Patent Description:
Even with all of the safety devices built into vehicles in the United States, <NUM>% of the over <NUM> million accidental injuries reported in the U. at emergency rooms are due to traffic incidents. In <NUM> alone, over <NUM>,<NUM> people lost their lives due to traffic accidents in the U. Most of these fatalities occurred in vehicles with fully operational airbags and where the occupants were using seatbelts. Clearly, existing safety technology, even when properly utilized, is insufficient to protect people from serious injury and even death. There is a long felt but unsolved need to address and overcome these limitations, which every year are costing tens of thousands of lives in the US alone and hundreds of thousands worldwide.

Risky driving behaviors that lead to accidents are typically described in human driver terms, such as weaving in and out of lanes; failure to yield right of way; driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other judgment-impairing substance; speeding; not paying close attention to road conditions; tailgating; and driving while drowsy or distracted. These terms are highly subjective and can be both inaccurate and misleading. A driver judged as not paying close attention, for example, may merely have made a mistake in reading a road sign. Even speeding is not always dangerous if the driver is merely keeping up with traffic and is otherwise driving in a safe and sensible manner.

<CIT> discloses a method and apparatus for predicting a crash and reacting thereto. An apparatus is mounted on a vehicle and determines the time-to-impact for approaching obstacles that are within a limited distance from the host vehicle. The sensing distance from the vehicle is set by signal processing of reflected signals and rejection of all responses corresponding to a distance greater than the preset limiting value.

<CIT> suggests a system and method to avoid collisions on highways, and to minimize the fatalities, injury, and damage when a collision is unavoidable. The system includes sensor means to detect other vehicles, and computing means to evaluate when a collision is imminent and to determine whether the collision is avoidable.

What is needed are quantitative measures of dangerous or risky driving that are based on measured results. There have been attempts at building such statistics using various means. Some insurance companies, for example, have begun using telematics to monitor driving habits. A telematics system is often a sensor cluster comprised a wireless network adapter, an accelerometer, a GPS receiver, an OBD-II interface, and a processor. The device continually gathers information and reports it for evaluation. See for example <CIT> and <CIT>. In addition, <CIT> discloses using artificial intelligence to score driving behavior based on driving data collected from telematics systems.

While much work has been done in the past, further improvements are desirable. In particular, it would be highly desirable to gather more accurate data that more specifically indicates risky driving behavior.

Technology according to an embodiment of the invention provides an innovative safety technology that identifies an imminent crash before impact and then provides information to rapidly engages preemptive countermeasures that protect the vehicle and its occupants. For example, the technology according to an embodiment of the invention herein provides a sensor and processing system which can accurately determine if/when a crash is imminent in the vanishingly short time available to act on that knowledge. This allows far more robust and effective safety measures to be employed as opposed to today's technology which typically waits until the collision occurs before taking any action.

Such technology can also be used to identify or predict risky driving behavior such as "close calls" or "near misses" of potential accidents and crashes in addition to recording detailed data leading to actual crashes. This allows far more robust and effective safety measures to be employed as opposed to today's technology which provides no data regarding near misses and relatively limited data once a collision occurs. The system can continually operate while the vehicle is in operation. It can log data for real time or intermittent reporting (e.g., over a wireless network), making determinations in real time and display the determinations for driver safety training, and/or taking other actions in the event of a near-certain collision. The determinations take the form of predictions of <NUM>) collision likelihood and <NUM>) potential severity of collision.

