SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TEACHING A VEHICLE USER ABOUT VEHICLE FEATURES

Abstract

A method and a device to teach a vehicle user about features and functions of the vehicle using an electronic device located in the vehicle. The user is offered, by the electronic device, a catalogue of guided driving tutorials. Each of the guided driving tutorials includes a sequence of instructions to the user to pay attention to certain vehicle responses and/or to perform certain operating actions or driving maneuvers, and to pay attention to the corresponding response made by the vehicle or by vehicle components.

Claims

1. A method of teaching a vehicle user about functions of a vehicle, comprising: offering, via an electronic device, a catalogue of guided driving tutorials, each of the guided driving tutorials includes a sequence of instructions that require attention to certain vehicle responses; and performing operating actions or driving maneuvers that require paying attention to a corresponding response made by the vehicle or vehicle components of the operating actions or driving maneuvers.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising downloading, from a remote platform, the catalogue of guided driving tutorials.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising adapting the guided driving tutorials using data about vehicle equipment such that only those driving instructions that can be performed by the vehicle equipment are offered.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising automatically obtaining data of vehicle use.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising adapting the guided driving tutorials such that only driving tutorials that are compatible with the vehicle use is offered.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising automatically obtaining data about a current vehicle location and a general traffic situation at the vehicle location.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 further comprising adapting the guided driving tutorials based on the general traffic situation.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a user mobile terminal.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an infotainment system.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sequence of instructions is offered visually, acoustically and/or haptically.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising sending user reactions to the sequence of instructions to a remote platform, wherein computer-aided analysis of the user reactions is subsequently performed.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 further comprising adapting the guided driving tutorials based on the sequence of reactions.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising, in response to finishing the guided driving tutorial, presenting a questionnaire containing questions that relate directly to the guided driving tutorial, and sending answers to a remote platform.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein offering the guided driving tutorials occurs under certain conditions being traffic and visual conditions.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising using an avatar to provide the sequence of instructions for the guided driving tutorials, and to coordinate communication with the electronic device.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising rewarding full or partial completion of the guided driving tutorials with points.

17. A vehicle infotainment system comprising: an electronic device configured to, in response to an offered catalogue of guided driving tutorials, each of the guided driving tutorials including a sequence of instructions, perform operating actions or driving maneuvers that require paying attention to a corresponding response made by the vehicle or vehicle components of the operating actions or driving maneuvers.

18. The vehicle infotainment system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the electronic device is further configured to use an avatar to provide the sequence of instructions for the guided driving tutorials, and to coordinate communication with the electronic device.

19. A vehicle comprising: an infotainment system having an electronic device, the electronic device being configured to, in response to downloading, from a remote platform, a catalogue of guided driving tutorials and offering the catalogue of guided driving tutorials, each of the guided driving tutorials including a sequence of instructions, perform operating actions or driving maneuvers that require paying attention to a corresponding response made by the vehicle or vehicle components of the operating actions or driving maneuvers, and adapt the guided driving tutorials based on a general traffic situation.

20. The vehicle as claimed in claim 19, wherein the electronic device is further configured to send user reactions to the sequence of instructions to the remote platform, wherein computer-aided analysis of the user reactions is subsequently performed.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG. 1 shows an overview of a system for guided driving tutorials.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] As required, detailed embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the disclosure that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The FIGURE is not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present disclosure.

[0030] The system and method described below for guided driving tutorials can be implemented using any electronic device installed in a motor vehicle 1 or any portable electronic device located therein, although it is preferably implemented as application software, what is known as an application or app for short, mobile terminals such as, for example, a smartphone 2. In particular, the motor vehicle 1 may be a car.

[0031] A vehicle user 3, who is sitting in the motor vehicle 1 with his smartphone 2, can use the app to access a catalogue of “guided driving tutorials”, which match the actual equipment fitted in the vehicle, or are adapted thereto, for instance by reading the vehicle configuration, or can be adapted to the manner of use of the vehicle, for example driving in the city, driving using cruise control, name of the user etc., if this information is available with agreement of the user.

