METHOD FOR PROVIDING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAP IN A MOTOR VEHICLE

Abstract

A motor vehicle has at least one driver assistance system and a navigation system that generates a three-dimensional map and a route-related navigation representation when route guidance is activated by the navigation system. When the at least one driver assistance system is activated, sensor data describing the surroundings of the motor vehicle are acquired by at least one sensor unit of the motor vehicle according to a data acquisition rule of the driver assistance system. The acquired sensor data is evaluated to generate at least one driver assistance related additional information representation. The map with the route-related navigation representation and the driver assistance related additional information representation are output by a display device in the motor vehicle.

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. A method for providing a three-dimensional map in an operated motor vehicle, which has a navigation system and at least one driver assistance system, comprising: generating a three-dimensional map by the navigation system with surroundings of the operated motor vehicle in a three-dimensional representation; generating a route-related navigation representation in the three-dimensional map by evaluating navigation system data of the navigation system, if route guidance by the navigation system is activated; checking whether the at least one driver assistance system is activated; acquiring, when the at least one driver assistance system is activated, predetermined sensor data describing the surroundings of the operated motor vehicle by at least one sensor unit of the operated motor vehicle according to a data acquisition rule of the at least one driver assistance system; generating at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation in the three-dimensional map by evaluating the sensor data; and displaying the three-dimensional map having the route-related navigation representation and the at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation in the operated motor vehicle by a display device of the operated motor vehicle.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the driver assistance system-related additional information representation includes at least one of a maneuvering notice depicted as one of a directional arrow and a driving tube; a symbol describing a road situation, representing one of a lane boundary, an infrastructure representation, and a traffic sign; a warning notice; a motor vehicle representation of a first motor vehicle located one of in front of the operated motor vehicle and laterally to the operated motor vehicle; a notice representation with respect to one of a second motor vehicle approaching the operated motor vehicle from behind and the first motor vehicle located laterally to the operated motor vehicle.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising providing, when the at least one driver assistance system carries out a driver assistance function in consideration of an object described by the sensor data in the surroundings of the operated motor vehicle, an object representation of the object highlighted by a predetermined marking in the three-dimensional map.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the route-related navigation representation includes at least one of a route representation of at least one subsection of a route of the operated motor vehicle and a navigation notice representation, including the symbol describing at least one of a current road situation and a future road situation.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein a current navigation notice representation describing the current road situation is positioned in the three-dimensional map at a predetermined navigation notice representation position, a future navigation notice representation describing the future road situation is generated by evaluating the navigation system data, and the future navigation notice representation is located in the three-dimensional map and moves, during a forward movement of the operated motor vehicle, in the three-dimensional map, in dependence on a forward movement direction and a forward movement speed of the forward movement of the vehicle, to the predetermined navigation notice representation position.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein position data describing a current position of the operated motor vehicle are acquired by an acquisition unit of the operated motor vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises determining an ego vehicle representation of the operated motor vehicle in the three-dimensional map by evaluating the position data.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein an arrangement of at least one of the ego vehicle representation and the driver assistance system-related additional information representation in the three-dimensional map is positioned accurately by lane.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the at least one driver assistance system includes at least one of an adaptive driving assistant; a lane keeping assistant; an intersection assistant; a lane changing assistant; a congestion pilot; a local hazard warning; a predictive speed limit; a predictive efficiency assistant; a turnoff assistant; an adaptive cruise control; an emergency braking assistant; an evasion assistant; a maneuvering assistant; a traffic sign recognizer; a traffic signal information assistant; and a parking assistant.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein surroundings data describing the surroundings of the operated motor vehicle are received by a communication connection with at least one of an external server unit, another motor vehicle, and an infrastructure unit in the operated motor vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises generating the at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation in the three-dimensional map by evaluating the surroundings data.

20. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the route-related navigation representation includes at least one of a route representation of at least one subsection of a route of the operated motor vehicle and a navigation notice representation, including a symbol describing at least one of a current road situation and a future road situation.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein a current navigation notice representation describing the current road situation is positioned in the three-dimensional map at a predetermined navigation notice representation position, a future navigation notice representation describing the future road situation is generated by evaluating the navigation system data, and the future navigation notice representation is located in the three-dimensional map and moves, during a forward movement of the operated motor vehicle, in the three-dimensional map, in dependence on a forward movement direction and a forward movement speed of the forward movement of the vehicle, to the predetermined navigation notice representation position.

22. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein position data describing a current position of the operated motor vehicle are acquired by an acquisition unit of the operated motor vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises determining an ego vehicle representation of the operated motor vehicle in the three-dimensional map by evaluating the position data.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein an arrangement of at least one of the ego vehicle representation and the driver assistance system-related additional information representation in the three-dimensional map is positioned accurately by lane.

24. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the at least one driver assistance system includes at least one of an adaptive driving assistant; a lane keeping assistant; an intersection assistant; a lane changing assistant; a congestion pilot; a local hazard warning; a predictive speed limit; a predictive efficiency assistant; a turnoff assistant; an adaptive cruise control; an emergency braking assistant; an evasion assistant; a maneuvering assistant; a traffic sign recognizer; a traffic signal information assistant; and a parking assistant.

25. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein surroundings data describing the surroundings of the operated motor vehicle are received by a communication connection with at least one of an external server unit, another motor vehicle, and an infrastructure unit in the operated motor vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises generating the at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation in the three-dimensional map by evaluating the surroundings data.

26. A motor vehicle, comprising: at least one sensor unit; a navigation system configured to generate a three-dimensional map with surroundings of said motor vehicle in a three-dimensional representation, and generate a route-related navigation representation in the three-dimensional map by evaluating navigation system data; at least one driver assistance system configured to acquire predetermined sensor data describing the surroundings of said motor vehicle by the at least one sensor unit according to a data acquisition rule of the at least one driver assistance system, generate at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation in the three-dimensional map by evaluating the sensor data; and a display device. coupled to the navigation system and the at least one driver assistance system. configured to display the three-dimensional map with the route-related navigation representation and the at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation.

27. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 26, wherein the at least one sensor unit obtains object data of an object in the surroundings of said motor vehicle, and wherein the at least one driver assistance system is further configured to perform a driver assistance function based on the object data and produces an object representation of the object highlighted by a predetermined marking in the three-dimensional map.

28. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 26, wherein the navigation system is further configured to generate as the route-related navigation representation at least one of a route representation of at least one subsection of a route of said motor vehicle and a navigation notice representation including a symbol describing at least one of a current road situation and a future road situation.

29. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 28, wherein the navigation system is further configured to generate a current navigation notice representation describing the current road situation positioned in the three-dimensional map at a predetermined navigation notice representation position, and a future navigation notice representation describing the future road situation in the three-dimensional map at a location determined by evaluating the navigation system data, and move the future navigation notice, during a forward movement of said motor vehicle, in the three-dimensional map, in dependence on a forward movement direction and a forward movement speed of the forward movement of the vehicle, to the predetermined navigation notice representation position.

30. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 26, further comprising an acquisition unit configured to acquire position data describing a current position of said motor vehicle, and wherein the at least one driver assistance system is further configured to generate as the driver assistance system-related additional information representation a first motor vehicle representation of a first motor vehicle located one of in front and alongside said motor vehicle, a notice representation with respect to a second motor vehicle one of approaching the operated motor vehicle from behind and located laterally to said motor vehicle, and a second motor vehicle representation of said motor vehicle in the three-dimensional map based on the position data.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] These and other aspects and advantages will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

[0044] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a motor vehicle which is approaching an intersection; and

[0045] FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a three-dimensional perspective view of the surroundings of a motor vehicle which is driving toward an intersection.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] In the exemplary embodiments explained hereinafter, the described components of the embodiments each represent individual features to be considered independently of one another, which are each also to refine the invention independently of one another. The disclosure is therefore also to include combinations of the features of the embodiments other than those shown. Furthermore, the described embodiments can also be supplemented by further features already described.

[0047] In the figures, identical reference signs each identify functionally identical elements.

[0048] A motor vehicle 10 is sketched in FIG. 1, which is driving on a road 12. It is approaching an intersection 14, wherein respective traffic signals 16 for regulating a traffic situation occurring there are provided at this intersection 14. The road 12 has lane markings 18, which are a central strip marking and a roadway edge marking. Moreover, two traffic signs 20, 21 stand at the edge of the road 12.

[0049] The motor vehicle 10 drives behind another motor vehicle 10, which is referred to here as the front vehicle 22. A rear vehicle 24 drives behind the motor vehicle 10.

[0050] The motor vehicle 10 has two sensor units 30, 31, which are formed in detail as a front camera 30 and a rear camera 31. A respective acquisition region 32 of the front camera 30 and the rear camera 31 is outlined by dashed lines in each case in FIG. 1. The motor vehicle 10 moreover has a navigation system 34, an acquisition unit 35, a display device 36, a control unit 37, and a communication interface 38. The acquisition unit 35 of the motor vehicle 10 is a unit which can carry out a position determination of the motor vehicle 10 by using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The communication interface 38 is designed to establish a communication connection 39 to a communication interface 38 of an external server unit 46, which is an external unit here. The communication connection 39 is designed here as a wireless communication connection 39. Surroundings data describing the surroundings 33 of the motor vehicle 10 can be transmitted to the motor vehicle 10 by the communication connection 39. These surroundings data are, for example, items of traffic flow information, weather information, and/or a hazard message.