Instead of merely monitoring the "jerkiness" of driving behavior or vehicle speed (which may in fact be safe and not erratic), the embodiments according to the invention sense and measure closing velocities and distances between the ego vehicle and other objects including other vehicles. These data feed into two algorithms for real-time processing: <NUM>) a Collision Probability Engine (CPE) and <NUM>) a Collision Severity Calculator (CSC). The CPE uses the kinematics of the ego vehicle and the sensed kinematics of threat objects to calculate all physically possible outcomes. From that, it can calculate the probability of a collision. As the underlying algorithms are relatively simple, they may be calculated in real time on computation platforms of reasonable size, power and cost for the automotive market. The CSC operates in similar fashion. The potential physically-realizable paths that result in a collision are evaluated as to the potential threat they pose should a collision actually occur. For example, the threat posed by having a large object impact the driver's door would be judged as greater than the threat of sideswiping a much smaller object.

The active sensor suite can be used to report events such as near misses or even actual collisions in real time for analysis and action. For example, a fleet dispatcher can check with a driver after a collision is reported to see if assistance is needed, or an insurance company can modify insurance coverage of a habitually risky driver or require the driver to obtain driver safety education. A driver may be weaving in traffic, for example, to avoid other aggressive drivers, something which mere telematics of vehicle motion cannot reveal. The active sensor suite according to an embodiment of the invention can detect such excellent driving skills and provide rewards such as good driving discounts or letters of congratulation for avoiding accidents in hazardous conditions. In some embodiments, processing can be performed locally in real time to give drivers feedback on how they are driving. In other embodiments, data can be logged and reported in real time and/or intermittently. Raw collected data can be reported to a processor in the cloud which performs the analysis; or the data can be fully processed and results are reported; or the data can be partially processed and results can be reported along with some or all of the underlying raw data. In some embodiments, results can be reported and underlying raw data is reported upon request/demand.

An active sensor suite may use high-speed, near-field optics and embedded computing or other high speed sensing according to an embodiment of the invention, tracking and processing technology. Embodiments according to the invention herein can determine precisely when and where (e.g., in which direction) a collision is going to occur, buying precious time to respond. With this forewarning, robust countermeasures can have sufficient time to engage. This may include for example external airbags that cushion the blow to pedestrians or protect vehicle occupants from lethal side impacts. Larger and thus far more effective airbags can be employed that both inflate at slower speeds and serve to protect occupants on all sides. The vehicle itself can improve its crashworthiness by adjusting the suspension and internal cab features such as the steering column or moving seats.

In other embodiments, there is no or may not be any deployment of a countermeasure. For example, in some embodiments, no countermeasure is present and information is collected, stored and forwarded for other purposes (e.g., insurability/risk evaluation). In other embodiments, the system feeds collision probability, time, severity and impact location to another system, and the other system uses that information to decide whether to control the countermeasure to deploy.

In embodiments according to the invention, a relevant time window for the technology herein to operate is shortly before an impact - i.e., from a time when the driver of the vehicle can do little to avoid or minimize the impact. Such time window imposes real time and near field constraints that lessens the intent of the driver(s) and reduces the collision problem to more deterministic factors such as Newtonian physics. In some embodiments, rather than avoiding a collision, the vehicle automatically and swiftly prepares for a collision beginning at a time instant so soon before the collision actually occurs that the collision is highly predictable and unavoidable. Such a time window can begin for example at one second, or one-half second (<NUM> milliseconds), or <NUM> seconds (<NUM> milliseconds), or <NUM> seconds (<NUM> milliseconds), or <NUM> seconds (<NUM> milliseconds), or <NUM> seconds (<NUM> milliseconds) or <NUM> seconds (<NUM> milliseconds), before instant of impact. A sufficiently short time removes all relevant human behavior, allowing crashes and near misses to be evaluated on purely quantitative terms. Some have measured the average time for humans to react to a visual stimulus at <NUM> seconds ("human reaction time interval"). It is unrealistic to expect the human driver of a vehicle to react and respond in less time than the human reaction time interval, and the principles of physics may dictate that based on the conditions (i. motion of the ego vehicle, road conditions, potentially motion of another vehicle, etc.) that are determined to exist at a particular instant in time, an accident or collision is unavoidable within the human reaction time interval subsequent to that particular instant in time.

