	US 12,291,225 B2
	Method for operating a vehicle
Gunnar Franz, Ottobrunn (DE); Sonja Ruemelin, Munich (DE); and Peter Schneider, Haar (DE)
Assigned to Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft, Munich (DE)
Appl. No. 18/008,794
Filed by Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft, Munich (DE)
PCT Filed May 19, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/063222 § 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 7, 2022, PCT Pub. No. WO2021/249732, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 16, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2020 115 103.9 (DE), filed on Jun. 8, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0219588 A1, Jul. 13, 2023
Int. Cl. B60W 50/10 (2012.01); B60W 50/16 (2020.01); B60W 50/14 (2020.01); B60W 60/00 (2020.01); B62D 15/02 (2006.01)

CPC B60W 50/10 (2013.01) [B60W 50/16 (2013.01); B60W 2050/143 (2013.01); B60W 2050/146 (2013.01); B60W 60/0053 (2020.02); B60W 2420/403 (2013.01); B60W 2420/408 (2024.01); B60W 2420/54 (2013.01); B62D 15/025 (2013.01)]

11 Claims

1. A method for operating a vehicle, wherein the vehicle is operable in a driving mode with autonomous lateral control and in a driving mode with manual lateral control,

wherein the vehicle comprises a steering handle with a steering handle range, wherein the steering handle range represents a space which is formed by a virtual rotational path through which the steering handle geometry passes during a 360° rotation of the steering handle about its steering axis,

the method comprising the following steps:

operating the vehicle in a driving mode with autonomous lateral control;

detecting an intrusion into a free space of the steering handle range and/or a breaching of a predefined distance to the free space of the steering handle range by a vehicle occupant or another object with a sensor unit and without necessitating the vehicle occupant touching the steering handle; and

signaling the intrusion and/or the breaching of the distance to the vehicle occupant.