GB2628340A

GB2628340A - Method for vehicle to display or output a waiting instruction and corresponding vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2628340A
Application number: GB2303917.5A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Monninger Thomas
Original assignee: Mercedes Benz Group AG
Current assignee: Mercedes Benz Group AG
Priority date: 2023-03-17
Filing date: 2023-03-17
Publication date: 2024-09-25
Also published as: WO2024193897A1

Abstract

A method for a vehicle 10 to display a waiting instruction 16. Comprising, matching map data and/or sensor data on a current position of the vehicle with stored traffic rules by a control unit, checking the availability of a crossing agent and/or an existing stop line, determining a condition for the waiting instruction based on the checking and matching and outputting an augmented waiting instruction by an output device of the vehicle. The augmented warning may be colour coded or a specific shape, haptic feedback and a head up display may be used.

Description

Method for vehicle to display or output a waiting instruction and corresponding vehicle

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of vehicles, in particular of automobiles. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for displaying a waiting instruction, in particular an augmented wait line or stop line, for the driver of the vehicle. Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a corresponding vehicle.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

[0002] Traffic stop lines can be painted, such as stops, yield lines and crosswalk lines, or they can be virtual, such as at unprotected left turns, bike lines at intersections or where pedestrians cross the road. It is also possible that stop lines are conditional, for example, and therefore only affect driving if a crossing agent is present. In unfamiliar environments or complex cities, the multitude of stop lines that need to be observed by a driver of the vehicle may be overwhelming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and a vehicle, by which stop lines can be extracted and are made available to the driver in an intuitive way.

[0004] This object is solved by a method and a corresponding vehicle according to the invention. Advantageous embodiments are presented in the dependent claims, the description and the drawing.

[0005] A first aspect of the present invention relates to a method for a vehicle to display or output a waiting instruction. The vehicle may be in particular a car, a van or a truck.

The waiting instruction corresponds to a wait line or stop line which is, for example, drawn on the street or should be put there by imagination.

[0006] The method according to the invention comprises the following steps: [0007] In a first step, matching map data and/or sensor data on a current position of the vehicle with stored traffic rules by a control unit is performed. In a second step, checking the availability of a crossing agent and/or an existing stop line is performed. In a third step, determining a condition for the waiting instruction based on the checking and the matching is performed. And in a fourth step, outputting an augmented waiting instruction by an output device of the vehicle is performed.

[0008] The control unit is, for example, an external control unit (ECU) comprising a computing unit with a processor and memory. The map data contains information according to a map and may be provided by a navigation system of the car. The sensor data may be data of an environment sensor of the vehicle, which may be, for example, a camera, and therefore the sensor data could be pictures of the surroundings of the vehicle.

[0009] So, in the first step, it is checked, if there is a for example intersection on the map data within the current position of the vehicle. With the traffic rules it is then determined who is allowed to go first. The crossing agent could be, for example, a traffic light, a police car or an electronic device for regulating the traffic. The existing stop line is, in particular, a stop line which is physical present in the surroundings of the vehicle. For the purpose of comparison, a virtual stop line is a line where the vehicle has to wait, but which is not painted on the street, for example, on a t-intersection where the vehicle or its driver wants to turn to the left.

[0010] So, in a second step, with checking the availability of the crossing agent, it could be estimated if there is a condition for the waiting instruction or not. With this information in the third step, the waiting instruction for the vehicle is generated. In a fourth step according to the invention, the waiting instruction is output, in particular as an augmented stop line.

[0011] An advantage of the method according to the invention is that stop lines may be displayed to support the driver. So the possibility of an unwanted collision may be very low and a safety for the driver and surrounding agents may very high.

[0012] According to an embodiment of the invention, the output or the outputting takes place in the form of an augmented stop line, which is superimposed in particular in the presence of an actual stop line, and/or the augmented waiting instruction is output as a signal in a navigation system.

[0013] In another embodiment of the present invention, the augmented stop line is color-coded and/or shape-coded as a function of the condition for the waiting instruction and/or for a further condition, for example, a state of the surroundings or the likelihood of a conflict.

[0014] According to another embodiment of the invention, in addition to outputting the augmented waiting instruction, a haptic and/or acoustic and/or olfactory signal is output.

[0015] In yet another embodiment of the invention, the signal is output if a driver fails to respond, in particular in a time interval, to the waiting instruction output by the method.

[0016] In an embodiment of the present invention, an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) takes over control of the vehicle if there is no reaction of the driver to the waiting instruction.

[0017] In another embodiment of the present invention, the sensor data is provided by at least one environment sensor of the vehicle.

[0018] In yet another embodiment of the invention, a screen and/or a head-up display are used as the output device.

[0019] A second aspect of the present invention relates to a vehicle configured to perform a method according to the first aspect of the invention.

[0020] Advantageous embodiments of the vehicle are to be regarded as advantageous embodiments of the method and vice versa.

[0021] Further advantages, features, and details of the invention derive from the following description of preferred embodiments as well as from the drawings. The features and feature combinations previously mentioned in the description as well as the features and feature combinations mentioned in the following description of the figures and/or shown in the figures alone can be employed not only in the respectively indicated combination but also in any other combination or taken alone without leaving the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0022] The novel features and characteristic of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. The accompanying drawing, which is incorporated in and constitutes a part of this disclosure, illustrates exemplary embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described below, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures.