Because deploying countermeasures such as air bags will often have the effect of distracting or hindering the driver from being able to see and/or operate vehicle controls effectively, deploying countermeasures too early could have deleterious effects of (a) preventing the driver from taking evasive action to avoid a collision or minimize its impact and/or (b) deploying a countermeasure before an impact is a certainty (and thus might still be avoidable). However, waiting until an impact is detected (as most modern systems do) wastes precious milliseconds before an imminent crash that could be used to deploy a lifesaving countermeasure.

Technology according to an embodiment of the invention uses highly reliable very fast acting detectors that when combined with the appropriate software statistically have very few false positives within the short time window before a collision (i.e., they can be counted on to reliably detect with a high degree of certainty that a crash is both imminent and unavoidable) to deploy countermeasures such as air bags or other lifesaving techniques.

The technology according to an embodiment of the invention fits well with the ADAS and AV architectures already being considered in the industry and in some cases even fielded across the industry. While these technologies themselves will provide further safety in crash avoidance, vehicle crashes, sadly, are projected to continue increasing globally before eventually declining decades from now. The technology according to an embodiment of the invention holds forth the promise of making the roads safer in the very near future, and by a substantial margin. Deployed worldwide, the technology promises nothing short of a revolution in automotive safety that eclipses even the advances enabled by seatbelts and the current generation of airbags.

While the automotive industry is focused on active safety (e.g. ADAS), little effort is made towards passive safety technology (e.g. seatbelts and airbags). Where ADAS focuses on driver convenience in addition to safety, it accomplishes this by enhancing emergency maneuvers of the vehicle via means such as active braking and lane intrusion warnings. Embodiments according to the invention, on the other hand, focus on safety at the last fraction of a second where no amount of vehicular maneuvers or braking can avoid an imminent collision.

Technology according to an embodiment of the invention provides sensors and system control architectures that are capable of collecting and processing many large quantities of data every second. This allows an extremely accurate countermeasure solution to be fully deployed in just a few milliseconds or less. Technology according to an embodiment of the invention is able to accurately predict the collision of a vehicle with another vehicle or object and then launch one or a suite of countermeasures, such as advanced airbags, to protect occupants in ways heretofore considered impossible.

Embodiments according to the invention provide a sensing and advanced processing system that can predict an imminent crash with assurance. Adding even <NUM> milliseconds would roughly double the reaction time. While early simulation experiments indicate that as much as <NUM> milliseconds of warning of an imminent unavoidable collision is achievable, even a fraction of that would revolutionize the passive safety market. The embodiment can also operate up to a second ahead of a crash for selected types of countermeasures and in selected scenarios. With the addition of more time, passive safety systems can do much more to prepare the vehicle for a collision: deploy exterior airbags, adjust the suspension, and inflate larger interior airbags at slower speeds. These combined measures translate directly into reduced injuries and fatalities due to the crash and certainly due to the airbag itself.

Additional features and advantages may include:.

Takes the velocity(ies) of objects into account when determining when a collision is imminent or will result in a close call.

Embodiments according to the invention perform close-in collision detection that combines high sample rate near-field sensors with advanced real-time processing to accurately determine imminent threats and the likelihood of a collision. This allows applicable countermeasures to be deployed based upon the (high) probability of a collision, while also taking into account the type of threat, and the impending impact's location on the passengers of the vehicle. This new approach will soon transform the passive safety market to greatly reduce injuries from automotive crashes and safe lives.

Suppose one is driving a vehicle moving at <NUM> mph (<NUM>/s) and an oncoming vehicle is moving at <NUM> mph (<NUM>/s). The combined relative speed is <NUM> mph (<NUM>/s).

Let's assume the system needs <NUM> milliseconds advance notice to deploy the external airbags and other new passive safety features.

Therefore, the vehicle would have to determine an imminent threat when the oncoming vehicle is <NUM> meters away, about one vehicle length.