[0051] The communication connection 39, which can be designed as a vehicle-to-vehicle communication connection, can also be established between the communication interface 38 of the motor vehicle 10 and the communication interface 38 of the front vehicle 22. Via this communication connection 39, the front vehicle 22 can transmit an ego position in the form of corresponding ego position data to the motor vehicle 10, so that the surroundings data in this case describe an accurately determined position of the front vehicle 22. Alternatively or additionally thereto, data acquired via the communication connection 39 from the front vehicle 22 and describing the surroundings 33 of the front vehicle 22 can be transmitted as surroundings data to the motor vehicle 10. Alternatively or additionally thereto, the communication connection 39 can be established between the communication interface 38 of the motor vehicle 10 and a communication interface 38 of the traffic signal 16. In this case, this is the traffic signal 16 which will be reached next by the motor vehicle 10 along a forward movement direction 44 of the motor vehicle 10 along a route of the motor vehicle 10. This communication connection 39 is thus established between the motor vehicle 10 and an infrastructure unit 17 in the form of the traffic signal 16. Both the intersection 14 and also the four traffic signals 16 are sketched here as the infrastructure unit 17. Items of information about traffic signal switching can be transmitted from the traffic signal 16 as the infrastructure unit 17 to the motor vehicle 10 via the communication connection 39, for example.

[0052] The respective acquisition regions 32 of the front camera 30 and the rear camera 31 enable an acquisition of predetermined sensor data describing the surroundings 33 of the motor vehicle 10. These sensor data are camera data here. Alternatively thereto, the at least one sensor unit 30, 31 of the motor vehicle 10 can be at least one radar device, a lidar device (lidar for light detection and ranging), an infrared sensor, and/or a side camera of the motor vehicle 10.

[0053] The motor vehicle 10 moreover has three driver assistance systems 40, 41, 42. The driver assistance system 40 is a lane keeping assistant, the driver assistance system 41 is an adaptive cruise control, and the driver assistance system 42 is a traffic signal information assistant. A respective one of the three driver assistance systems 40, 41, 42 can be activated in the motor vehicle 10. In addition, at least one of the following further driver assistance systems 40, 41, 42 can be provided in the motor vehicle 10: an adaptive driving assistant, an intersection assistant, a lane changing assistant, a congestion pilot, a local hazard warning, a predictive speed limit, a predictive efficiency assistant, a turnoff assistant, an emergency braking assistant, an evasion assistant, a maneuvering assistant, a traffic sign recognition, and/or a parking assistant.

[0054] A three-dimensional map 100 is sketched in FIG. 2, which is displayed for a user of the motor vehicle 10 on the display device 36 of the motor vehicle 10. The three-dimensional map 100 is initially generated by the navigation system 34 of the motor vehicle 10, wherein the generated map 100 displays the surroundings 33 of the motor vehicle 10 in a three-dimensional representation. This takes place in S1. Reference characters S1 to S6 are shown in FIG. 1, whereas details relating to the three-dimensional map 100 are sketched in FIG. 2. In S2, a route-related navigation representation 102 is generated in the generated map 100 by evaluating navigation system data of the navigation system 34 if route guidance by the navigation system 34 is activated. The route-related navigation representation 102 includes a route representation 104 of at least a subsection of a route of the motor vehicle 10. This route representation 104 is shown in FIG. 2 as a line extending from a current position of the motor vehicle 10 to a predetermined target position 106. The current position of the motor vehicle 10 is sketched in the form of an ego vehicle representation 114. For its determination, position data describing a current position of the motor vehicle 10 are acquired by the acquisition unit 35 of the motor vehicle 10 and by evaluating the acquired position data, the ego vehicle representation 114 of the motor vehicle 10 located in the map 100 is provided in the generated map 100. The ego vehicle representation 114 corresponds here to a schematically shown motor vehicle 10 viewed from the rear. The ego vehicle representation 114 is positioned accurately by lane in the generated map 100 in this case. Alternatively to the ego vehicle representation 114 shown here as a rear vehicle representation, the ego vehicle representation 114 can be shown from a bird's-eye view.

