ASSISTANCE SYSTEM FOR A ROAD VEHICLE

Abstract

An assistance system for a road vehicle which can be used on a roadway having one or more lanes, includes a position determination system for determining a lateral relative position of the road vehicle on the roadway. The position determination system has an electrical signal line disposed parallel to the roadway, a signal generator for generating and feeding an electrical signal into the signal line, resulting in a current flow which can be generated in the signal line, an on-vehicle sensor assembly for capturing a field strength and/or a field direction of an electromagnetic field forming about the signal line as a result of the current flow generated, and an on-vehicle evaluation unit, configured to determine, from the captured field strength and/or field direction, a lateral relative position of the road vehicle relative to the signal line. A more reliable position determination system is thus provided.

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. An assistance system for a road vehicle to be used on a roadway having one or more lanes, the assistance system comprising: a position determination system for determining a lateral position of the road vehicle on the roadway; said position determination system including: an electrical signal line disposed parallel to the roadway, a signal generator for generating and feeding an electrical signal into the signal line, for generating a current flow in the signal line, an on-vehicle sensor assembly for capturing at least one of a field strength or a field direction of an electromagnetic field forming about the signal line, as a result of the generated current flow, and an on-vehicle evaluation unit configured to determine a lateral relative position of the road vehicle relative to the signal line, from at least one of the captured field strength or the field direction.

12. The assistance system according to claim 11, wherein said electrical signal line is disposed above the roadway along a lane center of a lane or at defined lateral distances from the lane center.

13. The assistance system according to claim 11, wherein said electrical signal line has two conductor poles, and said signal generator is configured for generating and feeding a differential electrical signal into said two conductor poles of said electrical signal line.

14. The assistance system according to claim 11, wherein said sensor assembly has a plurality of magnetic field sensors disposed laterally offset on a vehicle roof of the road vehicle.

15. The assistance system according to claim 11, wherein said evaluation unit is configured to determine a lane currently used by the road vehicle from a plurality of lanes of the roadway, by using the determined lateral relative position.

16. The assistance system according to claim 11, wherein said evaluation unit is configured to determine, from the determined lateral relative position, a current lateral offset of the road vehicle from a lane center of a lane being used.

17. The assistance system according to claim 11, which further comprises an on-vehicle output unit for at least one of a visual or acoustic output of a lane being used or a lateral offset from a lane center of the lane being used, to a driver of the road vehicle.

18. The assistance system according to claim 11, wherein: said signal generator is configured to modulate data representing electrical signal longitudinal position-specific and lane-specific traffic information; and said output unit is configured to output the longitudinal position-specific and lane-specific traffic information to a driver of the road vehicle as a function of a current longitudinal position and a currently used lane of the road vehicle.

19. The assistance system according to claim 11, which further comprises an on-vehicle steering control system for automated guidance of the road vehicle within a lane being used, to which a currently determined lateral offset of the road vehicle can be fed from the lane center for determining a change in a steering angle.

20. The assistance system according to claim 11, wherein said signal line is formed by contact wires of a two-pole overhead contact line system configured as an outgoing and return conductor for supplying energy to the road vehicle, and said contact wires for supplying energy can be contacted by an on-vehicle current collector.

Description

[0015] Further properties and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows of two specific exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings, in which, illustrated schematically,

[0016] FIG. 1 shows a first exemplary embodiment of the assistance system according to the invention in plan view with a single-pole signal line,

[0017] FIG. 2 shows a second exemplary embodiment of the assistance system according to the invention in plan view with a two-pole signal line.

[0018] According to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an assistance system 1 according to the invention serves to support partially automated or autonomous operation of road vehicles 2 which are operated on a single-lane or multi-lane roadway 3—in the illustrated exemplary embodiments on a three-lane highway with a left, a central and a left lane 4 for the illustrated direction of travel. The lanes 4 each have lateral lane boundary lines 5, a lane center 6 running centrally between them, and a lane width B which corresponds to the distance between the lane centers of adjacent lanes 3. The assistance system 1 comprises a position determination system 7 for determining a lateral position Y of a road vehicle 2 on the roadway 3. On the road vehicle 2, a longitudinal center of the vehicle 8, for example, serves as a reference point for its lateral position Y. The position determination system 7 has, arranged longitudinally with respect to the roadway 3 according to FIG. 1, a single-pole signal line 9 or, according to FIG. 2, a two-pole signal line 9, which are arranged above the level of the roadway 2 via masts 10. According to FIG. 1, they can extend laterally of the roadway 3 or according to FIG. 2, via transverse support facilities 11 fastened to masts 10, over the roadway 3 along a lane center 6. FIG. 1 shows, by way of example, the single-pole case in which the signal line 9 is arranged at defined lateral distances Y(X) from the lane center 6, possibly varying with the longitudinal position X on the roadway 2. In the two-pole case according to FIG. 2, the positive and negative conductor poles of the signal line 9 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the lane center 6. An electrical signal in the form of a low-frequency signal between 1 kHz and 100 MHz, generated by means of a signal generator 11 of the position determination system 7, is fed into the signal line 9, as a result of which an electromagnetic field H, caused by the current flow, is formed around the signal conductor or signal conductors 9. In the case of the two-pole signal line according to FIG. 2, a differential electrical signal can advantageously be fed into the conductor poles. An on-vehicle sensor assembly comprising one or more magnetic field sensors 13, which are arranged spatially distributed, for example, on both sides of the longitudinal center of the vehicle 8 on a vehicle roof of the road vehicle 2, is designed to detect a field strength and/or a field direction of the electromagnetic field.

[0019] The position determination system 7 also has an on-vehicle evaluation unit 14, which is designed to determine a lateral position Y of the road vehicle 2 relative to the signal line 9 from the captured field strength and/or field direction of the electromagnetic field H. On the basis of the known lateral distances Y(X) and lane width B stored in the evaluation unit 14, a lane 4 currently used by the road vehicle 2 can be determined from the determined lateral position Y of the road vehicle 2 at a longitudinal position X of the roadway 3. Moreover, the evaluation unit 14 is designed to determine a current lateral offset ΔY of the road vehicle 2 from the lane center 8 of the used lane 4 from the determined relative position Y.

[0020] According to FIG. 2, the assistance system 1 comprises an on-vehicle output unit 15 for visual and/or acoustic output of the used lane 4 and/or the lateral offset ΔY of a lane center 6 of the used lane 4 to a driver of the road vehicle 2. It is also designed to output longitudinal position and lane-specific traffic information V to a driver of the road vehicle 2 as a function of the current longitudinal position X and the currently used lane 4 of the road vehicle 2. For this purpose, the signal generator 12 is designed to modulate data representing the electrical signal of longitudinal position and lane-specific traffic information V, closures or disruption on the used lane 4 somewhat ahead, or current speed restrictions.

[0021] Furthermore, the assistance system 1 according to FIG. 2 comprises an on-vehicle steering control system 16 for the automated guidance of the road vehicle 2 within the used lane 4. The currently determined lateral offset ΔY of the road vehicle 2 from the lane center 6 is supplied to the steering control system 16 to determine a change in steering angle Δα.

[0022] The road vehicle 2 of the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 2 has a current collector 17, which makes contact with the contact wires 18 of a two-pole overhead contact line system in order to supply electrical energy. For supplying energy to electrical consumers, in particular the drive, of the road vehicle 2 during travel, the current collector 17 is brought into electrical sliding contact with the contact wires 18. The signal lines 9 of the assistance system 1 according to the invention are in this case formed by the contact wires 18 of the overhead contact line system, which are designed as outgoing and return conductors.