A method is for predicting a transverse dynamic stabilization behavior of a present vehicle configuration of a vehicle. The method includes ascertaining two or more geometric characteristics of the present vehicle configuration; ascertaining two or more load characteristics of the present vehicle configuration; generating an individualized vehicle model of the present vehicle configuration from a vehicle base model of the vehicle using the geometric characteristics and the load characteristics; predicting dynamic properties of the present vehicle configuration using the individualized vehicle model; and defining at least one drive dynamic threshold for the vehicle on the basis of the dynamic properties of the present vehicle configuration. A drive assistance system and/or a computer program is configured to perform the method. A vehicle includes the driving assistance system.

Systems, methods, and articulated vehicles which use sensor rails attached to trailers to provide improved control for autonomous articulated vehicles. An example vehicle can receive, at a computer system of a tractor operating in an autonomous mode, trailer sensor data from a plurality of trailer sensors located on at least one trailer, the at least one trailer being coupled to the tractor. The computer system can also receive road condition data from at least one sensor, the at least one sensor being located on at least one of the tractor and the at least one trailer. The computer system can then identify, based on the trailer sensor data and the road condition data, a physical condition of the at least one trailer to be modified, and modify, via an electrical signal transmitted from the computer system, the physical condition.

A vehicle control apparatus includes a camera that obtains a surrounding image of a vehicle, and a controller that estimates a position of a first corner point and a position of a second corner point of a trailer connected to the vehicle based on the surrounding image, estimates a position of a third corner point of the trailer using a position of the camera, the position of the first corner point, and the position of the second corner point, and estimates a length of the trailer based on the position of the first corner point and the position of the third corner point. The vehicle control apparatus improves the stability of autonomous driving by reducing the risk of lane encroachments and vehicle collisions, by allowing an autonomous vehicle towing a trailer to actively estimate the length of the trailer.

Systems and methods for localization of a trailer of an autonomous tractor-trailer are described herein. Some implementations can determine a sector area in an environment of the autonomous tractor-trailer that is predicted to include the trailer, determine a subset of an LIDAR data that is generated by LIDAR sensor(s) of an autonomous tractor of the autonomous tractor-trailer and that is predicted to include the trailer based on the sector area, generate a trailer pose instance of a trailer pose of the trailer based on the subset of the LIDAR data, and cause the trailer pose instance to be utilized in controlling the autonomous tractor-trailer. Additional or alternative implementations can utilize particular LIDAR sensor(s) in generating the trailer pose instance, such as phase coherent LIDAR sensor(s) or polarized LIDAR sensor(s).

A method of operating a tow vehicle and a trailer includes identifying at least one of transient state of operating characteristics or steady state operating characteristics. A transient state based estimation is performed if the transient state operating characteristics are identified to determine a transient state based effective trailer wheelbase and a towbar length and a steady state based estimation is performed if the steady state operating characteristics are identified to determine a steady state based effective trailer wheelbase. An estimated effective trailer wheelbase is determined relative to the tow vehicle based on at least one of the transient state based effective trailer wheelbase and the steady state based effective trailer wheelbase. The tow vehicle and the trailer are maneuvered based on the estimated effective trailer wheelbase.

The invention relates to a method for providing at least one characteristic of a trailer, having the steps of receiving image data which describes at least one part of the trailer and a reference object; and detecting the trailer and the reference object in the image data. A method according to the invention may additionally include the steps of determining at least one characteristic of the trailer on the basis of the reference object and outputting the at least one characteristic to a trailer assistance system for a vehicle combination in order to operate the trailer assistance system. Upon detecting the trailer, a coupling point and a central axis of the trailer are additionally detected, and upon determining the at least one trailer characteristic, a drawbar length is determined, wherein the drawbar length describes the distance between the coupling point and the central axis of the trailer.

Embodiments are presented herein for a panable camera with trailer length and object detection for vehicles equipped with cameras to supplement or replace mirrors commonly used today. In one embodiment, a vehicle controller is provided comprising: one or more processors; a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium. The program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: cause a side-view camera on a tractor to capture image(s) of leading, lower, upper and/or trailing edges of a trailer coupled with the tractor; and estimate a length of the trailer based on the image(s) captured by the side-view camera. Other embodiments are provided.

A lane departure suppression device includes an object information acquisition device that acquires information on an object around a vehicle, and a control unit that executes, when determination is made that there is a possibility that the vehicle crosses a departure determination reference line based on information acquired by the object information acquisition device, lane departure suppression control such that the possibility is reduced. The control unit is configured to change the departure determination reference line such that determination is made more easily that there is the possibility when the vehicle is towing a trailer than when the vehicle is not towing the trailer.

A collision avoidance system for road trains that relies strictly on sensors installed on the tractors yet is effective at avoiding collisions between the dollies and obstacles and a method for operating the system are disclosed. The collision avoidance system includes at least one exteroceptive sensor mounted to the tractor and configured to acquire environmental data, at least one proprioceptive sensor mounted to the tractor and configured to acquire a tractor direction, a tractor speed and/or a tractor velocity, and at least one processor configured to detect objects based on the environmental data, compute a trajectory of each of the at least one dolly based on dimensions of the tractor, dimensions of the at least one dolly, a number of the at least one dolly, the tractor direction, the tractor speed and/or the tractor velocity, and determine whether the trajectory intersects a boundary of one of the objects.

A computer-implemented method of determining a torque limit for an operating state of a first vehicle combination is provided. The method includes simulating a plurality of operating states for one or more second vehicle combinations. Each operating state is based on one or more operational parameters related to physical properties of the one or more second vehicle combinations, one or more parameters related to an operating environment of the one or more second vehicle combinations, and one or more parameters related to a driving scenario of the one or more second vehicle combinations. The method includes classifying each of the simulated operating states as safe or unsafe, receiving an unsimulated operating state for the first vehicle combination, and determining a torque limit for the unsimulated operating state based on the simulated operating states.