US 12,411,231 B2
Vehicle radar system for detecting preceding objects
Moroine Laoufi, Courbevoie (FR); Florian Trompeter, Hammelburg (DE); Christian Schwert, Hassfurt (DE); and Jeremy Bernard, Paris (FR)
Assigned to Qualcomm Auto Ltd., San Diego, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/432,207
Filed by QUALCOMM AUTO LTD., Cambridge (GB)
PCT Filed Feb. 18, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/054169
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 19, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/169561, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 27, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 19158200 (EP), filed on Feb. 20, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0187449 A1, Jun. 16, 2022
Int. Cl. G01S 13/931 (2020.01); G01S 13/58 (2006.01); G01S 13/62 (2006.01)
CPC G01S 13/931 (2013.01) [G01S 13/584 (2013.01); G01S 13/62 (2013.01); G01S 2013/93271 (2020.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle environment detection system that is arranged to be mounted in an ego vehicle comprising:
a control unit arrangement; and
at least one sensor arrangement to provide sensor detection for a plurality of preceding target vehicles,
wherein the control unit arrangement is arranged to:
determine an ego vehicle velocity and an ego vehicle acceleration for the ego vehicle;
determine a first distance between the ego vehicle and a closest preceding target vehicle of the plurality of preceding target vehicles;
determine one or more of the plurality of preceding target vehicles to be considered in determining a resulting time to collision, comprising, for each corresponding preceding target vehicle of the plurality of preceding target vehicles;
determine a second distance between the ego vehicle and the corresponding preceding target vehicle;
determine an initial time to collision value between the ego vehicle and the corresponding preceding target vehicle using a target velocity and a target acceleration for the corresponding preceding target vehicle;
compare the initial time to collision value for the corresponding preceding target vehicle with a time to collision threshold;
in response to determining that the initial time to collision value for the corresponding preceding target vehicle is below the time to collision threshold, compare the initial time to collision value for the corresponding preceding target vehicle with at least one initial threshold value, wherein the at least one initial threshold value is below the time to collision threshold;
determine that the corresponding preceding target vehicle is not to be considered in determining the resulting time to collision if the initial time to collision value for the corresponding preceding target vehicle is below the at least one initial threshold value; and
determine that the corresponding preceding target vehicle is to be considered in determining the resulting time to collision if the initial time to collision value for the corresponding preceding target vehicle is below the time to collision threshold and exceeds the at least one initial threshold value;
determine a given corresponding preceding target vehicle that provides a lowest initial time to collision value, from the one or more of the plurality of preceding target vehicles to be considered in determining the resulting time to collision;
determine the resulting time to collision between the ego vehicle and the closest preceding target vehicle based on the ego vehicle velocity, the ego vehicle acceleration, the first distance between the ego vehicle and the closest preceding target vehicle, and a target velocity and a target acceleration for the given corresponding preceding target vehicle;
compare the resulting time to collision with the at least one initial threshold; and
initiate collision avoidance for the ego vehicle based on the resulting time to collision being below the at least one initial threshold value.