Fusion System for Fusing Environment Information for a Motor Vehicle

Abstract

A fusion system for a motor vehicle includes at least two environment sensors, a neural network coupled to the environment sensors for fusing environment information from the environment sensors, a fusion apparatus for fusing environment information from the environment sensors, and a control device coupled to the neural network and the fusion apparatus. The control device is set up to adapt the environment information fused via the neural network, depending on the environment information fused by the fusion apparatus, and to provide the adapted environment information to a driver assistance system of the motor vehicle.

Claims

1.-8. (canceled)

9. A fusion system for a motor vehicle, comprising: at least two environment sensors; a neural network coupled to the environment sensors for fusing environment information from the environment sensors; a fusion apparatus for fusing environment information from the environment sensors; and a control device coupled to the fusion apparatus to the neural network, wherein the control device is configured so as to: (i) adapt the environment information fused by the neural network on the basis of environment information fused by the fusion apparatus, and (ii) provide the adapted environment information to a driver assistance system of the motor vehicle.

10. The fusion system according to claim 9, further comprising: a recording device coupled to the fusion apparatus, wherein for linked environment information provided by the function apparatus, the recording device is configured so as to store: at least one circumstance variable that is characteristic of a circumstance relating to the driving situation, and/or at least one influencing variable determined on the basis of the circumstance variable and characteristic of an influence of an environment sensor on the fusion.

11. The fusion system according to claim 10, wherein the fusion apparatus is configured so as to: receive a circumstance variable that is characteristic of a circumstance relating to the driving situation, determine at least one influencing variable characteristic of an influence of an environment sensor on the fusion on the basis of the circumstance variable, fuse environment information from the environment sensors on the basis of the influencing variable, and provide the fused environment information to a driver assistance system contained within the motor vehicle.

12. The fusion system according to claim 11, wherein the fusion apparatus is configured so as to determine the influencing variable on the basis of a relationship between the circumstance variable and a functional quality of at least one environment sensor.

13. The fusion system according to claim 9, wherein the fusion apparatus is configured so as to interpret the fused environment information before providing it to the driver assistance system on the basis of an assistive variable.

14. The fusion system according to claim 13, wherein the fusion apparatus is configured so as to interpret the fused environment information as an assistive variable on the basis of a movement of an object recorded by the environment sensors.

15. The fusion system according to claim 14, wherein the fusion apparatus is configured so as to interpret the fused environment information as an assistive variable on the basis of a behavioral model of an object recorded by the environment sensors.

16. The fusion system according to claim 15, wherein the fusion apparatus is configured so as to interpret the fused environment information as an assistive variable on the basis of a traffic rule.

17. The fusion system according to claim 13, wherein the fusion apparatus is configured so as to interpret the fused environment information as an assistive variable on the basis of a behavioral model of an object recorded by the environment sensors.

18. The fusion system according to claim 13, wherein the fusion apparatus is configured so as to interpret the fused environment information as an assistive variable on the basis of a traffic rule.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] FIG. 1a shows an exemplary embodiment of a fusion apparatus according to the invention.

[0051] FIG. 1b shows an exemplary embodiment of a fusion system according to the invention.

[0052] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a fusion method according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0053] FIG. 1a shows a fusion apparatus FE for fusing environment information from at least two environment sensors U1, U2 of a motor vehicle. The fusion apparatus FE is in this case configured so as to receive a circumstance variable that is characteristic of a circumstance relating to the driving situation.

[0054] The circumstance variable is in particular a variable determined by a sensor G, for example a variable characteristic of the brightness of the vehicle environment.

[0055] The fusion apparatus FE is furthermore configured so as to determine at least one influencing variable g1, g2 characteristic of an influence of an environment sensor on the fusion on the basis of the circumstance variable.

[0056] In particular when the fusion apparatus FE fuses the environment information from the environment sensors U1, U2 by way of a linear combination, the influencing variables g1, g2 may in each case be a weighting factor assigned to an environment sensor U1, U2.

