To obtain a rider-assistance system capable of providing a rider of a straddle-type vehicle with a sense of comfort and safety during a turn, and a control method for such a rider-assistance system.

The present invention provides the rider-assistance system that assists with driving by the rider of the straddle-type vehicle and includes a controller. The controller includes: an object identification section that identifies an object approaching a side of the straddle-type vehicle on the basis of output of a communication device that wirelessly receives information output from infrastructure equipment or another vehicle; a body position information acquisition section that acquires position information of at least a part of a body of the rider on the turning straddle-type vehicle; a collision possibility determination section that determines a collision possibility of the rider with the object identified by the object identification section on the basis of the position information acquired by the body position information acquisition section; and a safety operation performing section that causes the rider-assistance system to perform safety operation in the case where the collision possibility determination section determines that the collision possibility is high.

To obtain a rider-assistance system capable of providing a rider of a straddle-type vehicle with a sense of comfort and safety during a turn, and a control method for such a rider-assistance system.

The present invention provides the rider-assistance system that assists with driving by the rider of the straddle-type vehicle and includes a controller. The controller includes: an object identification section that identifies an object approaching a side of the straddle-type vehicle on the basis of output of a communication device that wirelessly receives information output from infrastructure equipment or another vehicle; a body position information acquisition section that acquires position information of at least a part of a body of the rider on the turning straddle-type vehicle; a collision possibility determination section that determines a collision possibility of the rider with the object identified by the object identification section on the basis of the position information acquired by the body position information acquisition section; and a safety operation performing section that causes the rider-assistance system to perform safety operation in the case where the collision possibility determination section determines that the collision possibility is high.

Provided is a vehicle control device capable of preventing a delay in driver's bank angle operation during traveling of a straddle type vehicle on a curve and enhancing safety of the vehicle. The vehicle control device 100 is a device that is mounted on a two-wheeled motor vehicle and controls the vehicle to travel while following a preceding vehicle. The vehicle control device 100 includes a curvature acquisition unit 110 that acquires a curvature of a road in front of the vehicle and a driving force control unit 120 that limits a change amount of driving force of the vehicle per unit time based on the curvature acquired by the curvature acquisition unit 110.

A control unit 15 of an in-vehicle device 1 configured to acquire, from landmark data LD that is map data including position information of one or more features, plural pieces of position information of a feature which is drawn on a road surface and which exists at or around a vehicle. Then, the control unit 15 is configured to calculate a normal vector of an approximate plane calculated based on the acquired plural pieces of the position information. Then, the control unit 15 is configured to calculate at least one of a pitch angle or a roll angle of the vehicle based on the orientation of the vehicle and the normal vector.

The invention is related to a laser diode based multiple beam laser spot imaging system for characterization of vehicle dynamics. A laser diode based, preferably VCSEL based laser imaging system is utilized to characterize the vehicle dynamics. One or more laser beams are directed to the road surface. A compact imaging system including an imaging matrix sensor such as a CCD or CMOS camera measures locations or separations of individual laser spots. Loading status of vehicles and vehicles' pitch and roll angle can be characterized by analyzing the change of laser spot locations or separations.

The invention is related to a laser diode based multiple beam laser spot imaging system for characterization of vehicle dynamics. A laser diode based, preferably VCSEL based laser imaging system is utilized to characterize the vehicle dynamics. One or more laser beams are directed to the road surface. A compact imaging system including an imaging matrix sensor such as a CCD or CMOS camera measures locations or separations of individual laser spots. Loading status of vehicles and vehicles' pitch and roll angle can be characterized by analyzing the change of laser spot locations or separations.

A posture estimation method includes calculating a posture change amount of an object based on an output of an angular velocity sensor, predicting posture information of the object by using the posture change amount, limiting a bias error in a manner of limiting a bias error component of an angular velocity around a reference vector in error information, and correcting the predicted posture information of the object based on the error information, the reference vector, and an output of a reference observation sensor.

Provided are methods for vehicle state estimation based on sensor data, which can include receiving the sensor data generated by one or more sensors, calculating a cornering stiffness value associated with the vehicle, predicting a lateral velocity value associated with the vehicle based on the cornering stiffness value, and outputting a set of vehicle state variables indicative of a current state of the vehicle at least by inputting the lateral velocity value into a recursive filter. Some methods described also include updating the cornering stiffness value based on the set of vehicle state variables, updating the lateral velocity value based on the updated cornering stiffness value, and updating the set of vehicle state variables based on the updated lateral velocity value. Systems and computer program products are also provided.

Provided are methods for vehicle state estimation based on sensor data, which can include receiving the sensor data generated by one or more sensors, calculating a cornering stiffness value associated with the vehicle, predicting a lateral velocity value associated with the vehicle based on the cornering stiffness value, and outputting a set of vehicle state variables indicative of a current state of the vehicle at least by inputting the lateral velocity value into a recursive filter. Some methods described also include updating the cornering stiffness value based on the set of vehicle state variables, updating the lateral velocity value based on the updated cornering stiffness value, and updating the set of vehicle state variables based on the updated lateral velocity value. Systems and computer program products are also provided.

It is an object of the present invention to improve accuracy in estimation of a state of a vehicle in order to achieve excellent ride comfort. An ECU (600) includes a reference vehicle model computation section (1100), which is configured to calculate a reference output by carrying out computation with respect to at least one of a plurality of state amounts in a planar direction and at least one of a plurality of state amounts in an up-down direction in an inseparable manner.