Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Ford Motor Company Limited

Eric Hongtei Tseng

Davor Hrovat

Li Xu

Diana Yanakiev

Jianbo Lu

Gregory Michael Pietron

Yuji Fujii

Kyle Simmons

Thomas George Leone

Joseph F Kucharski

Ralph Wayne Cunningham

Thomas Edward Pilutti

Dimitar Petrov Filev

Mrdjan J Jankovic

Luke Niewiadomski

Douglas Blue

Todd Allen Brown

John Patrick Joyce

Michael Seemann

Jeffrey Allen Doering

Ming Lang Kuang

Donald James Lewis

Alex O'Connor Gibson

Rajit Johri

Fazal Urrahman Syed

Jason Meyer

Shane Elwart

Davorin David Hrovat

Douglas Scott Rhode

Michael Glenn Fodor

John Shutko

Michael Hafner

Vladimir V Kokotovic

Russ Lee Norton

Uwe Hoffmann

Devinder Singh Kochhar

Donald L Margolis

Jeff Allen Greenberg

Mitch McConnell

Vladimir Ivanovic

Christopher Attard

Simon Baales

Rohit Hippalgaonkar

Kenneth J Boyd

Joseph Walter Neal

Matthias Dehmel

Husein Sukaria

Fredrick V Owens

Erick Michael Lavoie

Bradley Dean Riedle

Yi Zhang

Ryan Abraham McGee

Roger Arnold Trombley

John Ottavio Michelini

Marvin Paul Kraska

Chen Zhang

Steven Yellin Schondorf

Steven Joseph Szwabowski

James William Loch McCallum

Darrel Alan Recker

Donald Jacob Mattern

David Michael Russell

Nimrod Kapas

Wilford Trent Yopp

Peter Simeon Lazarevski

Joseph Gerald Supina

Prabhakar B Patil

George Edmund Walley

John Czubay

Zheng Hu

Arnav Sharma

Louis Tijerina

Peter W A Zegelaar

Mohsen Lakehal-Ayat

Jahan Asgari

Jau-Wen Tseng

Mohsen Lakehal-ayat

Josko Deur

Doug Scott Rhode

Peter Ling

Craig Thomas Hodorek

Charles Bannon

Frederic Christen

Paul Theodosis

Michael John Leads

Michael Seeman

Moshen Lakehal-ayat

Jerry H Engleman

Mirko Coric

A system for assisting in aligning a vehicle for hitching with a trailer includes a vehicle steering system, a detection system outputting a signal including scene data of an area to a rear of the vehicle, and a controller that controls the vehicle steering system to maneuver the vehicle according to an initial alignment maneuver that positions the vehicle relative to the trailer, such that the trailer is within the area to the rear of the vehicle. The controller further receives the scene data and identifies the trailer within the area to the rear of the vehicle, derives a backing path to align a hitch ball mounted on the vehicle to a coupler of the trailer, and controls the vehicle steering system to maneuver the vehicle including reversing along the backing path.

Trailer GPS location storage and recall for hitch assist operation

A hitch assist system is provided herein that includes a sensing system configured to detect a trailer and obstacles proximate the trailer. The hitch assist system also includes a controller in communication with the sensing system and configured to define a final vehicle heading direction relative to the trailer when a hitch ball of a vehicle is aligned with a coupler of the trailer; determine an uppermost/farthest position of the vehicle from the trailer; determine a lowermost/nearest position of the vehicle from the trailer; and determine a vehicle path that aligns the vehicle within the uppermost/farthest and lowermost/nearest positions.

Hitch assist system

A vehicle control system is configured to control a braking operation of a hitch ball to a coupler on a trailer. The system comprises a controller in communication with a maneuvering system and a sensor system. The controller is configured to control the maneuvering system to maneuver the vehicle along a vehicle path and monitor a coupler distance from the hitch ball to the coupler via the sensor system. The controller is further configured to control a deceleration procedure configured to decrease a velocity of the vehicle along a deceleration profile and stop the vehicle with the hitch ball aligned with the coupler. During the procedure, the controller may detect a premature stop condition of the vehicle, where the coupler distance is greater than zero.

