Patent ID: 8712642
Filing Date: 2014-04-29
Classification: B62D

Abstract:
1. A method for assisting parking a vehicle or assisting driving the vehicle out of a parking bay using a parking assistance system, wherein the vehicle includes both a parking assistance system and a steering system, the method comprising: detecting an obscured state of a vehicle sensor, in which at least one distance measuring sensor of the assistance system is obscured by a part of the vehicle, in response to a determination that the vehicle is being parked or driven out of a parking bay; deactivating, or preventing from activating, by a controller, a steering intervention of the parking assistance system into the steering system in response to detection of the vehicle sensor obscured state, wherein the vehicle sensor obscured state of the at least one distance measuring sensor indicates that the at least one distance measuring sensor is unable to measure distance because the sensor is obscured by a part of the vehicle, enabling distance measurement of the parking bay using at least one non-obscured distance measuring sensor of the parking assistance system even if one or more distance measuring sensors included on the vehicle are in a vehicle sensor obscured state; reactivating, by the controller, once the vehicle sensor obscured state is no longer detected, the steering intervention of the parking assistant system; and utilizing, by the controller, at least in part, when the steering intervention of the parking assistant system is reactivated, the distance measurement of the parking bay gathered while the vehicle sensor obscured state was detected.