[0023] The drawing shows in: [0024] Fig. 1 a schematic view of a vehicle on a part of a street where a waiting instruction should be performed; and [0025] Fig. 2 a schematic diagram of a method for a vehicle to display the waiting instruction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration". Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

[0027] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawing and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure.

[0028] The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion so that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus preceded by "comprises" or "comprise" does not or do not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.

[0029] In the following detailed description of the embodiment of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawing that forms part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration a specific embodiment in which the disclosure may be practiced. This embodiment is described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

[0030] Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a vehicle 10 with an output device 12, in particular a head-up display for a windshield. Shown is furthermore a scene of a current position 14 of the vehicle 10 on a street.

[0031] In Fig. 2 a schematic diagram of a method for the vehicle 10 is shown. With the method it is possible to display an augmented waiting instruction (16), in particular an augmented stop line. The method comprises steps S1 to S4.

[0032] In the first step S1 map data and/or sensor data of the current position 14 of the vehicle 10 is matched with stored traffic rules by a control unit 18. In the second step S2, the availability of crossing agent and/or an existing stop line is checked. In the third step S3, a condition for the waiting instruction based on the checking and the matching of step 1 and 2 is determined. In the fourth step S4, an augmented waiting instruction 16 is output by the output device 12 of the vehicle 10.

[0033] In other words, the method and the corresponding vehicle 10 may use information about traffic rules for the road as an input. The information may come from a digital map and/or may be derived, in particular online, from sensor data, in particular of an environmental sensor 20 of the vehicle 10. The vehicle 10 is in particular a car, a van or a truck.

[0034] Due to the possibility of conditional stop lines, the method checks, in particular online, for example, in combination with the sensor data, if there is a crossing agent available. Furthermore, it is checked by the method, if there is already a stop line at the current position 14. If a stop line is in the field of view and, in case of a conditional stop line, it is active, the method visualizes the stop line as an augmented waiting instruction 16 for the driver, for example by overlapping a geometric rendering of the stop line in an augmented reality setup, as an extended visualization in an augmented video and/or, for example, by adding the waiting instruction into a display of a navigation system 22.

[0035] Therefore, it is advantageous that outputting the augmented waiting instruction 16 could be performed as an augmented stop line and/or it could be output as a signal in a navigation system 22. Especially for a conditional stop line it may be preferable that the augmented stop line is color-coded and/or shape-coded as a function of the condition for the waiting instruction and/or for a further condition. In other words, the visualization may be colorful for easy interpretation. It may change color and/or size according to the estimated likelihood of a conflict.

[0036] Additionally, haptic and/or acoustic and/or olfactory warnings or signals may be played, if the driver does not react to the visualized stop line. Therefore, it is advantageous that the signal is output if the driver fails to respond promptly to the waiting instruction. As a last stage, the vehicle 10 may stop at the stop line by itself and override the driver input. This could be, in particular, performed by an advanced driver assistance system which takes over control of the vehicle 10 if there is no reaction to the waiting instruction by the driver.

[0037] As an alternative to the head-up display shown in Fig. 1, the output device 12 could also be a screen of an infotainment system.

[0038] With the shown method and the shown vehicle 10, a system is provided which displays stop lines to the driver to support him or her in his or her driving task. A status of conditional stop lines may be derived dynamically to only show relevant stop lines, for example yield lines, only if a cross traffic is available, or stop lines at a turn and/or bike lines only if a bike is present, and at a crosswalk, only if pedestrian are present. A big advantage of the method and the vehicle 10 is that the risk of a collision may be low, and therefore the safety for the driver and its surroundings may be increased. Another advantage could be that cooperative driving behavior could be supported that builds trust in the method for high levels of autonomous driving. The method can actively prevent collisions by stopping the car in case of a stop line violation by the driver. Another advantage is that the stop line may be displayed from a far distance already so that the driver can prepare for stop maneuvers. With the shown method a system to realize a traffic stop line with augmented reality is provided.

Reference Signs vehicle 12 output device 14 position 16 augmented waiting instruction 18 control unit environmental sensor 22 navigation system Si first step S2 second step S3 third step S4 fourth step

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method for a vehicle (10) to display a waiting instruction, comprising the steps of: matching map data and/or sensor data on a current position (14) of the vehicle with stored traffic rules by a control unit (18); (S1) checking the availability of a crossing agent and/or an existing stop line; (S2) determining a condition for the waiting instruction based on the checking and matching; (S3) and -outputting an augmented waiting instruction (16) by an output device (12) of the vehicle (10). (S4) 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the output takes place as an augmented stop line, which is superimposed in particular in the presence of an actual stop line, and/or the augmented waiting instruction (16) is output as a signal in a navigation system (22).3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the augmented stop line is color-coded and/or shape-coded as a function of the condition for the waiting instruction and/or a further condition.4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that in addition to outputting the augmented waiting instruction (16), a haptic and/or acoustic and/or olfactory signal is output.5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the signal is output if a driver fails to respond to the waiting instruction.6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that an advanced driver assistance system takes over control of the vehicle (10) if there is no reaction to the waiting instruction.7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sensor data is provided by at least one environment sensor (20) of the vehicle.8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a screen and/or a HUD are used as the output device (12).9. A vehicle configured to perform a method according to any one of the preceding claims.