阅读说明：本技术 用于警告未保持安全距离的跟随车辆的设备和方法 (Apparatus and method for warning following vehicle not maintaining safe distance ) 是由 P·博谢 于 2020-03-17 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种警告系统(100),用于装备在第一车辆(1)上,所述警告系统包括：用于测量与跟随第一车辆(1)的第二车辆(2)的距离(D)的雷达(3)；从跟随车辆可见的显示器(6)；用于计算安全距离DS的装置和读取第二车辆(2)的牌照号(35)的相机(4)。(The invention relates to a warning system (100) for equipping a first vehicle (1), comprising: a radar (3) for measuring a distance (D) to a second vehicle (2) following the first vehicle (1); a display (6) visible from the following vehicle; means for calculating a safe distance DS and a camera (4) for reading a license plate number (35) of the second vehicle (2).)

1. A warning system (100) for equipping a first vehicle (1), the warning system comprising:

-a device (3) for measuring, where applicable, the net distance (D) between the rear of the first vehicle (1) and a second vehicle (2) following the first vehicle (1);

-a display (6) arranged at the rear of the first vehicle so as to be visible from a following vehicle (2) where applicable; and the combination of (a) and (b),

-means for calculating a safe distance DS, in particular as a function of the speed of the first vehicle (1) and preferably as a function of external conditions (15).

2. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that the system comprises a device (4) for recording an identity (35) of a following vehicle (2), the display preferably being arranged to display the identity.

3. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the system comprises a device (17) for transmitting the identity (35) of the following vehicle (2) to a remote server.

4. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the system comprises means (20, 9, 11, 12) for characterizing a lane change.

5. System according to claim 4, characterized in that the means (20, 9, 11, 12) for characterizing lane changes comprise means from among a gyroscope, means for acquiring the steering angle of a steered wheel and an accelerometer.

6. System according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it comprises processing means (20) adapted to communicate with an on-board controller (ECU) of the first vehicle, preferably according to a short-range protocol.

7. A method for warning of non-compliance with a safety distance, characterized in that it uses a system equipped on a first vehicle (1) according to one of the preceding claims.

8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that it comprises the following phases:

-determining a safe distance from the speed (V1) of the first vehicle (1);

-monitoring a safety zone (19) at the rear of the first vehicle;

-displaying a warning message (31-33) on the display (6) if the second vehicle enters the safety zone at a distance (D) less than the safety Distance (DS).

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of road safety. More specifically, the invention relates to a device for helping to comply with a safe distance to be maintained between two vehicles following each other.

Background

It has been observed that 43% of accidents on highways are caused by rear collisions, which may be chain collisions. Of these accidents, about 15% of the personal injury accidents are rear-end collisions or chain collisions, resulting in nearly 300 deaths each year.

It is therefore necessary to comply with a safe distance between two vehicles following each other. The safe distance is the distance traveled plus the braking distance in the time that the driver of the vehicle needs to react when he perceives an event to occur on his path, i.e. the distance the vehicle needs to come to a stop from the moment the driver activates the brakes.

As a first approximation, the safe distance is the distance the vehicle travels in 2 seconds, i.e.:

-30 m at 50 km/h;

-50 meters at 90 km/h;

-70 meters at 110 km/h; and the number of the first and second electrodes,

80 meters at 130 km/h.

In France, the "Pr event route (r) association gives a more cautious recommendation. In addition, these distances calculated for dry floors will increase significantly on wet floors.

A driving assist system has been proposed for vehicles of recent models, which makes it possible to warn the driver of too close proximity to the vehicle in front of it. This assistance, which is lifting the autonomous vehicle, undoubtedly provides additional safety. However, if the driver does not want such protective measures to be imposed on them, the driver may typically disable such assistance; even if this assistance is not deactivated, the driver is still free to consider it or not. Furthermore, the proportion of motor vehicles equipped with such assistance is still low, and it would take many years before the device became widespread.

Law enforcement agencies consider using drones that monitor traffic, but this solution would likely be expensive, just a prohibitive and not global. This will not be sufficient to fully secure many drivers who are subjected to the aggressiveness of other drivers approaching the rear of their vehicles and applying pressure thereto to let them pass.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to propose a warning system which cannot be deactivated by a following driver who is not observing a sufficient distance from the followed vehicle, is aggressive or distracted, and forces the following driver to comply with the received warning.

In order to solve this problem, the invention proposes a warning system for equipping a first vehicle, said warning system comprising:

-means for measuring, if applicable, the clear distance between a second vehicle (called follower vehicle) following the first vehicle and the first vehicle (called warning vehicle) at the rear of the first vehicle;

-a display arranged at the rear of the first vehicle so as to be visible from the following vehicle, where applicable; and the combination of (a) and (b),

-means for calculating a safe distance, in particular depending on the speed of the first vehicle and preferably depending on external conditions of the first vehicle.

