PARKING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM

Abstract

The invention relates to a parking assistance system for an ego vehicle (1), comprising a control device (2) for controlling a parking procedure, in which the ego vehicle (1) is guided to a target position within a parking space (10), the control device (2) can access sensors for environment detection and, on the basis of the sensor data, can determine a parking space (10) by identifying objects (10a, 11, 12, 13) surrounding the parking space (10), wherein the control device (2) is designed to specify a first minimum distance and a second minimum distance of the ego vehicle (1) from surrounding objects (10a, 11, 12, 13), the control device (2) is furthermore designed to specify, on the basis of the first minimum distance, a first parking region (14) and, on the basis of the second minimum distance, a second parking region (15), and the control device (2) determines the target position by specifying said position within the first and/or the second parking region (14, 15).

Claims

1. A parking assistance system for an ego vehicle, comprising a control device controlling a parking procedure in which the ego vehicle is guided to a target position within a parking space, the control device can accesses sensors for environment detection and, on the basis of the sensor data, determines a parking space by identifying objects surrounding the parking space, wherein the control device is configured to specify a first minimum distance and a second minimum distance of the ego vehicle from surrounding objects, the control device is furthermore configured to specify, on the basis of the first minimum distance, a first parking region and, on the basis of the second minimum distance, a second parking region, and the control device determines the target position by specifying said position within the first and/or the second parking region.

2. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the first minimum distance is a distance which must be present between the ego vehicle and the surrounding objects in order to avoid a collision of the ego vehicle with the surrounding objects.

3. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the second minimum distance is a distance which should be present between the ego vehicle and the surrounding objects in order to guarantee comfort functions.

4. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the second minimum distance is larger than the first minimum distance by a percentage value.

5. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first or second minimum distance is the same on all sides of the ego vehicle or varies side by side in accordance with the geometry of the ego vehicle.

6. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein in addition to the first and second minimum distance, further minimum distances and/or further parking regions are specified.

7. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein at least one camera, lidar, radar, or ultrasonic sensor is provided as the sensor or sensors for environment detection.

8. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein a classification of the parking space is affected and the minimum distances or parking regions are specified on the basis of the classification.

9. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein an orientation angle of the parking space is determined from the following features: parking space marking, curb parked vehicles, other objects, vehicle orientation of the ego vehicle when driving past.

10. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the control device accesses actuators of the ego vehicle and carries out the parking procedure independently.

11. A method for controlling a parking procedure of an ego vehicle, in which guiding the ego vehicle to a target position within a parking space, enlisting sensor data from sensors for environment detection in order to determine the parking space by identifying objects surrounding the parking space, wherein specifying a first minimum distance and a second minimum distance of the ego vehicle from the surrounding objects, on the basis of the first minimum distance, specifying a first parking region and, on the basis of the second minimum distance, specifying a second parking region, and determining the target position by specifying the position within the first and/or the second parking region.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the method furthermore comprises the following method steps: determining an orientation angle of the ego vehicle in the target position by prioritizing the surrounding objects, determining the first and second parking regions by checking the environment for necessary minimum distances and for suitable comfort distances from the surrounding objects, and selecting a point of the second parking region in order to position the ego vehicle on the basis of the orientation angle.

13. A computer program having program code for performing the method according to claim 11 when the computer program is run on a computer.

14. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium comprising instructions which prompt the computer on which they are run to execute the method according to claim 11.

15. A vehicle, comprising a parking assistance system according to claim 1.

16. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein an orientation angle of the parking space is determined from the following features appearing in decreasing priority: parking space marking, curb, parked vehicles, other objects, vehicle orientation of the ego vehicle when driving past.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to expedient exemplary embodiments, wherein:

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a considerably simplified schematic representation of an ego vehicle having an assistance system according to the invention;

[0031] FIG. 2a shows a simplified representation of a traffic scenario, in which an ego vehicle having an assistance system according to the invention detects a parking space;

[0032] FIG. 2b shows a simplified representation of a traffic scenario, in which an ego vehicle having an assistance system according to the invention detects a parking space, wherein the parking space is delimited by parking space markings as well as the curb;

[0033] FIG. 3a shows a simplified representation of the traffic scenario from FIG. 2a, in which the vehicle has reached the target position in the parking space on the basis of the assistance system according to the invention, and

[0034] FIG. 3b shows an enlarged representation of the traffic scenario from FIG. 3a.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 designates a vehicle or ego vehicle having various actuators (steering 3, engine 4, brake 5), which has a control device 2 (ECU, Electronic Control Unit or ADCU, Assisted and Automated Driving Control Unit) which may control the ego vehicle 1 in a (partially) automated manner by the control device 2 being able to access the actuators. Furthermore, the ego vehicle 1 has sensors for environment detection (camera 6, lidar sensor 7, radar sensor 8 as well as ultrasonic sensors 9a-9d), the sensor data of which are utilized in order to identify the surroundings and objects, so that various assistance functions such as, e.g., a parking assistant, Electronic Brake Assist (EBA), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Lane Keep Assist (LKA) or the like may be realized. The assistance functions are executed via the control device 2 or the algorithm stored there.

