behavior of the vehicle by inputting, into the neural network that learned, the vehicle environment state detected at a current point in time by the detector.

Described herein is a system and method for detecting malodor within a cabin of an autonomous vehicle, wherein initiation of a remediation system and/or dispatch of the autonomous vehicle to a service hub for mitigating the malodor is based upon sensor signals that monitor the cabin of the autonomous vehicle. The remediation system can include devices such as an HVAC system or a window, which are operated to reduce the concentration of airborne molecules in the cabin of the autonomous vehicle when the concentration of airborne molecules exceeds an air quality threshold. A dispatch protocol may be initiated to dispatch the autonomous vehicle to a service hub when the malodor is associated with certain predefined incidents or when remediation fails to reduce the concentration of airborne molecules below the air quality threshold.

A controller for an autonomous vehicle detects movement of a bezel on a smartwatch or other wearable device with wireless communication capabilities. A driver initiates a parking maneuver. The controller executes the parking maneuver only so long as movement of the bezel is detected in order to ensure that the driver is present and engaged. If movement of the bezel ceases, the controller will pause the parking maneuver. In some embodiments, direction of rotation of the bezel will determine whether the vehicle moves forward or in reverse in to a parking spot.

In one embodiment, a steering control delay is measured, where the steering delay represents the delay between the time of issuing a steering control command and the time of a response from one or more wheels of an autonomous vehicle. A speed control delay is measured between the time of issuing a speed control command and the time of a response from one or more wheels of the autonomous vehicle or the time of supplying pressure to the gas pedal or brake pedal. In response to a given route subsequently, an overall system delay is determined based on the steering control delay and the speed control delay using a predetermined algorithm. Planning and control data is generated in view of the system delay for operating the autonomous vehicle.

Method and apparatus are disclosed for mobile device tethering for a remote parking assist system of a vehicle. An example vehicle includes first and second wireless modules and a processor. The processor estimates a region of probability representative of possible locations of a mobile device based on a first signal strength indicator. When the region of probability overlaps a virtual boundary, the processor polls a key fob, estimates a distance of the key fob from the vehicle based on a second signal strength indicator, and when the key fob is within the virtual boundary, enable autonomous parking.

A computer-implemented method for controlling a vehicle. The method monitors one or more characteristics of one or more users within the vehicle, and compares the one or more characteristics of the one or more users with one or more corresponding baseline characteristics of the one or more users. The method further determines, based on the comparison, that a difference between the one or more characteristics and the one or more corresponding baseline characteristics of the one or more users exceeds a threshold value, and performs a controlling action associated with the vehicle, wherein the controlling action may be taking a higher level of autonomous control over the vehicle; varying speed and handling of the vehicle; and overriding the one or more characteristics of the one or more users in order to avoid an accident.

A system for controlling a motion of a vehicle from an initial state to a target state includes a path planner to determine a discontinuous curvature path connecting the initial state with the target state by a sequential composition of driving patterns. The discontinuous curvature path is collision-free within a tolerance envelope centered on the discontinuous curvature path. The system further includes a path transformer to locate and replace at least one treatable primitive in the discontinuous curvature path with a corresponding continuous curvature segment to form a modified path remaining within the tolerance envelope. Each treatable primitive is a predetermined pattern of elementary paths. The system further includes a controller to control the motion of the vehicle according to the modified path.