APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MONITORING THE STABILITY OF AN EGO VEHICLE

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for monitoring the stability of an ego vehicle, including at least a first and a second driver assistance device, the at least first and second driver assistance device being designed to guide the ego vehicle; an evaluation unit which is designed to determine a degree of risk of a detected and/or anticipated pendulum motion of the ego vehicle. An assessment unit is further included, the assessment unit being designed to assess, on the basis of the determined degree of risk, whether the at least first and/or second driver assistance device in an active state will lead to pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification of the ego vehicle.

Claims

1. An apparatus for monitoring the stability of an ego vehicle, comprising at least a first and a second driver assistance device, the at least first and second driver assistance devices configured to guide the ego vehicle, an evaluation unit which is configured to determine a degree of risk of a detected and/or anticipated pendulum motion of the ego vehicle, and an assessment unit, the assessment unit configured to assess, on the basis of the determined degree of risk, whether the at least first and/or second driver assistance device in an active state will lead to pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification of the ego vehicle.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the assessment unit is configured to deactivate or suppress the at least first and/or second driver assistance device if the determined degree of risk exceeds a preset threshold.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the degree of risk is determined on the basis of assessed factors influencing the pendulum motion of the ego vehicle, a weighting factor being assigned to each of the factors influencing the degree of risk, the evaluation unit being designed to perform a weighted combination of the assessed influencing factors in order to determine the degree of risk.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the at least first and second driver assistance devices are each an influencing factor for determining the degree of risk.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a higher weighting factor is assigned to the first driver assistance device than to the second driver assistance device.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first driver assistance device is a lateral safety-based driver assistance device, and the second driver assistance device is a comfort-based driver assistance device.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the lateral safety-based driver assistance device comprises a collision avoidance protection device for preventing collisions with obstacles or a lane departure protection device for preventing departure from the lane or road.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the comfort-based driver assistance device comprises a lane keeping assistance device, a lane change assistance device, a traffic jam assistance device or an adaptive cruise control system.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein, if a traffic risk is determined, the assessment unit is configured to deactivate the at least one comfort-based driver assistance device in the activated state and to activate the at least one lateral safety-based driver assistance device if the at least one lateral safety-based driver assistance device is capable of minimizing the determined traffic risk, the assessment unit being configured to suppress the activation of the lateral safety-based driver assistance device and/or the deactivation of the comfort-based driver assistance device in spite of the determined traffic risk if the assessed degree of risk exceeds a defined threshold in the case of an activated safety-based driver assistance device.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is configured to determine the degree of risk of imminent pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification on the basis of a trailer operation status, trailer characteristics, a currently detected vibration level of the coupled trailer and/or a loaded state of the coupled trailer.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is configured to determine the degree of risk of imminent pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification on the basis of driver alertness.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is configured to determine the degree of risk on the basis of precipitation conditions, wind conditions, visibility conditions, a coefficient of friction, a course of a lane ahead in which the ego vehicle is located, the speed of the ego vehicle, and/or a planned ego trajectory of the ego vehicle.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a pendulum monitoring unit which is configured to detect a degree of severity of a pendulum motion of the ego vehicle, the assessment unit being configured to perform assessment of pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification in the case of an activated state of the at least first and/or second driver assistance devices additionally on the basis of the detected degree of severity.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the device comprises a user interface which is configured to inform a driver of the ego vehicle about imminent deactivation or non-availability of at least one lateral driver assistance device for automated lateral guidance if the activation or activity thereof will lead to pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification of the ego vehicle, in particular to the degree-of-risk threshold being exceeded.

15. A vehicle comprising an apparatus according to claim 1.

16. A method for monitoring the stability of an ego vehicle, comprising: determining a degree of risk of a detected and/or anticipated pendulum motion of the ego vehicle; and assessing, on the basis of the determined degree of risk, whether activation and/or activity of at least one first and/or second driver assistance device of the ego vehicle will lead to pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification of the ego vehicle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] In the drawings:

[0030] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an apparatus for monitoring the stability of an ego vehicle;

[0031] FIG. 2 shows an example embodiment for determining a degree of risk of a detected and/or anticipated pendulum motion of the ego vehicle;

[0032] FIG. 3 shows a user interface of the apparatus from FIG. 1 for outputting information to the driver about imminent deactivation or non-availability of at least one driver assistance device; and

[0033] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the method according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an apparatus 1 for monitoring the stability of an ego vehicle 2. The apparatus 1 comprises at least a first and a second driver assistance device 3a, 3b, 3x, which are designed to perform automated guidance of the ego vehicle 2.

[0035] Furthermore, the apparatus 1 comprises an evaluation unit 4 which is designed to determine a degree of risk of a detected and/or anticipated pendulum motion of the ego vehicle 2.

[0036] In particular, the apparatus 1 comprises a control device which is designed to control the at least first and second driver assistance devices 3a, 3b, 3x for automated guidance of the ego vehicle 2. Preferably, the control device is designed to perform an assessed ego trajectory for automated guidance of the ego vehicle 2.

