METHOD FOR OPERATING A DRIVING DYNAMICS SYSTEM FACILITY OF A MOTOR VEHICLE WHILE DRIVING WITH THE MOTOR VEHICLE, CONTROL DEVICE, AND MOTOR VEHICLE

Abstract

A method for operating a driving dynamics system facility of a motor vehicle includes using a control device that provides driving style data while driving, and establishes a driver type for the driver based on this. The control device establishes a road category of a roadway. With the aid of the driver type and the road category, the control device establishes a current driving context, and carries out a preliminary selection of at least one driving mode. With the aid of driver monitoring data, the control device establishes a current emotion of the driver, and selects with the aid of this one of the preselected driving modes. The control device generates a switching signal for switching to the driving mode being activated and configures accordingly the at least two motor vehicle systems. The driving mode can be adapted with the aid of further driver monitoring data, describing a reaction of the driver to the activated driving mode.

Claims

1. A method for operating a driving dynamics system facility of a motor vehicle while driving with the motor vehicle, comprising: providing, by a control device, driving style data while driving, describing a driving style of the driver of the motor vehicle and establishing a driver type for the driver based on the provided driving style data, establishing, by the control device, a road category of a roadway on which the motor vehicle is driving, with the aid of the established driver type and the established road category, establishing, by the control device, a current driving context, selecting, by the control device, at least one driving mode associated with the established driving context in a preliminary selection from a plurality of predetermined driving modes, each of them describing a set of settings, specific to the driving mode, for at least two motor vehicle systems of the motor vehicle, providing, by the control device, driver monitoring data, describing a current condition of the driver, and establishing, by the control device with the aid of the provided driver monitoring data, a current emotion of the driver, with the aid of the established emotion, selecting, by the control device, one of the preselected driving modes as the driving mode to be activated, the driving mode to be activated being matched up with the determined emotion, generating a switching signal, by the control device, which describes a switching from a current driving mode to the driving mode being activated with the respective associated settings of the at least two motor vehicle systems, and transmitting, by the control device, the generated switching signal to the driving dynamics system facility for configuring the at least two motor vehicle systems, after the configuration of the at least two motor vehicle systems, providing, by the control device, further driver monitoring data, determining, by the control device, whether the driver behavior as described with the aid of the further driver monitoring data provided fulfills a given acceptance criterion, which specifies that the determined emotion or a reaction of the driver as described by the further driving monitor data provided, being an operating of the motor vehicle, is a given positive emotion or reaction, and if the driving behavior does not fulfill the given acceptance criterion: using, by the control device, the emotion determined with the aid of the first driver monitoring data to assign a different driving mode.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control device: provides driving situation data describing a current driving situation, wherein the driving situation data describe an occurrence of an influence independent of the motor vehicle on the driving behavior of the motor vehicle and/or the driver, determines whether the current driving situation fulfills a given prioritizing criterion, describing a predetermined need to activate a prioritizing driving mode associated with the occurrence, and generates a second switching signal and transmits this to the driving dynamics system facility, describing a switch to the prioritizing driving mode.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the occurrence of an influence independent of the motor vehicle on the driving behavior of the motor vehicle and/or the driver is: an incoming telephone call; an upcoming traffic situation, in which the motor vehicle drives on a ramp onto a traffic lane of a road; a kick-down situation; a downshifting manually produced by the user; falling below a given value of a still available fuel reserve; driving on an unpaved road; or a passing maneuver.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the control device: uses the driving situation data provided to determine a current traffic occurrence in the vicinity of the motor vehicle, and selects the driving mode to be activated from the preselected driving modes in addition depending on the ascertained traffic occurrence.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a first of the at least two motor vehicle systems is a drive control of the motor vehicle, and wherein another motor vehicle system is a system for control of the steering, an interior lighting, or a system involving the ambience in the motor vehicle.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the respective driving mode specifies settings for at least three motor vehicle systems.