The external condition may be road surface condition, road surface humidity, rain, wind or fog.

The invention also relates to a warning method using the system according to the invention.

Drawings

Various embodiments of the invention will be described hereinafter, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a car equipped with a system according to the invention followed by another car;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing operation of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a first possible display of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows a second possible display of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 shows a third possible display of the system of FIG. 1; and the number of the first and second electrodes,

FIG. 7 shows a fourth possible display of the system of FIG. 1.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows a first vehicle 1 followed by a second vehicle 2. Hereinafter, the first vehicle is referred to as a "warning vehicle", and the second vehicle is referred to as a "following vehicle". The distance D separates the two vehicles. The first vehicle is called a warning vehicle because it is equipped with a system 100 that allows it to monitor the area 19 at its rear, the maintenance of a safe distance DS between it and the following vehicle (i.e. the distance D separating the two vehicles is greater than or equal to the distance DS), and warn the following vehicle when the distance DS is not observed.

The system 100 includes a plurality of devices shown in FIG. 1:

-a rear radar 3;

a rear camera 4;

a display 6 which can warn a rear windscreen 7 of the vehicle 1 to be seen by a driver of the following vehicle 2; and the combination of (a) and (b),

a "brake" light 8, which is arranged on top of the rear windscreen 7.

The system 100 is shown in more detail in fig. 2. It includes the other devices shown therein:

-a gyroscope 9;

-means 10 for obtaining the instantaneous steering angle a11 of the steered wheels (here the front wheels);

-an accelerometer 12;

-means 13 for acquiring a local speed limit 14;

-means 15 for acquiring meteorological data 16; and the combination of (a) and (b),

means 17 for communicating with law enforcement agencies.

Processing means are advantageously provided to acquire the data provided by a warning vehicle on board controller (ECU), acronym for "Electronic Control Unit". This data may include, among other things:

-warning vehicle speed V1;

certain meteorological data 16, such as the presence of rain or fog;

-data from the rear camera;

-data from a rear radar;

-steering angle a 11; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

data on line crossings (where applicable).

The system 100 also includes a computer processing device 20. These processing means may be processing means of a smartphone type of telephone associated with a particular application.

The global geolocation device may be the global geolocation device of the vehicle (if any), or the global geolocation device of the phone. These positioning means may use, for example, the satellites of the european system galileo. The positioning means serve in particular as means 13 for acquiring the local speed limit 14.

Where applicable, may be in accordance with a short-range communication protocol, preferably BluetoothType) to establish communication between the controller and the telephone.

Based on the collected data, the system according to the invention implements a plurality of service modules:

-collecting a speed of an equipped vehicle-warning vehicle;

-analyzing a change of direction of the equipped vehicle;

-collecting alarms crossing (non-) continuous lines;

-monitoring the change of direction (gyroscope);

-calculating a safe distance;

-detecting the presence of a following vehicle;

-collecting wheel angles of the equipped vehicle;

-analysing the pose (far or near) of the following vehicle;

-identifying the license plate (photograph) of the following vehicle;

-memorizing the license plate and the start of the recording;

-sending the collected data to a server;

-displaying a first warning level (see fig. 1 and 4);

-displaying a second warning level (see fig. 5);

-displaying a third warning level (see fig. 6);

display to return to normal (see fig. 7).

To determine the safe distance DS, the warning system determines the speed V2 of the following vehicle from the speed V1 of the warning vehicle and the approach speed of the following vehicle. The approach speed is calculated from successive measurements of the distance D between the two vehicles. As a first approximation, the safe distance may be calculated from only the speed V1 of the warning vehicle.

The safety distance DS may be adjusted in particular on the basis of the meteorological data 15.

The operation of the device according to the invention will now be described with reference to the diagram of fig. 3.

When the system 100 is running, i.e. after its initialization 21, typically at the start of the warning vehicle 1, the system initiates a repeated analysis 22, i.e. monitoring, of the situation of the warning vehicle 1.

The situation analysis firstly comprises an analysis 23 of the lane change and an analysis 24 of the safety area 19 at the rear of the warning vehicle 1, which are carried out in parallel.

The analysis of the lane change makes it possible to check whether the vehicle is stationary in the traffic lane. To perform this analysis 23, the system 100 uses data from the gyroscope 9 relating to the wheel angle a11 when crossing a continuous or discontinuous line.

As long as the vehicle 1 is warned not to be stable in the traffic lane, the system 100 does not perform further analysis, since the analysis of the safety region 19 is not important.