Example technology herein waits until the last possible moment (or within a time window that includes the last possible moment) to automatically deploy a countermeasure when no human or machine maneuver can change the outcome (e.g., whether or not a crash occurs).

Given the extreme rapidity of the required response, a system according to an embodiment of the invention may use a sensor which can sample from at least <NUM> to <NUM> or faster. In one embodiment according to the invention, the data from this sensor feeds into a high-speed processor to determine the vehicle trajectory with the accuracy of e.g., <NUM> to <NUM> centimeters. From this, the impact point on the vehicle is estimated along with the likelihood of serious collision. The timing and sequence of countermeasures, if any, are calculated and controlled. All of this happens (and needs to happen) in just a few tens of milliseconds in embodiments according to the invention.

Additional optional features include:
The system according to the invention may further comprise a countermeasure operatively coupled to the processor, the processor controlling the countermeasure to deploy in response to determining the imminent collision.

The sensor may comprise a non-contact sensor.

The processor may determine an imminent collision during a time window within the range of <NUM> milliseconds, <NUM> milliseconds, <NUM> milliseconds, <NUM> milliseconds, <NUM> milliseconds and/or <NUM> milliseconds (this is still useful since it would assist the standard inertial sensors to react more quickly and precisely) before a collision occurs. It may also determine a lower-probability of collision at longer times suitable for some types of countermeasures.

The countermeasure may comprise an air bag, a seat belt tensioner, an external pedestrian air bag, an adjustable seat, an active suspension system or other countermeasure.

The sensor may comprise a time-of-flight sensor, stereoscopic sensor or other.

The sensor may sense parameters relating to the range, xy position, rate of closing and direction of closing of the object.

The sensor may be disposed on a moving object or on a stationary object that tracks the moving object. For example, in one embodiment, the sensor is mounted at a stationary position that is subject to collision with a moving object. The sensor may sense an imminent collision, and deploy a countermeasure(s) (from/on the moving object, from/on the stationary position, or both) to minimize potential damage as a result of the imminent collision.

According to the invention theprocessor tracks the sensed object as it closes, and output the errors associated with the track.

According to the invention the processor uses the track and the errors associated with it to determine the probability of an imminent collision.

In one embodiment, the system includes an actual collision detector, and the countermeasure is deployed in response to the actual collision detector detecting an actual collision.

It is further provided a method comprising sensing an object; determining, in response to object sensing, an incipient collision with the sensed object will occur in <NUM> milliseconds or less.

The sensing may be performed continually, and the deploying may occur at least in part after the collision occurs.

Example embodiments operate in three stages as shown in <FIG>. First, the system senses an imminent collision. This is accomplished in one embodiment by using a low-cost, high data-rate time-of-flight (TOF) or other type of fast sensor looking out no farther than for example <NUM> meters. Such sensing may be performed continually. Several sensors may, for example, be placed around the perimeter of the car housed in headlight and taillight fixtures. Other suitable sensors may include or comprise a stereoscopic sensor or a short-range radar sensor or an imaging acoustic sensor. Together, the sensors search the scene for elements that are moving relative to the vehicle. These elements are then defined as objects.

Second, the objects are tracked over time. The track is plotted with an error band that allows the probability of an impact to be calculated. In general, the errors tighten as the object approaches or closes. In addition, the size, speed and likely hit location of the object are used to estimate the potential severity of any collision.

In some embodiments, the object must meet three criteria to be declared a valid threat:.

Example embodiments may err on the safe side of not launching countermeasures if the determination of an imminent collision is uncertain. For this reason, a normal passive safety system as initiated by the IMU an also remain fully functioning as a back-up safety system to deploy countermeasures when impact is detected. The operations of the IMU will be enhanced by the information available from the track and severity estimations.

