A method of determining the configuration of a tow load (12) coupleable to a vehicle (10), the method comprising: controlling (116) a vehicle system to obtain an indication of the presence of a unique identifier (40) mounted on the tow load (12); retrieving data (120) encoded within the unique identifier to determine the configuration of the tow load; configuring (124) the vehicle in dependence on the determined configuration of the tow load.

The angle of a trailer with respect to a tow vehicle is an important parameter to the stability of the vehicle and trailer. A tow vehicle pulling a trailer in a straight line is generally more stable than when the vehicle is turning. While turning, the angle between the tow vehicle and the trailer is not a straight line but is another angle depending on how sharply the tow vehicle is turning. To safely operate a vehicle towing a trailer, for a given steering input and speed, there is a maximum angle between the tow vehicle and trailer whereby exceeding the angle causes instability and may cause the trailer or tow vehicle to roll over or jackknife. Accordingly, the angle between the trailer and tow vehicle must be determined to ensure the vehicle and trailer will continue to be in control.

A position detection system using a sensor, including a sensor unit including a plurality of sensors for transmitting a transmission signal or receiving a reflection signal reflected from an obstacle and configured to acquire a time of flight (TOF) of the received reflection signal, a storage unit configured to pre-store a position map of the obstacle for respective sensors depending on the TOF of the reflection signal on a grid map including a plurality of cells, and a position estimator configured to estimate a position of the obstacle based on the TOF of the reflection signal received by the sensor unit and the position map of the obstacle pre-stored in the storage unit.

A motor vehicle includes an acoustic device configured to generate and capture acoustic waves, the acoustic device includes a vehicle part having a vibration region, and an actuator arranged thereon and configured to for excitation and detection of vibrations of the vehicle part in the vibration region, wherein the region is modified compared to an adjacent region of the vehicle part and has greater sensitivity to excitations in the frequency range of the acoustic wave.

An ultrasonic sensor includes a sensor body, a cushion member, a retainer unit, and a drainage path. The sensor body includes an ultrasonic microphone and a microphone support unit which allows a protruding part of the ultrasonic microphone located at a distal end in an axial direction to protrude and supports the protruding part. The cushion member covers the protruding part. The retainer unit allows exposure of a portion of the cushion member that is located at the distal end in the axial direction, and a portion of the cushion member that is located at a proximal end in the axial direction is sandwiched between the retainer unit and an outer peripheral surface of the protruding part. The drainage path penetrates the retainer unit in a radial direction to allow water to be discharged out of the retainer unit from a gap between the retainer unit and the cushion member.

An object detection system includes: a plurality of object detection units. The object detection units each include a transmission and reception unit configured to transmit an ultrasonic wave and receive a reflected wave generated by reflection of the ultrasonic wave on an object, a reception circuit unit configured to detect a signal level of the reflected wave received by the transmission and reception unit, a detection unit configured to detect the object by comparing the signal level detected by the reception circuit unit with a predetermined signal threshold value, a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of an environment, and a detection sensitivity adjustment unit configured to adjust detection sensitivity of the reception circuit unit based on a second lowest temperature among temperatures detected by the respective temperature sensors in the plurality of object detection units.

An obstacle positioning method, device and terminal are provided. The method includes determining installation positions of at least two detectors on a vehicle, and respective detection areas of the detectors, determining an overlapping area of the detection areas of the detectors, and if determining that an obstacle is located in the overlapping area, determining a position of the obstacle according to the installation positions of the detectors forming the overlapping area. By changing the number and positions of detectors installed on an unmanned vehicle, a plurality of overlapping areas of the detection areas of the detectors are obtained, the distribution of obstacles around the vehicle are optimally identified, so that the unmanned vehicle makes reasonable driving plans based on an accurate surrounding obstacle environment.

A system and method is disclosed for classifying one or more objects within a vicinity of a vehicle. Ultra-sonic data may be received from a plurality of ultra-sonic sensors and may comprise echo signals indicating one or more objects that are proximally located within a vicinity of a vehicle. One or more features may be calculated from the ultra-sonic data using one or more signal processing algorithms unique to each of the plurality of ultra-sonic sensors. The one more features may be combined using a second-level signal processing algorithm to determine geometric relations for the one or more objects. The one or more features may then be statistically aggregated at an object level. The one or more objects may then be classified using a machine learning algorithm that compares an input of each of the one or more features to a trained classifier.

Embodiments include devices, system and processes for facilitating ultra-short range detection of obstacles using a PAS sensor. A process may include obtaining a correlation of at least two characteristics of a transducer; determining a given transmission frequency and selecting a reverberation time desired for the transducer; obtaining a damping ratio corresponding to the selected reverberation time; generating a ranging signal command; generating a damping signal command; and outputting each of the ranging signal command and the damping signal command. The ranging signal command may instruct a PAS sensor to drive the transducer to output a ranging signal at the given transmission frequency, at a transmission amplitude, and at a transmission phase and the damping signal command results in a dampening, at the damping ratio, of transducer reverberations arising from the ranging signal. The damping ratio may be between thirty percent (30%) and eighty percent (80%) of the transmission amplitude.