Daimler Ag

Daimler Chrysler Ag

Mercedes-benz Group Ag

Bernd Woltermann

Volker Oltmann

Zoltan Zomotor

Rainer Moebus

Axel Gern

Gerhard Kurz

Reinhold Schoeb

Joerg Moisel

Avshalom Suissa

Uwe Franke

Ingo Dudeck

Helmuth Eggers

Stefan Schroedl

Joachim Gloger

Markus Hess

Uwe Regensburger

Volker Reinhold

Frank-Werner Mohn

Carsten Knoeppel

Ralf Ackermann

Reinhard Janssen

Edgar Bihler

Helmut Schittenhelm

Thomas Albrecht

Frieder Sönning

Pascal Dauer

Louisa Koch

Clemens Severin Tiedeken

Fabian Andreas Rainer Ventzke

Matthias Oberlaender

Alfred Lotter

Christoph Steglich

Michael Schwarzinger

Joerg Russow

Markus Neusiedl

Manfred Kuom

Eberhard App

Jörg Moisel

When a vehicle performing driverless operation of encounters a blockade situation, a probable blockade time duration of the blockade situation is predicted based on a situational analysis. Support by a teleoperator is requested when the predicted blockade time duration of the blockade situation is greater than a predetermined time duration or when the vehicle has waited longer than the predicted blockade time duration for a resolution of the blockade situation.

Method for the driverless operation of a vehicle

A device for controlling a driving light of a vehicle includes a headlight with a light source, a device for pivoting a produced light distribution and an optical element that provides adjustable light distribution. The optical element includes a light passage opening pivotable into an optical axis of the light source. A beam of the light distribution is limited or deflected such that a limited light field is produced in a pre-settable region in front of the vehicle, which light field has an external form of the light passage opening. Further light passage structures provide a 'high beam' or 'partial high beam' light pattern and thereafter the &#x201c;high beam&#x201d; light pattern by turning, pivoting and/or displacing the optical element in one direction, and another further light passage structure provides a &#x201c;motorway&#x201d; and thereafter a &#x201c;country road&#x201d; light pattern by turning, pivoting and/or displacing the optical element in an opposite direction.

Device for controlling a low beam of a vehicle

A main beam switching arrangement for a road vehicle has a lighting device switchable over main beam and dipped headlamps. A sensor device determines at least one ambient parameter, and a control unit with an activatable and deactivatable automatic function automatically switches over the lighting device as a function of the ambient parameter. An operator control unit generates switchover signals by an operator to manually bring about switching over the lighting device with priority. In each case, at least one change of state of the automatic function can be brought about by a first switchover signal for switching on continuous operation of the main beam that is not occurring at the time of signal generation. By way of a second switchover signal, continuous operation of the main beam, which is occurring at the time of signal generation, is switched off.

Method and device for automatically switching to main beam

The opening of vehicle doors often leads to collisions with stationary obstacles that are not visible to the occupants or with moving obstacles that approach the vehicle without being noticed. Thus to avoid collisions when vehicle doors are opened, the aim of the invention is to take any modifications to the environmental situation of the vehicle as a result of a movement of the vehicle and the detected objects into consideration. This allows a collision of the vehicle doors with the objects to be reliably avoided. To achieve this, in a first step the probable trajectory of a vehicle is determined. In an additional step, the objects in the vicinity of the vehicle are detected and probable trajectories of said detected objects are determined. Respective probability ranges are then defined both for the vehicle and the pivoting zone of the vehicle doors and for the detected objects. The probability ranges of the pivoting zones of the vehicle doors are respectively compared with the individual probability ranges of the objects, in order to determine whether they overlap. If an overlap is identified, a response; signal that indicates the risk of a collision is generated.

Process and device for avoiding collision while opening vehicle doors

A method and device for warning a driver of lane departure, wherein a first analyzer is used to detect the vehicle's lane departure based on image data and/or vehicle data and/or driver activity. The driver then receives a warning as a function of the detection by the first analyzer. In addition, a second analyzer for evaluating the driving situation is provided, which either performs the evaluation of the driving situation after the detection and via which the warning is suppressed as a function of the evaluation, or which alternatively performs an evaluation of the driving situation before the detection and via which a detection of lane departure is suppressed as a function of the evaluation. As a result, the driver receives highly reliable warnings of lane departure, and furthermore thanks to the evaluation of the driving situation erroneous warnings may be recognized highly reliably and as a result suppressed, so that the driver is not distracted unnecessarily and the product enjoys a high acceptance level among users.

Method and device for warning a driver of lane departure

A driver assistance device for warning a driver of a motor vehicle of a risk of departure from the lane or from the lane is described, having at least one image-transmitting sensor, an evaluation device, connected to the image-transmitting sensor, for detecting edge-of-lane and/or lane markings and/or edges of lanes in the area sensed by the image-transmitting sensor, and a warning device which is connected to the evaluation device, in which driver assistance device in addition at least one distance-transmitting sensor is connected to the evaluation device, with which sensor the distance from objects which are elevated with respect to the surface of the lane can be determined in the region of the edge of the lane, in particular of a structural boundary of the edge of the lane.

Lane-departure warning system with differentiation between an edge-of-lane marking and a structural boundary of the edge of the lane

In a vehicle headlight system with a light source () and at least one reflector () for shaping the light emitted by the light source into a high beam and a low beam, and with a shield () adjustable via an actuating element () between a position in which the light from the light source () is blocked across a maximum cross section and an essentially transmissive position in which this light is substantially allowed to pass through, the actuating element () adapted for adjusting the shield () in a plurality of intermediate positions between the maximal blocking and the essentially transmissive position in which intermediate position the blocked cross section is less than the maximal cross section.

Vehicle headlight system with variable beam shape

A method and a device for detecting road users and obstacles on the basis of camera images, in order to determine their distance from the observer and to classify them. In a two-step classification, potential other parties involved in a collision are detected and identified. In so doing, in a first step, potential other parties involved in a collision are marked in the image data of a mono-image camera; their distance and relative velocity are subsequently determined so that endangering objects can be selectively subjected to a type classification in real time. By breaking down the detection activity into a plurality of steps, the real-time capability of the system is also rendered possible using conventional sensors already present in the vehicle.

Camera-based precrash detection system

A system installed in a motor vehicle for inferring a vehicle operator's stress level from body sensors and from environmental data related to the position and operation of the vehicle. The system functions in a training phase using machine learning techniques to derive a model of an individual operators stress reaction to the environment in which the vehicle is operated and, using the results of this training phase, the system is subsequently used to predict stress levels to be expected when certain traffic conditions are imminent based on a projection of the driver's physiolocial state. The result of this prediction of stress level for the individual driver is used to control or warn the driver with respect to operation and scheduling of attention diverting devices such as cellular phones.

Personalized driver stress prediction using geographical databases

Growing community of inventors

Fellbach, Germany

Bernd Woltermann