7. A control device which is adapted to carry out a method for operating a driving dynamics system facility of a motor vehicle while driving with the motor vehicle, the method comprising: providing, by a control device, driving style data while driving, describing a driving style of the driver of the motor vehicle and establishing a driver type for the driver based on the provided driving style data, establishing, by the control device, a road category of a roadway on which the motor vehicle is driving, with the aid of the established driver type and the established road category, establishing, by the control device, a current driving context, selecting, by the control device, at least one driving mode associated with the established driving context in a preliminary selection from a plurality of predetermined driving modes, each of them describing a set of settings, specific to the driving mode, for at least two motor vehicle systems of the motor vehicle, providing, by the control device, driver monitoring data, describing a current condition of the driver, and establishing, by the control device with the aid of the provided driver monitoring data, a current emotion of the driver, with the aid of the established emotion, selecting, by the control device, one of the preselected driving modes as the driving mode to be activated, the driving mode to be activated being matched up with the determined emotion, generating a switching signal, by the control device, which describes a switching from a current driving mode to the driving mode being activated with the respective associated settings of the at least two motor vehicle systems, and transmitting, by the control device, the generated switching signal to the driving dynamics system facility for configuring the at least two motor vehicle systems, after the configuration of the at least two motor vehicle systems, providing, by the control device, further driver monitoring data, determining, by the control device, whether the driver behavior as described with the aid of the further driver monitoring data provided fulfills a given acceptance criterion, which specifies that the determined emotion or a reaction of the driver as described by the further driving monitor data provided, being an operating of the motor vehicle, is a given positive emotion or reaction, and if the driving behavior does not fulfill the given acceptance criterion: using, by the control device, the emotion determined with the aid of the first driver monitoring data to assign a different driving mode.

8. A motor vehicle comprising a control device according to claim 7.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] In the following, embodiments of the invention shall be described.

[0041] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation for a first embodiment of a method and devices.

[0042] FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation for a further embodiment of a method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] In the embodiments described herein, the components described for the embodiments each time represent individual features, to be viewed independently of each other, which also modify embodiments each time independently of each other. Therefore, the disclosure will also encompass other than the presented combinations of features of the embodiments. Moreover, the described embodiments can also be amplified with other features already described.

[0044] In the figures, the same reference numbers apply each time to functionally identical elements.

[0045] FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of the devices described herein, as well as the method described herein. For this, FIG. 1 shows a motor vehicle 10, such as a car.

[0046] The control device 12 can be configured as a controller, for example, or as a control chip, for example. The control device 12 of the example in FIG. 1 can have a data storage 14, and a processor facility 16, i.e., one or more microchips or one or more microprocessors. The data communication of the control device 12 with a sensor device 18 can occur for example through wireless or wireline data communication connections 20.

[0047] FIG. 1 shows schematically the sensor device 18, which can comprise a multitude of sensors for detecting the driving style data and the environment data. Moreover, the sensor device 18 comprises at least one sensor for detecting the driver monitoring data. Optional driving situation data can be provided for example by the onboard computer and by sensors or techniques known to the person skilled in the art, such as those for determining an incoming telephone call, the gas tank level, or the state of charge of a battery. The environment data, which can optionally describe the condition of the roadway, can be detected for example through cameras of the motor vehicle and an image analysis, or for example by retrieving current warning messages about poor road conditions or a rain-slick roadway. Environment data for determining the traffic flow may be, for example, data from a server external to the motor vehicle, describing for example a traffic jam, or data from other motor vehicles gathered through near field communication. Alternatively, sensors for radio-based and/or optical range finding can be used, for example radar and/or lidar, to determine the traffic flow.

[0048] For reasons of better comprehension, the individual sensors are not shown in FIG. 1. The sensors may comprise capacitive sensors or pressure sensors arranged for example in the steering wheel, in order to monitor the steering driving behavior. A driver observation camera in the interior of the motor vehicle may be directed for example at the face and/or the body, in order to register for example the facial expression or posture. Optionally, the sensor device 18 can have one or more microphones, by which the speech can be recorded, and a speech recognition software and/or voice analysis software can then analyze the voice and/or speech, for example.

[0049] The control device 12 in step S1 of the method provides the driving style data describing the driving style of the driver. For example, the control device 12 can use the steering behavior to determine (S2) that the driver is a sporty type.

[0050] For the providing of the environment data (S3), the control device 12 can receive the corresponding data for example from the respective sensors, such as camera data describing the road films, or map data describing the road category. The control device can thus ascertain in S4 that the motor vehicle is on a freeway, for example. As the driving context, it can determine for example the context of “dynamic long-distance travel” (S5).

[0051] The following input data, either alone or in any given combinations, can be used for this context analysis: the current and/or long-term driving behavior; whether other passengers are present in the motor vehicle 10 and if so which ones; operating action(s) performed in the interior of the vehicle, such as adjusting the interior light and music; conditions of the individual vehicle functions and systems (such as state of charge, gas tank level, driver assist systems activated, error conditions of systems, functions of components); a danger situation (country road, entering a freeway, city, construction site); the traffic flow (open road, traffic jam, slow traffic); and/or upcoming road data (road conditions, friction values). For the optional determination of the present traffic flow (S7), the control device can also optionally listen to and evaluate a traffic radio.

[0052] In a preliminary selection S8, for example during dynamic freeway driving, the driving modes “dynamic” and “auto” can be selected.