<FIG> shows is a visual image of an example embodiment of a stand-alone system in a passenger car. It shows the system's ECU taking in and processing the vehicle's sensor feeds. The system can be fully integrated with the vehicle systems including the IMU-based (e.g., accelerometer) airbag and seatbelt tensioner control system.

<FIG> shows more detail of an embodiment of hardware integration approaches. In this case, "butler service" refers to features such as gesture recognition or sensing that the car is parked too close to another for safe egress. In <NUM>, the precrash sensors are linked using a private gigabit Ethernet connection. The connection to other vehicle processors and apparatus is via the standard vehicle CAN bus. This supports precrash and butler services, but has insufficient data rate to support most ADAS and AV applications. In <NUM>, the ring network architecture is similar to <NUM>, except that it uses a vehicle-level gigabit Ethernet to send data to ADAS processors. However, there is still insufficient bandwidth to support most AV applications. In <NUM>, the star network uses multiple gigabit ethernet connections to communicate to a central processor, thereby having sufficient bandwidth to pass full-frame, high-speed video that is required by many AV applications.

<FIG> is a block diagram of an high-level system architecture <NUM> according to an embodiment of the invention that includes vehicle controls <NUM>, a countermeasure deployment system <NUM>, an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) <NUM> and sensors <NUM>. While the countermeasure deployment system would not be used in near misses, it would be activated in cases where there is an actual collision.

In the example shown, the vehicle controls <NUM> including steering <NUM>, braking <NUM>, powertrain <NUM> and command arbitrator <NUM> may be conventional and the same ones commonly used on any or many modern vehicle(s). The RDU <NUM> may include a conventional inertial measurement unit (IMU) <NUM> but in this case its output is provided to a command arbitrator <NUM> that controls deployment of various countermeasures including seat belt restraining system <NUM>, interior airbags <NUM>, exterior airbags <NUM> and other countermeasures <NUM>. In the example shown, the seatbelts <NUM> and interior airbags <NUM> can be enhanced to accept control from the IMU <NUM> (indicating a collision has occurred) or via the command arbitrator from ADAS <NUM> (indicating a collision is imminent but has not yet occurred) so the seatbelts tighten and the airbags deploy, and these countermeasures can behave differently depending on which system is actuating their deployment. Additional countermeasures <NUM>, <NUM> not found on a conventional vehicle (e.g., pedestrian airbag system, bumper shock absorber stiffener, etc.) may be deployed primarily in response to control from ADAS <NUM> detecting a collision is imminent. For example, one possible countermeasure could include last second chassis actions to mitigate the impact such as e.g., braking only with one brake (e.g., the right front brake or the left front brake, depending on the direction of expected impact) to help pivot the center of gravity to reduce the force of impact.

In the example shown, the ADAS Active Safety block <NUM> may be enhanced (as described below) and ADAS <NUM> may be provided with new functionality including a 3D corrected object view block <NUM>, high speed object tracking <NUM>, threat assessment <NUM> and fire control solution <NUM>. Object tracking <NUM> is based on the 3D corrected object view <NUM>, which in turn receives input from a sensor such as a very fast time of flight (TOF) or other sensor that can detect shape and direction. Sensor <NUM> can for example be non-contacting and based on technologies such as optical, electromagnetic, sound-based (e.g., ultrasonic), laser-based, radar-based, or any combination thereof. In one example embodiment, the sensor <NUM> may be of the type described in <CIT>, and incorporated herein by reference.

The 3D corrected object view <NUM> is used by threat assessment <NUM> to assess threat of a likely collision. If threat assessment <NUM> determines such a threat exists, it records it as a near miss if the threat did not collide and a collision if it does. The threat assessment information is communicated to cloud storage via the communications system <NUM>.

At the core of one solution according to an embodiment of the invention is an Edge Cross Correlation Engine (ECCE). With ECCE, the system according to an embodiment of the invention can perform rapid, direct 3D object definitions without the need for complex calibration or resorting to costly artificial intelligence (AI) methods. Once objects are formed, they can be readily tracked, which leads to the prediction of whether or not a collision will occur with its commensurate likelihood.