[0036] FIG. 2a shows a traffic scenario, in which the ego vehicle 1 is driving along a road which is delimited on the right-hand side by a curb 11. Furthermore, two parked vehicles 12, 13 are located on the right-hand side of the road, between which there is a parking spot or a parking space 10. The parking space 10 is a longitudinal parking space which is delimited by multiple limiting elements, i.e., by the parked vehicles 12, 13 as well as the curb 11 or border stone. Furthermore, other limiting elements could also delimit the parking space 10 such as, e.g., parking space markings 10a (according to FIG. 2b) or surface markings, walls, vegetation, fences or other undefined high/low objects. The ego vehicle 1 includes a control device 2 according to the present disclosure or a parking assistance system according to the present disclosure as well as suitable sensors for environment detection, by means of which the ego vehicle 1 may detect the environment as well as objects located therein (the control device and the sensors are not depicted in FIGS. 2a/2b for the sake of clarity). As a result, the ego vehicle 1 may detect the surrounding objects and, therefore, the parking space 10 as it drives past and may start or perform a parking procedure, wherein distance or space restrictions may be translated on the basis of the method according to the present disclosure, so that both safety and comfort requirements are taken into account in one concept.

[0037] The traffic scenario from FIG. 2a is now depicted in FIGS. 3a and 3b, wherein the ego vehicle 1 is located in the target position in the parking space 10. The spacings from the surrounding objects are divided into a first minimum distance, i.e., the minimum clearance which is necessary in order to avoid collisions, and a second minimum distance, i.e., the comfort clearance or the comfort distance, which is required in order to guarantee comfort requirements (getting in and out of the vehicle, loading and unloading and the like). In FIG. 3b, the first minimum distance or the minimum clearances are depicted with white arrows and the second minimum distance or the comfort clearances are depicted with black arrows. The fact that the minimum clearances have to be observed in order to avoid collisions means that these are not allowed to be violated or fallen short of when specifying the target position. Comfort clearances, on the other hand, offer sufficient space in order to observe comfort requirements, so that these may be violated or fallen short of if there is not enough space available and the parking requirement exceeds the comfort requirements. Consequently, when there is a parking space, two parking regions 14, 15 are determined on the basis of the minimum distances, i.e., a first parking region 14 having the minimum required spacing from the surrounding objects and a second parking region 15 having a spacing from the surrounding objects which makes possible comfortable utilization of the parking space. As a consequence, two virtual parking spaces or parking regions 14, 15 are therefore calculated, wherein the first parking region 14 having the minimum required spacings from surrounding objects (first minimum distance) may also be referred to the so-called maximum parking space, and the second parking region 15 having the comfort spacings (second minimum distance) may be referred to as the comfort parking space. If multiple delimiting elements or surrounding objects are present on an edge or a side of the ego vehicle 1, the maximum required distance from a boundary element or object on this side is always relevant for the specification of the first and second parking regions 14, 15.

[0038] The target position of the maximum parking space or comfort parking space may be expediently achieved on the basis of the (multi-step) course of the method according to the present disclosure. For example, as a first step, the orientation angle of the target position may initially be determined or calculated by selecting the objects delimiting or surrounding the parking space by prioritizing, e.g., on the basis of a priority list (for example, the priority may include the following in descending order of importance: surface identification, curb, detected objects as well as ego vehicle alignment during the parking maneuver), wherein the alignment of the surrounding objects may also be used. A delimiting object is only considered to be “valid for the alignment” if the resulting alignment of the ego vehicle 1, when passing the parking space 10, does not exceed a threshold value compared to the ego vehicle alignment. The first existing and valid object in the priority list is then adopted. Following this, all of the other identified parked vehicles in the same parking row may then be used in order to define the orientation on the priority level (parked vehicles), so that the robustness is further increased with respect to incorrectly aligned vehicles. In a practical manner, the average orientation of all of the valid (“valid for the orientation” as defined above) parked vehicles may also be used in order to specify the orientation of the ego vehicle 1 in the target position. As a second step, a corner or a point of the comfort parking region is then chosen based on the positions of the surrounding delimiting objects. The position in this corner may then be defined with the given orientation angle, without violating the limits of the comfort parking region.

[0039] Furthermore, if step 2 has failed, for example, in that the limits of the comfort parking region have been violated or fallen short of, a position within the limits of the maximum parking space may be defined. This position is defined by the longitudinal centering and lateral centering between the edges of the maximum parking space if the limits of the comfort parking space are too small in order to be used in each case for each direction. If a positioning within the comfort parking space is possible in one direction, the second step may also only be used for this direction. The centering is also only affected to the extent that the entire comfort parking space is covered in the selected direction. This guarantees a continual change in the target position in the event of continual changes in the surroundings.

[0040] In a practical way, the method according to the invention may also be utilized in order to improve other driving and assistance functions such as, e.g., during so-called “garage parking” in order to improve the positioning in the garage, during so-called “trained parking” in order to improve the final positioning at the end of the learned path, or during so-called “valet parking” in order to improve the final positioning in the parking space. Due to the advantageous properties and the versatility of use, the invention consequently represents a very particular contribution in the field of driver assistance systems, in particular of parking assistants.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0041] 1 Ego vehicle
2 Control device

3 Steering

4 Engine

5 Brake

6 Camera

[0042] 7 Lidar sensor
8 Radar sensor
9a-9d Ultrasonic sensors
10 Parking space
10a Parking space marking

11 Curb

12 Vehicle

13 Vehicle

[0043] 14 First parking region
15 Second parking region