[0053] The emotional mood of the driver will come into play after the preliminary selection through the driver monitoring data. The driver monitoring data provided in S9 can make possible in the evaluation S10 for example the emotions “enthusiasm” as an analysis of the current emotions of the driver. The driver monitoring data can describe for example a heart rate, a skin conductivity, a facial expression, an eye movement, or a quality of the voice. Suitable sensors are known to the person skilled in the art from the prior art. If, for example, the control device 12 determines “overtaxed” instead of “enthusiasm,” it can select the “auto” driving mode instead of the “dynamic” profile (S11).

[0054] Depending on the emotion, the control device 12 thus generates in S12 a switching signal, which in the example describes either the “dynamic driving mode” or the “auto driving mode” (S12), and transmits the generated switching signal to the driving dynamics system facility 22, which in the example of FIG. 1 can be a component of the control device 12 (S13). Alternatively, the driving dynamics system facility 22 can be a component structurally separate from the control device 12, and it can communicate with the control device 12 via a data communication connection 20.

[0055] The particular settings for at least two motor vehicle systems 24, such as more than two, can then be saved in the driving dynamics system facility 22 for each driving mode, and the driving dynamics system facility 22 can control the motor vehicle systems 24, such as a transmission and an interior lighting, in accordance with the switching signal of the control device 12 (S14).

[0056] The learning process of the control device 12 to “familiarize itself” with the driver is especially advantageous, for example, when the driver has newly purchased the motor vehicle, or a categorization as a driver type is not yet definite. For example, after switching to the “dynamic” driving mode on the freeway it may be determined (S15) that the driver is apparently not happy with the choice of the driving mode, and thus the given acceptance criterion is not fulfilled. In the example, the driving mode “auto” can then be activated instead of the driving mode “dynamic” and yet another check can be done (S15) to see whether the driver now seems satisfied. If this is the case, the driving mode “auto” can be matched up with the emotion of the driver prior to switching to “dynamic” (S16). Optionally, the learning algorithm can provide that a manual selection of a different driving mode by the driver is taken into account in a particular situation, such as in dependence on whether this manual selection is made often and repeatedly at the same location. This can be determined, for example, by means of geofencing.

[0057] In the case of the optional inclusion of a prior checking for prioritized driving situations when providing the driving situation data (S17), it can be determined for example that the gas tank level has fallen below a given threshold value. The given prioritizing criterion can be stored for example in the data storage 14 and the check S18 can reveal that the given prioritizing criterion is fulfilled. The control device 12 can generate a second switching signal (S12) and transmit this to the driving dynamics system facility 22 (S13), which can describe for example a switch to the prioritizing driving mode “energy saving” (“efficiency”). The motor vehicle 10 then moves in energy saving manner, such as until the motor vehicle finds itself on an acceleration lane of a freeway, or until the gas tank has been refilled, for example.

[0058] FIG. 2 shows an example of the logic for an initial parametrization as a further embodiment of the method described herein.

[0059] The optional checking S18 as to whether a given prioritizing criterion is fulfilled (column S18) can be divided into the option that no priority situation is present (26) or that the given prioritizing criterion is fulfilled (28, 30, 32). A first priority situation 28 can be, for example, that the tank is empty, a second one can be an “offroad” situation 30, or an alternative priority situation 32 in which a telephone call can arrive while driving. Each of these priority situations 28, 30, 32 can select a different driving mode 34 to be activated, for example an energy saving driving mode, an “allroad driving mode” 36 or an alternative driving mode 38 (column 40 as the column for the result of the driving profile).

[0060] If no priority situation exists, i.e., the given prioritizing criterion is not fulfilled (26), or if the optional checking procedure S18 is not done, the driver type of the driver can be established at first (column S2). Possible driver types are, for example, the sporty type (40), the “undefined” type (44), i.e., a type which cannot be assigned to any of the usual categories, if the control device 12 has not yet familiarized itself with the driver, for example; or the “efficient” type (46), i.e., a driver type who likes to drive economically.

[0061] A driving mode can be assigned to the types 42, 44, 46 directly, without establishing the road category (column S4) and without optional evaluation of secondary factors 48. For example, a driving mode “comfort” 50 can be assigned to the “comfortable” type 42, the driving mode “auto” (52) to the “undefined” type, and the driving mode “efficiency” (34) to the “efficient” type.

[0062] The further selection is then done with the aid of the ascertained emotion. Examples of this have already been mentioned above.

[0063] The evaluation of the secondary factors can involve a determination of the traffic flow (S7). The secondary factors 48 come after the primary factors 54, which include the determining of the driver type S2 and the determining of the road category S4.

[0064] When determining the road category S4, it is possible to determine the category of freeway (56), the category of country road (58), or the category of city (60), for example.

[0065] For example, the emotion of the driver can be ascertained by means of the vehicle sensors (S10). The different emotions 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 76, 82 may influence the choice of the driving mode in different ways. Thus, for example, depending on whether the emotion is “happy” (62) or “normal” (64), the driving modes “dynamic” (84) or “auto” (52) will be used in the narrower selection, or only the driving mode “auto” (52).

