초록 ▼

Vehicular arrangement for obtaining information about objects exterior to the vehicle includes distance measuring systems fixed to the vehicle along the windshield, an edge or side of the vehicle, each including a camera that obtains images of objects exterior of the vehicle and a processor that det

Vehicular arrangement for obtaining information about objects exterior to the vehicle includes distance measuring systems fixed to the vehicle along the windshield, an edge or side of the vehicle, each including a camera that obtains images of objects exterior of the vehicle and a processor that determines a distance between the vehicle and objects included in images obtained by the camera and a speed of the objects based on the successive distance determinations. A reactive system is arranged on the vehicle and coupled to the distance measuring systems, and considers distance between the objects and the vehicle and the speed of the objects and reacts accordingly. A position of the distance measuring systems is selected to encompass an area in front of the vehicle, an area behind the vehicle and an area on each side of the vehicle in the fixed fields of view of the distance measuring systems.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A vehicle, comprising: a vehicular frame;a plurality of distance measuring systems each fixed to said vehicular frame along the windshield of the vehicle, along an edge of the vehicle or along a side of the vehicle, each of said distance measuring systems including: a camera configured to obtain

1. A vehicle, comprising: a vehicular frame;a plurality of distance measuring systems each fixed to said vehicular frame along the windshield of the vehicle, along an edge of the vehicle or along a side of the vehicle, each of said distance measuring systems including: a camera configured to obtain images of objects exterior of the vehicle; anda processor that determines a distance between the vehicle and objects included in images obtained by said camera and a velocity of the objects relative to the vehicle based on the successive distance determinations; anda reactive system arranged on said vehicular frame and coupled to said distance measuring systems and a map database containing positional information about vehicular travel lanes,said reactive system being configured to determine, by accessing the map database and receiving distance and velocity information from said distance measuring systems, the possibility of contact between each of the objects and the vehicle based on distance between each of the objects and the vehicle, the velocity of each of the objects relative to the vehicle, and the position of each of the objects considered relative to the positional information about vehicular travel lanes, and react accordingly to the determined possibility of contact between each of the objects and the vehicle, andwherein a position of each of said distance measuring systems is selected to encompass an area in front of the vehicle, an area behind the vehicle or an area on a side of the vehicle in a respective fixed field of view of said distance measuring system. 2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said reactive system comprises a system configured to limit the speed of the vehicle such that the speed of the vehicle can be limited in the presence of other objects within a threshold distance from the vehicle. 3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said reactive system comprises a warning system configured to provide a warning to a driver of the vehicle about one or more of the objects exterior of the vehicle. 4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said reactive system is further configured to, by accessing the map database and receiving distance and velocity information from said distance measuring systems, determine the possibility of contact between each of the objects based on distance between each of the objects and the vehicle, the velocity of the objects relative to the vehicle, the position of each of the objects considered relative to the positional information about vehicular travel lanes, and the presence of a physical barrier between the travel lane in which the vehicle is travelling and the travel lane in which each of the objects is present or travelling, whereby said reactive system is configured to ignore objects in travel lanes where there is a physical barrier separating these travel lanes from the travel lane in which the vehicle is traveling. 5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said reactive system is further configured to, by accessing the map database and receiving distance and velocity information from said distance measuring systems, determine whether each of the objects is stationary and on a side of one of the vehicular travel lanes based on one or more of the distance between each of the objects and the vehicle, the velocity of each of the objects relative to the vehicle, and the position of each of the objects considered relative to the positional information about vehicular travel lanes, whereby said reactive system is configured to ignore stationary objects on a side of the travel lane. 6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said reactive system is further configured to, by accessing the map database and receiving distance and velocity information from said distance measuring systems, determine whether each of the objects is stationary and in one of the vehicular travel lanes or on a side of one of the vehicular travel lanes based on one or more of the distance between each of the objects and the vehicle, the velocity of each of the objects relative to the vehicle, and the position of each of the objects considered relative to the positional information about vehicular travel lanes, whereby said reactive system is thus configured to differentiate between stationary objects on a side of the travel lane and stationary objects in the travel lane. 7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said distance measuring systems comprise four said distance measuring systems, one arranged at each of the four corners of the vehicle, and which are coupled to one or more common reactive systems. 8. The vehicle of claim 7, further comprising headlights at a front of the vehicle, each of said four distance measuring systems being arranged at a respective one of the four corners of the vehicle, and wherein two of said four distance measuring systems are arranged above said headlights of the vehicle at the two front corners of the vehicle. 9. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said distance measuring systems comprise four said distance measuring systems, each of said four distance measuring systems being arranged on a respective one of the four sides of the vehicle. 10. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a roof, wherein said distance measuring systems comprise four said distance measuring systems, each of said four distance measuring systems being located on or near the roof of the vehicle. 