[0055] Furthermore, the route-related navigation representation 102 is a navigation notice representation 108. An item of information relating to a current course of the route can be displayed as the navigation route representation 108, such as items of information about a recommended lane on which the motor vehicle 10 should drive on the basis of the route. Moreover, a symbol 110 describing a current and/or future road situation can be shown in the generated map 100 as the navigation notice representation 108. This is, for example, an intersection 14 and/or a representation of the traffic signal 16. It is thus an infrastructure representation 126 of the traffic signal 16 here.

[0056] The navigation representation 102 can be at least partially arranged in an edge region 101 of the generated map 100. In addition, a forward movement direction 44 in the form of an arrow is displayed therein, as well as a distance specification to a next navigation event as a navigation notice representation 108.

[0057] The current navigation notice representation 108 can alternatively or additionally thereto be displayed in the form of a traffic sign 127 in the generated map 100. The traffic sign 127 as the current navigation notice representation 108 can be positioned at a predetermined navigation notice representation position 129 within the generated map 100. The navigation notice representation position 129 is sketched in FIG. 2 with the aid of dashed lines and is located at a bottom right edge of the generated map 100 in the viewing direction on the map 100.

[0058] Moreover, the future navigation notice representation 108 describing the future road information can be generated in the form of a future traffic sign 128 by evaluating the navigation system data. Specifically, the motor vehicle 10 is currently underway in a section of the road 12 in which the speed limit according to the traffic sign 127 is 70 km/h. In the region of the front vehicle 22, however, this speed limit specification changes according to the traffic sign 128 to 50 km/h, which does not yet apply currently to the motor vehicle 10, but only in the future. The traffic sign 128 is thus a generated future navigation notice representation 108 in the map 100. This is located in the map 100 and travels during a forward movement of the motor vehicle 10 within the map 100 in dependence on the forward movement direction 44 and a forward movement speed of the forward movement of the motor vehicle 10 up to the navigation notice representation position 129. Specifically, as soon as the motor vehicle 10 is actually located in the region of the future traffic sign 128, the representation will have changed on the generated map 100 in such a way that instead of the current traffic sign 127, the presently still future traffic sign 128 will be arranged in the region of the navigation notice representation position 129.

[0059] In S3, it is checked whether the at least one driver assistance system 40, 41, 42 of the motor vehicle 10 is activated. If the at least one driver assistance system 40, 41, 42 is activated, in S4, the sensor unit 30, 31 is activated, so that this acquires predetermined sensor data describing the surroundings 33 of the motor vehicle 10, and does so according to a data acquisition rule of the at least one activated driver assistance system 40, 41, 42. In this case, three driver assistance systems 40, 41, 42 are activated. Due to the activity of the lane keeping assistant as the driver assistance system 40, a lane marking 18 of the road 12 is acquired as sensor data and additionally shown in the generated map 100 as a corresponding lane boundary representation 124.

[0060] In S5, at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation 120 is generated in the generated map 100 by selecting the acquired sensor data. The lane boundary representation 124, as it is shown in the generated map 100, is thus a symbol 110 describing a road situation, which is shown as the driver assistance system-related additional information representation 120 in the generated map 100. Due to the activated lane keeping assistant as the driver assistance system 40, moreover a driving tube 122 is displayed as a maneuvering notice 123. In this way, it is made clear to the user that the motor vehicle 10 is controlled due to the lane keeping assistant in such a way that it drives in the region of the sketched driving tube 122. Alternative maneuvering notices 123 can be a directional arrow and/or an arrow in general, for example, to display the lane and/or a current deviation from the lane.

[0061] Due to the activity of the adaptive cruise control as a further active driver assistance system 41, moreover the front vehicle 22 is shown in the form of a motor vehicle representation 132 in the generated map 100. This is because the front vehicle 22 is an object 22 described by the acquired sensor data in the surroundings 33 of the motor vehicle 10, which is used by the activated driver assistance system 41 for the purpose of carrying out a driver assistance function of the driver assistance system 41. This driver assistance function is a regulation of the speed of the motor vehicle 10 here to maintain a predetermined distance to the front vehicle 22, that is to say in this case this is a functionality of the adaptive cruise control as the driver assistance system 41. An object representation of the object 22, that is to say the motor vehicle representation 132, is therefore located in the map 100 and highlighted by a predetermined marking. The motor vehicle representation 132 is thus marked in color, for example, which is indicated by a shaded area. Alternatively or additionally to the front vehicle 22 as the object 22, a motor vehicle representation 132 of another motor vehicle 10 arranged laterally to the motor vehicle 10 can also be sketched in the generated map 100 (not sketched here).