<FIG> shows a software block diagram of a software architecture according to an embodiment of the invention that implements an ECCE described above. This architecture includes a kinetic microcontroller <NUM> that executes instructions stored in non-volatile memory to very rapidly capture and process data from multiple time-of-flight (TOF) sensors <NUM>. A processor (CPU) <NUM> implements detection, tracking and collision prediction by performing detection algorithm(s) <NUM> and processing algorithms based on simulation <NUM> (which may be used for tracking and collision prediction). The processor <NUM> may provide real time visualization <NUM> and output messaging via communications <NUM> to cloud storage. The sensor and/or edge processor <NUM> can be integrated in headlamp, tail lamp, rearview mirror housing, A pillar, B pillar, front grill, front bumper, rear bumper or trunk housing of a vehicle.

As shown in <FIG>, one embodiment takes a continuous wave (CW) TOF sensor that has been designed to sample at very high speed (up to <NUM> samples per second). The <NUM> imager and processor printed circuit board (PCB) is connected to the <NUM> emitters via a <NUM> flexible connector, typically via a gigabit Ethernet protocol. The power, external interconnects and auxiliary components are housed in <NUM>.

The method that system would operate with is shown in <FIG>. The sensor with on-board processing captures data; that for a CWTOF sensor is output as a radial depth map. This depth map is converted by the on-board software to a 3D point cloud, which in turn, is classified into an object of interest. The object is then tracked. Tracking typically entails placing each subsequent object frame location into a Kalman filter or similar. From this, the track location, velocity vector and even accelerations can be output along with estimates of their error. These values are then run through a "probability engine" to create an estimate of collision probability and a "severity estimator" to estimate the severity of any collision.

The system has been designed for ease of packaging onto existing and future vehicles. <FIG> shows an embodiment according to the invention of a packaging scheme that incorporates a CWTOF sensor into the headlamps and tail lamps of a vehicle. <NUM> shows the round sensor to the left of <NUM> vertical pairs of emitters in a row that is facing forward. <NUM> shows a sideways looking sensor with an enclosed emitter panel. <NUM> is a straightforward rearward-looking sensor with <NUM> emitters above and <NUM> emitter below. <NUM> is also in the tail lamp but looking sideways with a row of <NUM> emitters to the left and a single sensor to the right.

When configured into the headlamps and tail lamps in this manner, the system can provide <NUM> degree protection as shown in <FIG>.

The technology herein may be used in any context in which collisions may occur. For example, the sensor(s) may be mounted on a stationary object that is about to the struck by a moving object, or it/they may be mounted on a moving object that is about to strike an stationary object, or it/they may be mounted on a moving object that is about to strike or be struck by a moving object. A countermeasure may be deployed based on tracking information such as the direction of impact, the speed of impact, the force of impact, the time of impact, etc. The countermeasure can be deployed before impact, or it can be prepared for deployment and not employed until the moment of impact or even after the moment of impact. Multiple countermeasures can be deployed, e.g., some countermeasures can be deployed before impact and other countermeasures can be deployed at impact or after impact. Countermeasures can be employed in a "stair stepped" manner, based on severity of expected impact, direction of expected impact, expected force of impact, measured force of actual impact (once impact actually occurs), etc., as the system learns more information about the nature of the impact. Sensing and tracking may be performed continually - not just before impact.

Claim 1:
A system comprising:
a sensor (<NUM>) that senses an object; and
a processor (<NUM>) operatively coupled to the sensor (<NUM>) that determines, in response to object sensing, an imminent collision with the sensed object before the collision occurs by tracking the sensed object as it closes, outputting errors associated with the track and using the track and the errors associated with it to determine the probability of an imminent collision, wherein the processor (<NUM>) determines the imminent collision in the time window of one second or less before the collision occurs.