[0032] The vehicle user 3 can download to his smartphone 2 a guided driving tutorial from the catalogue from a platform 4 of the vehicle manufacturer, which platform 4 is known as an app store. The apps for guided driving tutorials, which apps are stored on the platform 4, can be developed, for instance, via an open source interface 14 such as MyApp or OpenXC.

[0033] A guided driving tutorial comprises the following elements and stages:

[0034] Description and classification of the guided driving tutorial (What is it about? What will the driver learn? What type of reward can be offered to the driver taking the driving tutorial? How long is it expected to take? . . . )

[0035] Instructions for implementation:

[0036] Specific initialization instructions

[0037] Specific feature activation instructions (in order to learn about specific functions and capabilities of features), which also include instructions for performing specific operating actions or driving maneuvers

[0038] Specific initialization instructions

[0039] Specific termination instructions

[0040] An optional questionnaire at the end of the guided driving tutorial, to be completed or answered at the end of the journey.

[0041] All three elements above are ideally provided to the vehicle user via what is known as an infotainment system 5 (e.g. such as the SYNC system provided by Ford Motor Company), which combines the display and operation of e.g. car radio, navigation system, instruments, displays and/or head-up displays, haptic actuators etc. (not shown). All types of instructions can thereby be given acoustically, visually and/or haptically.

[0042] By following the short instructions given during the guided driving tutorial, the driver can find out the features, functions, behavior, capabilities etc. of his vehicle and gain experience. The system can be designed to analyze driver reactions in a suitable manner, for instance to wait until the driver has given the expected reaction such as pressing a button, and operating a pedal or a gear shift, for example.

[0043] The infotainment system 5 can work through the questionnaire using voice communication between the system for guided driver tutorials and the driver. The answer could be recorded with agreement of the driver and/or interpreted directly by any voice recognition algorithms.

[0044] The questionnaire should focus on the content of the guided driving tutorial, can also be adapted to how the driver performs the guided driving tutorial, and if the driver can give the expected answer directly. Thus, the people who write the questionnaire should also be involved in designing the guided driving tutorial. They should also have the opportunity to furnish any advice or special comments during the instructions, for instance “please slow down now” or “please listen to the engine sound”, etc., if the questionnaire contains specific questions relating to the perceptions of the driver.

[0045] Taking a guided driving tutorial and answering the questionnaire should be time-limited and designed so as not to distract the driver. Traffic density and GPS coordinates 6 of the vehicle 1 can be taken into account for this purpose, in order to delay or prevent activation of the guided driving tutorial when the traffic 6 is too dense. Alternatively, the driver can be asked to deactivate the guided driving tutorial when certain conditions are met, for instance when there is no vehicle 1 in view in front on a freeway.

[0046] In order to improve driver involvement further, a reward system can be included that credits the driver who has fully or partly completed the guided driving tutorial with a number of bonus points, with additional bonus points being awarded for answering the questionnaire. The bonus points can be vouchers that the driver can redeem at his vehicle dealer, merchandising articles, discounts for customer services by the vehicle dealer or vehicle manufacturer, attendance at special events at test tracks, etc.

[0047] In a development, the guided training experience could be presented to the driver as a software-generated simulated person, namely as an avatar, which is downloaded to the infotainment system of the vehicle and which coordinates the guided driving tutorial by supporting the driver, interacting with the driver, talking to the driver, etc., and then sends back the results of the guided driving tutorial to the smartphone of the user.

[0048] In addition, guided driving tutorials could be used internally by vehicle manufacturers to perform acceptance tests and some validation and verification tests on the same basis as the customer-oriented guided driving tutorials. For this purpose, the platform 4 can be connected to a cloud or another platform 7 of the vehicle manufacturer, which can be accessed, for instance, by marketing people 8, engineers 9 and analysts 10 at the vehicle manufacturer, possibly also by vehicle users 3 via their home computers 11. The platform 7 receives vehicle configuration data 12 and is connected to a database 13 of the vehicle manufacturer, to which it returns the results of the guided driving tutorial, for instance to perform pass/fail analyses. The guided driving tutorials thus have the added benefit that they can be used by automobile engineers for validations and verifications, in which in addition to, or instead of, the questionnaire, a driving analysis is carried out and translated into pass/fail criteria.

[0049] While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the disclosure. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the disclosure.