[0057] The fusion apparatus FE fuses environment information from the environment sensors U1, U2 on the basis of the influencing variable g1, g2 and provides the fused environment information vm to a driver assistance system FAS contained within the motor vehicle.

[0058] The fusion apparatus FE is in this case configured so as to determine the influencing variable g1, g2 on the basis of a relationship between the circumstance variable and a functional quality of at least one environment sensor U1, U2.

[0059] In particular, when one of the environment sensors U1, U2 is a camera-based sensor, the influence of the environment information from this environment sensor U1 on the fused environment information vm may be relatively low when the circumstance variable indicates low brightness of the vehicle environment.

[0060] The fusion apparatus FE is furthermore configured so as to interpret the fused environment information vm before providing it to the driver assistance system FAS on the basis of an assistive variable.

[0061] The assistive variable may in this case for example be read from an assistive variable storage unit H that is contained within the fusion apparatus FE.

[0062] The fusion apparatus FE may in this case for example interpret the fused environment information vm on the basis of a movement of an object recorded by the environment sensors U1, U2.

[0063] As an alternative thereto, the fusion apparatus FE may for example interpret the fused environment information vm on the basis of a behavioral model of an object recorded by the environment sensors U1, U2.

[0064] As an alternative thereto, the fusion apparatus FE may interpret the fused environment information vm as an assistive variable on the basis of a traffic rule.

[0065] FIG. 1b shows a fusion system for a motor vehicle, wherein the fusion system comprises at least two environment sensors U1, U2, a neural network PV coupled to the environment sensors U1, U2 for fusing environment information from the environment sensors U1, U2, a fusion apparatus FE according to the invention for fusing environment information from the environment sensors U1, U2, and a control device AV coupled to the fusion apparatus FE and to the neural network PV.

[0066] The control device AV is in this case configured so as to adapt the environment information pm fused by the neural network PV on the basis of environment information vm fused by the fusion apparatus FE, and to provide the adapted environment information ai to a driver assistance system FAS of the motor vehicle.

[0067] By way of example, the control device AV may make a selection, on the basis of the environment information vm fused by the fusion apparatus FE, as to whether the environment information pm fused by the neural network PV or the environment information vm fused by the fusion apparatus FE is provided to the driver assistance system FAS.

[0068] As an alternative thereto, the control device AV may interpret the environment information pm fused by the neural network PV on the basis of the environment information vm fused by the fusion apparatus FE, and provide the interpretation result to the driver assistance system FAS.

[0069] If for example the fused environment information pm, vm in each case relates to a spatial region in which an object is located with a sufficiently high probability, then the control device AV may combine the two spatial regions with one another and provide the combination result to the driver assistance system FAS.

[0070] The fusion system furthermore comprises a recording device LV coupled to the fusion apparatus FE. The recording device LV is configured so as to store, for linked environment information vm provided by the fusion apparatus FE, at least one circumstance variable that is characteristic of a circumstance relating to the driving situation and/or at least one influencing variable g1, g2 determined on the basis of the circumstance variable and characteristic of an influence of an environment sensor on the fusion.

[0071] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a fusion method according to the invention.

[0072] In this case, the spatial region to in which an object is actually located is recorded by the environment sensors U1, U2. Due to an extremely wide variety of circumstances, the environment sensors U1, U2 do not normally record the exact spatial region in which the object is located.

[0073] The fusion apparatus FE is therefore configured so as to fuse environment information from the environment sensors U1, U2. To this end, the fusion apparatus FE receives a circumstance variable that is characteristic of a circumstance relating to the driving situation. On the basis of the circumstance variable, the fusion apparatus FE determines at least one influencing variable g1, g2 characteristic of an influence of an environment sensor on the fusion.

[0074] The environment information from the environment sensors U1, U2 is then fused by the fusion apparatus FE on the basis of the influencing variable g1, g2. The fused environment information vm in this case reproduces the spatial region in which the object is located with a higher quality than the environment information from an individual environment sensor U1, U2.