[0062] Moreover, the infrastructure representation 126 of the traffic signal 16 in the generated map 100 is provided highlighted on the basis of the activated traffic signal information assistant as the driver assistance system 42. This infrastructure representation 126 is also a symbol 110 describing the road situation. A further symbol 110 describing the road situation is located by the traffic signs 127, 128 in the generated map 100. For example, if the traffic sign recognition were activated as a driver assistance system 40, 41, 42, the traffic signs 127, 128 could also be identified and/or highlighted by a marking as driver assistance system-related additional information representations 120.

[0063] In S6, the generated map 100 is provided with the generated route-related navigation representation 102 and the generated at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation 120 in the motor vehicle 10 by the display device 36 of the motor vehicle 10.

[0064] Moreover, a warning notice 130 is displayed in the edge region 101 as a driver assistance system-related additional information representation 120. This warning notice 130 is a warning message relating to the approaching traffic signal 16 as the infrastructure representation 126 within the generated map 100, as is provided due to the activated traffic signal information assistant. Furthermore, the motor vehicle 10 receives a congestion warning from the external server unit 46, which is also displayed in the form of a warning notice 130. The data evaluated for this purpose are thus evaluated accordingly from surroundings data of the external server unit 46. Alternatively or additionally thereto, this warning notice 130 could be displayed due to an activated congestion pilot and/or an activated local hazard warning as the driver assistance system 40, 41, 42 on the generated map 100. Moreover, it can be possible that the driver assistance system-related additional information representations 120 are not only shown visually, but rather acoustic feedback takes place, for example, a warning tone, an acoustic instruction, and/or an acoustic notice announcement.

[0065] Moreover, a notice representation 134 is shown in the generated map 100, which sketches a rear vehicle 24 approaching the motor vehicle 10 from the rear by arrows. The adaptive cruise control as the driver assistance system 41 hereby calls attention to the rear vehicle 24 approaching the motor vehicle 10 from the rear and the driving behavior of this rear vehicle 24 being taken into consideration by the adaptive cruise control when carrying out its driver assistance function. A corresponding notification representation 134 can alternatively or additionally thereto be located in the generated map 100 with respect to another motor vehicle 10 located laterally to the motor vehicle 10. The driver assistance system-related additional information representation 120 is generally also arranged accurately by lane in the generated map 100.

[0066] The surroundings data, which are transmitted by the external server unit 46, the front vehicle 22, and/or the infrastructure unit 17 to the motor vehicle 10, are evaluated to generate the at least one driver assistance system-related additional information representation 120 in the generated map 100.

[0067] In the case of a required warning notice 130, this is displayed in a particularly dominant manner, as is shown, for example, by the display of the warning notice 130 in the edge region 101 of the generated map 100. If space problems should occur, for example, because a plurality of driver assistance systems 40, 41, 42 is activated, only the currently required and the particularly urgent items of information can be shown as additional information representations 120 according to a prioritization rule, so that, for example, warning notices 130 are shown prioritized with respect to the other mentioned driver assistance system-specific additional information representations 120.

[0068] The generated map 100 is an integrated driving display, which represents a combination of a navigation map and the items of information of the driver assistance systems 40, 41, 42. The map material is shown here as a three-dimensional map 100. This three-dimensional map 100 is distinguished by a curvature on a z axis to ideally utilize the limited height in freely programmable instrument clusters and moreover be able to show the ego vehicle representation 114 to identify the ego position of the motor vehicle 10 in a sufficient size. The mentioned curvature of the z axis is not sketched in FIG. 2.

[0069] A representation of a sensor unit position, that is to say a position of the front camera 30 and the rear camera 31 relative to the surroundings 33, can be adapted situationally, in order to change the zoom position in the case of a required detailed representation. In particular, it is to be noted that a respective building 112 in the surroundings 33 is displayed three-dimensionally. The data required for this purpose can be taken from the navigation system data and/or provided by the sensor unit 30, 31. The representation of the various elements, such as the ego vehicle representation 114 and/or the driver assistance system-related additional information representation 120, are shown accurately by lane and position in the generated map 100 and match with the road geometry sketched there.

[0070] The operations described with reference to S1 to S6 and the further described evaluation can be executed by the control unit 37.

[0071] Overall, the examples show an integrated driving display made up of navigation map and driver assistance system 40, 41, 42.

[0072] A description has been provided with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof and examples, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the claims which may include the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” as an alternative expression that means one or more of A, B and C may be used, contrary to the holding in Superguide v. DIRECTV, 358 F3d 870, 69 USPQ2d 1865 (Fed. Cir. 2004).