11. A method for operating a vehicle in consideration of objects exterior to the vehicle, comprising: obtaining images of objects exterior of the vehicle by means of cameras, each of the cameras being part of one of a plurality of distance measuring systems, each of the distance measuring systems being fixed to a frame of the vehicle along the windshield, along an edge or along a side of the vehicle, a position of each of the distance measuring systems encompassing an area in front of the vehicle, an area behind the vehicle or an area on a side of the vehicle in a respective fixed field of view of the distance measuring system;determining using a processor, a distance between the vehicle and objects included in images obtained by the camera and a velocity of the objects relative to the vehicle based on the successive distance determinations;determining using the processor, the possibility of contact between each of the objects and the vehicle based on the determined distance between each of the objects and the vehicle, the determined velocity of each of the objects relative to the vehicle, and the position of each of the objects considered relative to the positional information about vehicular travel lanes obtained by accessing a map database containing information about vehicular travel lanes;determining using the processor, whether an action must be undertaken to prevent contact between the object and the vehicle based on the determined possibility of contact between each of the objects and the vehicle, and if it is determined that action must be undertakenundertaking an action using a reactive system on the vehicle to reduce and potentially eliminate the likelihood of contact between the vehicle and the object. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the reactive system comprises a system configured to limit speed of the vehicle and the step of undertaking an action using a reactive system on the vehicle comprises limiting the speed of the vehicle in the presence of other vehicles determined to be within a threshold distance from the vehicle. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the reactive system comprises a system configured to generate a warning to a driver of the vehicle and the step of undertaking an action using a reactive system on the vehicle comprises providing a warning to a driver of the vehicle about the objects exterior of the vehicle. 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of determining using the processor, the possibility of contact between each of the objects and the vehicle based on distance between each of the objects and the vehicle, the velocity of each of the objects relative to the vehicle, and the position of each of the objects considered relative to the positional information about vehicular travel lanes obtained by accessing a map database containing information about vehicular travel lanes comprises accessing the map database and considering the position of each object relative to a map in the map database using the processor to determine whether the object and vehicle may contact one another; anddetermining, based on the map database and using the processor, whether the object is a stationary object on a side of the vehicular travel lane in which the vehicle is travelling, andwherein the step of undertaking an action using a reactive system on the vehicle to reduce and potentially eliminate the likelihood of contact between the vehicle and the object comprisesundertaking the action using the reactive system on the vehicle to reduce and potentially eliminate the likelihood of contact between the vehicle and the object only when it is determined that the object and vehicle may contact one another, and it has not been determined that the object is a stationary object on a side of the vehicular travel lane in which the vehicle is travelling,whereby the action is thus precluded from being undertaken when it is determined, based on the map database and using the processor, that the object is a stationary object on a side of the travel lane. 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of determining using the processor, the possibility of contact between each of the objects and the vehicle based on distance between each of the objects and the vehicle, the velocity of each of the objects relative to the vehicle, and the position of each of the objects relative to positional information about vehicular travel lanes obtained by accessing a map database containing information about vehicular travel lanes comprises accessing the map database containing information about vehicular travel lanes using the processor and considering the position of the object relative to a map in the map database using the processor to determine whether the object and vehicle may contact one another; andconfiguring the system to differentiate, based on the map database, between stationary objects on a side of the vehicular travel lane and stationary objects in the vehicular travel lane; andwherein the step of undertaking an action using a reactive system on the vehicle to reduce and potentially eliminate the likelihood of contact between the vehicle and the object comprisesundertaking the action using the reactive system on the vehicle to reduce and potentially eliminate the likelihood of contact between the vehicle and the object only when it is determined that the object and vehicle may contact one another and the object is not a stationary object on the side of the vehicular travel lane. 16. The method of claim 11, wherein four of the distance measuring systems are arranged at each of the four corners of the vehicle. 17. The method of claim 11, wherein four of the distance measuring systems are arranged on or near a roof of the vehicle. 18. A method for operating a vehicle in consideration of objects exterior to the vehicle, comprising: determining using a processor and a plurality of distance measuring systems, a distance between the vehicle and objects exterior of the vehicle and a velocity of the objects relative to the vehicle based on the successive distance determinations, each of the distance measuring systems being fixed to a frame of the vehicle along the windshield of the vehicle, along an edge of the vehicle or along a side of the vehicle:determining using the processor, whether an action must be undertaken to prevent contact between the object and the vehicle based on the distance from the vehicle, the step of determining using the processor, whether an action must be undertaken to prevent contact between the object and the vehicle comprising accessing a map database containing information about vehicular travel lanes using the processor and considering the position of the object relative to the positional information about vehicular travel lanes from the map database using the processor to determine whether the object and vehicle may contact one another, anddetermining, based on the map database and using the processor, whether there is a physical barrier separating the vehicular travel lanes in which the objects are travelling from the vehicular travel lane in which the vehicle is travelling, andundertaking an action using a reactive system on the vehicle to reduce and potentially eliminate the likelihood of contact between the vehicle and the object only when it is determined that:1) the object and vehicle may contact one another, and2) there is no physical barrier separating the vehicular travel lane in which the object is travelling from the vehicular travel lane in which the vehicle is travelling,whereby the action is thus precluded from being undertaken when it is determined, based on the map database and using the processor, that there is a physical barrier separating the vehicular travel lanes in which the objects are travelling from the vehicular travel lane in which the vehicle is travelling. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the reactive system comprises a system configured to limit speed of the vehicle and the step of undertaking an action using a reactive system on the vehicle to reduce and potentially eliminate the likelihood of contact between the vehicle and the object comprises limiting the speed of the vehicle in the presence of other vehicles determined to be within a threshold distance from the vehicle. 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the reactive system comprises a system configured to generate a warning to a driver of the vehicle and the step of undertaking an action using a reactive system on the vehicle to reduce and potentially eliminate the likelihood of contact between the vehicle and the object comprises providing a warning to a driver of the vehicle about the objects exterior of the vehicle.