A wiper system for a vehicle includes a first micromechanical device configured to detect a first ambient condition and a second micromechanical device configured to detect a second ambient condition. The first micromechanical device is configured to communicate with the second micromechanical device, and the first ambient condition is different to the second ambient condition. The first micromechanical device and the second micromechanical device are configured to operate at least one wiper such that the first ambient condition and the second ambient condition are fulfilled. The at least one wiper of the wiper system is configured to remove moisture of a window of the vehicle.

A vehicle is disclosed that uses data from different types of on-board sensors to determine whether meteorological precipitation is failing near the vehicle. The vehicle may include an on-board camera capturing image data and an on-board accelerometer capturing accelerometer data. The image data may characterize an area in front of or behind the vehicle. The accelerometer data may characterize vibrations of a windshield of the vehicle. An artificial neural network may run on computer hardware carried on-board the vehicle. The artificial neural network may be trained to classify meteorological precipitation in an environment of the vehicle using the image data and the accelerometer data as inputs. The classifications of the artificial neural network may be used to control one or more functions of the vehicle such as windshield-wiper speed, traction-control settings, or the like.

A semiconductor device including an abnormality detection section that detects an abnormality occurring in a moving body that moves along a specific path on a surface of a specific object; a position detection section that detects a position of the moving body as an abnormality occurrence position, in a case in which the abnormality detection section has detected an abnormality, and that stores abnormality occurrence position information expressing the abnormality occurrence position in a storage section; and a moving body controller that controls an adjusting section to adjust at least one of a force with which the moving body presses against the specific object, or a position of the moving body in a direction intersecting the surface of the specific object, based on a detection result detected by the abnormality detection section and the abnormality occurrence position information.

Systems and methods are provided for estimating atmospheric properties using a LIDAR sensor. A control system includes a LIDAR sensor configured to detect a distance to an object, and an intensity of light reflected by the object. A controller's a target selection module determines whether the object is a target for use in estimating the atmospheric properties. A data collection module collects values of the distance and the intensity as detected by the LIDAR sensor. The atmospheric properties are determined based on the values of the distance and the intensity. In response to the determined atmospheric properties, the actuator is operated to effect an action.

A method for the activation of a windscreen wiper motor is disclosed, in which the motor is connected to a wiper blade by a drive shaft, which moves the wiper blade between two reversal points of a wiping field in differing movement direction, where the rotation speed and direction of the motor, or the speed of the wiper blade, is detected by a sensor device and is supplied to a control device as an input value. The motor, before reaching the respective reversal point, is switched off, whereupon the drive shaft continues to rotate further by a castor angle up to a standstill, and the wiper blade moves further by a trailing distance. The actual speed of the wiper blade is compared at the switch-off time with a nominal speed, and the motor is operated further for a period of time when the comparison results in a difference in values.

Method to estimate the wear state of wiper blades (5) of a vehicle windshield wiper unit (1), said windshield wiper unit (1) comprising: at least one wiper blade (5) configured to wipe a windshield surface (S) when activated, at least one motor (7) configured to activate the at least one wiper blade (5), a controller (9) configured to control the at least one motor (7), comprising the steps: deriving a friction coefficient (B) between the at least one wiper blade (5) and the windshield surface (S), using the derived friction coefficient (B) to determine the wetness of the windshield surface (S), if the windshield surface (S) is dry, using the derived friction coefficient (B) to estimate the wear state of the at least one wiper blade (5).

A vehicle control method is provided for a vehicle having an ultra wide band (UWB) sensor configured to measure a rainfall value. The method includes waking up the UWB sensor in response to a trigger instruction for starting rainfall detection, to cause the UWB sensor to measure a rainfall value; acquiring the rainfall value measured by the UWB sensor; and controlling the vehicle to execute a preset control instruction action according to the rainfall value.

A method includes receiving an audio signal from a microphone and processing the audio signal to identify a signal component that is associated with a resonance of at least part of a microphone unit disposed on a vehicle. The microphone unit includes the microphone and a protective element arranged to shield the microphone from environmental material. The method includes determining, based at least in part on the identified signal components, a characteristic indicative of the protective element having shielded the microphone from environmental material.

A vehicle including a windshield, a sensor unit, a first wiper, a second wiper and a processor is disclosed. The sensor unit may be configured to determine inputs associated with a presence of water on the windshield in a sensor unit's field of view (FOV). The processor may determine a first amount of water added to the windshield in the sensor unit's FOV during a first time duration and a second amount of water added to the windshield in the sensor unit's FOV during a second time duration based on the inputs obtained from the sensor unit. The first and second time durations may be based on the movements of the first and second wipers on the windshield. The processor may further calculate a difference between the first amount and the second amount, and control an operation of the first and second wipers based on the difference.