[0066] Optionally, a road condition can be additionally determined (S4) and taken into account (S6). Possible optional road conditions can be “good” or “bad,” “good (straight)” or “good (winding)” or

[0067] Possible optional traffic flows can be: “open” (72) or “slow/traffic jam” (74) or, for the road category “city” (60) and the optional road condition “good,” the traffic flow can be “open” (78) or “slow/traffic jam” (80). For an optional bad road condition for roads in the city—or only for roads in the city—the driving mode “auto” (52) can be assigned directly, for example. The driving mode “auto” (52) can be assigned to different combinations of primary factors and secondary factors, as shown for example in FIG. 2. However, a driving mode “dynamic” (84) can be assigned for example to an open freeway, if the driver type is a sporty type; and optionally if the road condition is good, in addition. “Dynamic” can also be assigned as the driving mode 84 for the example of a winding country road of the sporty driver type, optionally only when the road condition is good or for open and good roads in the city.

[0068] Ideally, in the example of FIG. 2, the learning function comes afterwards with the steps S9, S15 and S16. For example, a switching can be done from “dynamic” to “comfort” if the driver is not satisfied with the proposal of “dynamic,” which can be deduced for example from agitated gestures of the driver or a typical facial expression indicating lack of satisfaction.

[0069] On the whole, the examples show how an automatic driving profile switching can be done on the basis of an empathic and optionally self-learning, as well as forward-looking algorithm.

[0070] In a further embodiment, in order to reduce the workload and constantly optimize the experience of the driving profiles in all vehicle/driver/environment situations, the optimally experienced profile for the individual driver is automatically activated by means of a comprehensive analysis. A self-learning algorithm with regard to the preferences and emotions of the driver can make possible a profile activation individually for the driver with his present mood, in addition to the automatic profile switching.

[0071] In another technical implementation, for the determination of the optimally suited driving profile at first the driving style of the driver is classified and matched up with one or more suitable driving profiles (such as drive select) (S2, S8). Since the driving mode must always be attuned to the present environment and driving situation, various data on the road category (e.g., country road/freeway/city), the traffic flow, and optionally the road condition are then taken into account (S4, S8). Both metered values from the motor vehicle 10 and backend data can be used for this.

[0072] Example input data for the analysis are: [0073] the current and long-term driving behavior, and/or [0074] other passengers in the vehicle, and/or [0075] operating actions performed in the interior of the vehicle, and/or [0076] the emotional mood of the driver, and/or [0077] conditions of the individual vehicle functions and systems (e.g., state of charge, gas tank level, driver assist systems activated, error conditions of systems, functions and components), and/or [0078] the driving situation (country road, freeway driving, city, construction site), and/or [0079] the traffic flow (open road, traffic jam, slow traffic), and/or [0080] upcoming road data (road conditions, friction values).

[0081] The ideal driving mode determined from these data can be overruled by so-called priority factors. These priority factors may involve various occurrences: [0082] incoming telephone call, and/or [0083] merging into fast-moving traffic (such as driving onto a freeway), and/or [0084] kick down, and/or [0085] manual downshifting, and/or [0086] fuel reserves, and/or [0087] unpaved road, and/or [0088] passing maneuver,

[0089] Whereupon the mode can be selected accordingly with the most suitable configuration for the situation (S18).

[0090] In order to further explore the personal taste of the user, overruling by the driver can be processed in a self-learning algorithm. For example, if the driver in a certain situation repeatedly selects a different mode than that from the function, the user's wishes can be selected directly by the algorithm in future in comparable situations and/or at the same locations (for example, through geofencing).

[0091] In a further step, the emotional response of the user to a change of driving profile can be classified and used in order to adapt the algorithm more precisely to the personal taste of the driver.

[0092] Through analysis of the physiological parameters, the emotion of the driver can be detected. The following physiological parameters can be analyzed for this: [0093] heart rate, and/or [0094] skin conductivity, and/or [0095] facial expression, and/or [0096] eye movements, and/or [0097] voice.

[0098] A switching of the driving modes is done in dependence on a context analysis (driving behavior and environment data) and emotion analysis (for example, facial expression and/or speech). The automatic and intelligent switching to an optimally experienced driving profile makes it possible to experience the full spectrum of vehicle characteristics, without the driver needing to have an understanding of the system. Manual operation by the driver is thus obsolete, thereby making a significant contribution to the reducing of visual distraction and consequently also the reducing of the mental workload.

[0099] German patent application no. 10 2021 131737.1, filed Dec. 2, 2021, to which this application claims priority, is hereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.

[0100] Aspects of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.