[0037] Furthermore, the apparatus 1 comprises an assessment unit 5 which is designed to assess, on the basis of the determined degree of risk, whether the at least first and/or second driver assistance device 3a, 3b, 3x in an active state will lead to pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification of the ego vehicle 2. In particular, if pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification is determined, the automated guidance is to be adjusted, in particular by deactivating or suppressing at least one driver assistance device such that critical vehicle instability, such as a rocking or even a rollover of the ego vehicle, are avoided. In particular, the degree of risk represents the potential of risk of pendulum motions on the basis of current environmental and vehicle conditions.

[0038] FIG. 2 shows an example embodiment for determining a degree of risk of a detected and/or anticipated pendulum motion of the ego vehicle 2.

[0039] The schematically shown evaluation unit 4 is designed to assess the degree of risk of a detected and/or anticipated pendulum motion of the ego vehicle 2 on the basis of factors influencing the pendulum behavior. The influencing factors have, for example, a weighting factor which reflects the influence of the particular influencing factor on the pendulum behavior. In this context, the weighting factors describe the influence ratio of the particular influencing factor on pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification. In order to determine the degree of risk, the evaluation unit is designed in particular to perform a weighted combination of the assessed influencing factors. For example, the factors influencing the degree of risk are stored in at least one lookup table, together with the assigned weighting factors. Therefore, the evaluation unit 4 is used in particular to check, taking into account the influencing factors, whether automated guidance of the ego vehicle can be performed safely or critically influences the pendulum behavior of the ego vehicle.

[0040] For example, in order to determine the degree of risk, the at least first and second driver assistance devices 3a, 3b form one influencing factor. However, it may equally be provided that the at least first and second driver assistance devices 3a, 3b, 3x each, i.e. independently of one another, form an influencing factor.

[0041] In this embodiment, the available driver assistance devices are summarized in a lookup table. The first and second driver assistance devices 3a, 3b have different weighting factors in this case. For example, the first driver assistance device is a comfort-based driver assistance device, and the second driver assistance device is a lateral safety-based driver assistance device. The weighting factors of the influencing factors are chosen between 0 and 100, purely by way of example. If no driver assistance device 3a, 3b, 3x is activated, the weighting factor for the available driver assistance devices is 0 accordingly. A comfort-based driver assistance device 3a, such as a lane keeping assistance device, has comparatively little influence on the lateral guidance behavior and thus on the pendulum behavior. Thus, if the comfort-based driver assistance device 3a is activated or activation is requested, the degree of risk for this driver assistance device 3a is evaluated to have a comparatively low value, in this case 20. If a lateral safety-based driver assistance device 3b, such as an emergency steering assist system, is then also requested or is to take over the guidance, the degree of risk for this driver assistance device 3b is evaluated to be 60, for example, due to its influence on the lateral guidance. In this way, it is reliably determined whether it is safe to activate one or both of the driver assistance devices 3a, 3b or whether downgrading should be required.

[0042] Purely by way of example, other influencing factors are shown, such as the status of a trailer operation and a determined degree of severity of a current pendulum motion. If, for example, a pendulum motion is detected, additional activation of, for example, the safety-activated driver assistance device 3b often leads to intensification of the vehicle pendulum behavior.

[0043] In particular, if the assessed degree of risk based on the weighting factors of the influencing factors exceeds a specified threshold, a destabilization risk of the ego vehicle 2 is assessed and the automated guidance of the ego vehicle 2 is adjusted or suppressed. In this way, situation-adapted guidance of the ego vehicle and thus a risk of instability can be prevented or at least reduced.

[0044] Other influencing factors include, for example: driver alertness, driver hands-on/off detection on the steering wheel, environmental conditions such as cornering, coefficient of friction, crosswind, vehicle dynamics data such as the yaw rate, state of maintenance of the ego vehicle, characteristics of a coupled trailer such as weight, size or load distribution. These are reliable measures which, especially when aggregated, allow conclusions to be drawn about the degree of risk.

[0045] If the operation of the at least first and/or second driver assistance device 3a, 3b, 3x in an active state will result in pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification of the ego vehicle and downgrading has been initiated, this may come as a surprise to the vehicle driver. The higher the degree of active automation, the more safety-critical the downgrading of automated guidance. With this in mind, the apparatus 1 comprises, for example, a user interface 6, as shown schematically in FIG. 3. If pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification of the ego vehicle 2 has been evaluated in case of activity or activation of the at least first and/or second driver assistance device 3a, 3b, 3x, the user interface 6 is designed, for example, to inform the driver about imminent deactivation or non-availability of the corresponding driver assistance device 3a, 3b, 3x. If, for example, an automated guidance system, in particular at least one driver assistance device 3a, 3b, 3x, is currently being controlled by the control device 7, and the assessment unit 5 has detected that downgrading is necessary, the user interface 6 is in particular designed to inform the driver of imminent or completed deactivation and/or to request that the driver take over the driving task. The information about the deactivation or non-availability can, for example, be signaled acoustically by loudspeakers and/or visually on a screen of the ego vehicle. In this way, the driver is appropriately informed of the occurrence of the restricted degree of automated assistance.

[0046] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the method 100 for monitoring the stability of an ego vehicle 2, comprising the following steps: determining a degree of risk of a detected and/or anticipated pendulum motion of the ego vehicle 101, and assessing, on the basis of the determined degree of risk 102, whether activation and/or activity of at least the first and/or second driver assistance device 3a, 3b, 3x of the ego vehicle 2 will lead to pendulum initiation or pendulum intensification of the ego vehicle 2.