An apparatus for displaying a virtual lane may include: a processor to generate the virtual lane by converting lane information of a preceding vehicle into lane information viewed in a viewpoint of a host vehicle, in platooning, and a display to display the virtual lane.

Methods, apparatuses, systems and computer program products for estimating individualized road condition information for a specific vehicle are disclosed. Generic road condition information is received, which is indicative of at least one condition of a road segment. Further, individualization information is received, which is representative of an estimating method to be performed on the generic road condition information to obtain individualized road condition information for the specific vehicle. Individualized road condition information are estimated for the vehicle, wherein the estimating method is applied to the received generic road condition information to obtain individualized road condition information.

Methods, apparatuses, systems and computer program products for estimating individualized road condition information for a specific vehicle are disclosed. Generic road condition information is received, which is indicative of at least one condition of a road segment. Further, individualization information is received, which is representative of an estimating method to be performed on the generic road condition information to obtain individualized road condition information for the specific vehicle. Individualized road condition information are estimated for the vehicle, wherein the estimating method is applied to the received generic road condition information to obtain individualized road condition information.

The present invention discloses a system for detecting an obstacle for a vehicle. The system includes an information collection unit that monitors movement information of a vehicle, road information, and location information of the vehicle; a determination unit that determines whether the vehicle enters a special mode in which the vehicle turns and moves backward on a road through the movement information of the vehicle, the road information, and the location information of the vehicle from the information collection unit; and a controller that deactivates a rear monitoring function of either side of the vehicle in response to a determination that the vehicle enters the special mode.

The present invention discloses a system for detecting an obstacle for a vehicle. The system includes an information collection unit that monitors movement information of a vehicle, road information, and location information of the vehicle; a determination unit that determines whether the vehicle enters a special mode in which the vehicle turns and moves backward on a road through the movement information of the vehicle, the road information, and the location information of the vehicle from the information collection unit; and a controller that deactivates a rear monitoring function of either side of the vehicle in response to a determination that the vehicle enters the special mode.

Methods and systems for distributed detection of road conditions and damage are described. In one embodiment, a method for distributed detection of road conditions and damage is provided. The method includes receiving, from one or more mobile devices, a plurality of reports of anomalies associated with roads in a geographic area. The method also includes storing the received reports of anomalies in a database and comparing each report of an anomaly to stored reports of previous anomalies in the database. The method further includes determining whether each report of an anomaly indicates road damage or a temporary problem. The method includes generating a prioritized list of locations of anomalies associated with one or more roads that have been determined to have road damage that needs maintenance and/or repair.

A method is provided for determining a road condition by using a radar system having transmitter and receiving units for transmitting and receiving radar waves having two different polarizations and providing transmit and receive signals indicating an intensity of the transmitted and received radar waves. Co-polarized backscattering coefficients and at least one cross-polarized backscattering coefficient are determined based on the transmit and receive signals. If the cross-polarized backscattering coefficient is greater than or equal to a threshold, the road condition is determined based on a ratio of the co-polarized backscattering coefficients and based on a difference of one of the co-polarized backscattering coefficients and the cross-polarized backscattering coefficient. If the cross-polarized backscattering coefficient is smaller than the threshold, the road condition is determined based on the ratio and a difference of the co-polarized backscattering coefficients.

A method is provided for determining a road condition by using a radar system having transmitter and receiving units for transmitting and receiving radar waves having two different polarizations and providing transmit and receive signals indicating an intensity of the transmitted and received radar waves. Co-polarized backscattering coefficients and at least one cross-polarized backscattering coefficient are determined based on the transmit and receive signals. If the cross-polarized backscattering coefficient is greater than or equal to a threshold, the road condition is determined based on a ratio of the co-polarized backscattering coefficients and based on a difference of one of the co-polarized backscattering coefficients and the cross-polarized backscattering coefficient. If the cross-polarized backscattering coefficient is smaller than the threshold, the road condition is determined based on the ratio and a difference of the co-polarized backscattering coefficients.

A system and method for estimating road conditions ahead of a vehicle, including: a LIDAR sensor operable for generating a LIDAR point cloud; a processor executing a road condition estimation algorithm stored in a memory, the road condition estimation algorithm performing the steps including: detecting a ground plane or drivable surface in the LIDAR point cloud; superimposing an M×N matrix on at least a portion of the LIDAR point cloud; for each patch of the LIDAR point cloud defined by the M×N matrix, statistically evaluating a relative position, a feature elevation, and a scaled reflectance index; and, from the statistically evaluated relative position, feature elevation, and scaled reflectance index, determining a slipperiness probability for each patch of the LIDAR point cloud; and a vehicle control system operable for, based on the determined slipperiness probability for each patch of the LIDAR point cloud, affecting an operation of the vehicle.

A vehicle control system having a subsystem controller for initiating control of a first group of at least one vehicle subsystem in a selected one of a plurality of subsystem control modes each corresponding to one or more different driving conditions; and an estimator module for evaluating at least one driving condition indicator to determine the extent to which each of the subsystem control modes is appropriate and for providing an output indicative of the subsystem control mode that is most appropriate. The estimator module is configured to increase the probability to which the at least one off-road driving mode is determined appropriate in dependence on at least one terrain indicator. In an automatic response mode the subsystem controller selects the most appropriate one of the subsystem control modes for each subsystem of the first group in dependence on the output.