Patent ID: 7877196

Claim:
A method, using programmable hardware and software for programming the hardware, for determining traffic condition comprising the steps of: determining periodically a position data of a host vehicle, wherein the position data includes a time stamp, position, velocity and driving direction of the host vehicle, receiving periodically position data of at least an other vehicle, wherein the position data includes a time stamp, position, velocity and driving direction of the other vehicle, storing the position data of the host vehicle and the position data of at least the other vehicle, calculating a relative position data, wherein the relative position data includes relative velocity and relative driving direction between the host vehicle and the other vehicle, and judging a traffic condition based on the position data of the host vehicle, the position data of the other vehicle and the relative position data, wherein: based on the position data of the host vehicle a traffic jam estimation value is determined; based on the relative position data between the host vehicle and the other vehicle a relative traffic jam estimation value is determined; based on the traffic jam estimation value and the relative traffic jam estimation value a voting jam value is determined; and the software programs the hardware to perform the steps of the method.