Once the warning vehicle is considered to be stable in the traffic lane, the system checks whether the analysis of the safety zone 19 has made it possible to detect the presence of a following vehicle and whether this vehicle is at a distance D that is less than the calculated safety distance DS. If this is not the case, the system 100 continues with the analysis 24 of the rear region and the analysis 23 of the lane change.

If a following vehicle 2 is detected at a distance D which is less than the safety distance DS, the system identifies 25 the following vehicle and displays a first warning message 31 on the display 26.

The identification 25 of the following vehicle 2 comprises a recording of the license plate number 16. The recording is done as a photograph or video by means of the camera 4; the identification phase also includes historical memory of distance D as long as the following vehicle remains in safe area 19 or at a distance D less than safe distance DS.

The identification phase also checks during monitoring and at each new record in the history of the distance D:

-the following vehicle remains the same;

-whether the following vehicle has just positioned itself behind the warning vehicle; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

-warning whether the vehicle has just positioned itself in front of the following vehicle.

When the warning vehicle has just positioned itself in front of the following vehicle without leaving a sufficient safety distance, an orderly alert may be triggered in the warning vehicle, for example beeping and/or indicating on the dashboard of the warning vehicle 1.

In the example shown, the first warning message 31 represents the license plate number 35 of the following vehicle 2 in association with two blinking orange icons 36. Each icon 36 represents a palm turning to the rear, informing the driver of the following vehicle 2 to leave more distance.

Monitoring continues and the system 100 analyzes the change in distance D.

If the distance D decreases, the system 100 displays a second warning message 32 on the display 26. In the example shown, the second warning message 32 represents the license plate number 35 of the following vehicle 2 in association with two blinking orange icons 37. Each icon 37 represents a camera turned to the rear, informing the driver of the following vehicle that his license plate has been read.

If the distance D is further reduced, the system 100 displays a third warning message 33 on the display 26. In the example shown, the third warning message 32 represents the license plate number 35 of the following vehicle 2 in association with two flashing red icons 38. Each icon represents a police officer's hat informing drivers of following vehicles that their license plates have been transported to law enforcement agencies. Preferably, the transmission comprises a history of distances, their timestamps and their geographical coordinates.

More generally, the identity of following vehicle 2 is transmitted to a remote computer server accessible to and/or hosted by law enforcement agencies. Thus, the processing of the transmitted information (in particular video, photos or multiple photos taken in a burst mode) that materializes the illicit activity can be performed by sending to a server that aggregates all the collected data. This transmission can be performed by an application program present on the smartphone or by a communication component integrated into the electronic device of the vehicle via a remote exchange protocol of the GSM type. This information may be:

-as support for complaints from aggressive drivers who take typical unlawful behaviour; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

-being warned of the insurance usage of the vehicle (where the driver of the following vehicle can be made responsible) in case the non-adherence to the safety distance is the cause of the accident.

If the distance D increases beyond the distance DS, the system 100 displays a fourth message 34, meaning that the safe distance DS is maintained. In the illustrated example, the fourth message represents a green double arrow.

Of course, it is advantageous to set a threshold value for the decrease as well as the increase of the distance D below which no display change is performed.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the examples just described. Rather, the invention is defined by the following claims.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the embodiments described above in light of the teachings that have just been disclosed to them.

Thus, many elements and functions may supplement the system according to the invention. In particular, the system may include a device that is displayed on the dashboard.

The warning system according to the invention, placed on the rear windscreen of a warning vehicle, makes it possible to discourage an aggressive driver from excessively reducing the distance separating it from the vehicle so equipped.

In the same way that the brake lights on a "followed" vehicle warn the "following" vehicle of braking, the same "followed" vehicle can warn the "following" vehicle that they are committing illegal activities and that they are undertaking the risk of complaints that may lead to fines, such as described in the introduction.

Such warning capabilities may also be placed on autonomous vehicles. In fact, the behavior of an autonomous vehicle may surprise the driver of a following vehicle with aggressive driving; an additional margin of safety must be provided.

Preferably, the system according to the invention is provided as a standard or as an option for new vehicles.

The system may also be a vehicle independent device provided to be installed later on, for example, a second hand vehicle. The system may thus include a precision housing that integrates a camera and radar.

In contrast to what is shown above, the vehicle may not include a third brake light that is independent of the display of the system. The display can replace the third brake light; it thus forms an extension.

Further, the display may include a projector that projects a display onto the rear windshield according to principles similar to "head-up" displays.

The display may be of variable intensity. For example, as the distance decreases, the size of the display may increase; further, as the distance decreases, the light intensity may increase.