Patent ID: 11958485
Assignee: JAGUAR LAND ROVER LIMITED
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A control system for controlling operation of a host vehicle, the host vehicle being a land vehicle; wherein the control system comprises:
a processor for receiving a signal from a sensor, the processor being operable to:
process the signal to identify a target vehicle which is a land vehicle;
determine a vertical offset between the host vehicle and the target vehicle, the vertical offset being indicative of a height of the target vehicle above or below an elevation of the host vehicle;
adjust a target follow distance between the host vehicle and the target vehicle dynamically in dependence on the determined vertical offset between the host vehicle and the target vehicle; and
control a speed of the host vehicle to maintain the adjusted target follow distance;

wherein the processor is operable to determine a rate of change of the determined vertical offset;
wherein the processor is operable to determine when the rate of change of the vertical offset decreases below a first threshold value; or to determine when the rate of change of the vertical offset increases above a second threshold value; and
wherein the processor is configured to estimate a location at which a slope begins in dependence on the rate of change of determined vertical offset, and to determine, in dependence on a steepness of the gradient of the slope, whether to follow the target vehicle onto the slope, or to wait at a base or a crest of the slope until either a driver confirmation to proceed is received or automatically in response to it being established that the target vehicle has cleared the base or the crest of the slope.