Vehicle motion control for trailer alignment

A vehicle control system configured to control a braking operation of a hitch ball to a coupler on a trailer. The system may comprise a vehicle brake control system, a maneuvering system, an image sensor configured to capture an image data, and a velocity sensor. The system may also comprise a vehicle mass sensor configured to detect a vehicle mass and a controller. The controller may be configured to control the maneuvering system of the vehicle along a vehicle path. The controller may also identify a coupler distance based on the image data depicting a coupler of the trailer. The controller may also calculate a stopping distance for the braking operation based on a plurality of braking parameters, wherein the braking parameters comprise the velocity, the brake pressure, and the vehicle mass.

Brake control technique to stop a vehicle for assisting automatic trailer hitching

A road friction is determined for a road location based on a traffic speed determined from respective speeds of each of a plurality of vehicles. A vehicle can be operated based on the determined road friction.

Vehicle road friction control

A trailer backup assist system is provided herein. The system includes a calibration feature for calibrating an imaging device used for hitch angle detection. The system also employs multiple hitch angle detection methods, a number of which may run in parallel to increase the intervals at which a hitch angle can be measured. The system additionally includes a predictive feature in which a hitch angle can be predicted in instances where a trailer sensing device fails. The system is further configured to estimate a trailer length and generate steering commands that are invariant to the estimated trailer length under certain conditions.

Trailer backup assist system with predictive hitch angle functionality

Methods and systems for adjusting vehicle operation in response to vehicle weight are described. In one example, an adaptive driver demand correction is adjusted in response to vehicle weight. The methods and systems may provide for more consistent powertrain response and lower vehicle emissions at lower vehicle weights.

System and method for improving vehicle performance

No numbers found in figures. An example vehicular shock absorbing apparatus includes a shock absorber, a hydraulic mount operatively coupled with the shock absorber, a first decoupler movably disposed in a first portion of the hydraulic mount, and a second decoupler movably disposed in a second portion of the hydraulic mount.

Vehicular vibration isolation system and apparatus

A hitch assist system and method are provided herein. A device is configured to detect a hitch coupler of a trailer and a controller is in communication with the device. The controller is configured to generate a boundary area projecting from the hitch coupler, define a vehicle backup path toward the trailer if a tow hitch of the vehicle is located inside the boundary area, and determine a steering angle for steering the vehicle along the vehicle backup path.

Hitch assist system and method

Method and apparatus are disclosed for autonomous parking of vehicles in perpendicular parking spots. An example vehicle includes a front corner, a camera, and an autonomous vehicle parker. The autonomous vehicle parker is to detect, via the camera, a perpendicular parking spot and an outer boundary of the perpendicular parking spot, determine a linear parking path located within the perpendicular parking spot and based on the outer boundary, and autonomously turn into the perpendicular parking spot such that the front corner travels along the linear parking path.

Autonomous parking of vehicles inperpendicular parking spots

A hitch assist system and method are provided herein. An imager captures one or more images of a trailer having a hitch coupler. A user-input device is provided for specifying a location of the hitch coupler in the one or more captured images. A controller generates an image patch around the user-specified location, segments the image patch to identify the hitch coupler, and estimates a trailer height based on a height and projective geometry of the imager.

Hitch assist system with hitch coupler identification feature and hitch coupler height estimation

A hydraulic mount for a vehicle shock absorber includes a first housing portion, a second housing portion, an orifice plate and a diaphragm connected together to define a first chamber and a second chamber in the hydraulic mount. A first resilient member disposed on the orifice plate defines a first sub-chamber in the first chamber and a second resilient member disposed on the orifice plate defines a second sub-chamber in the second chamber.

Vehicular vibration isolation apparatus

Systems and method for assigning vehicle suspension dynamics are disclosed. Control signals that correspond to a current driving dynamic of a suspension system of a vehicle are generated. A vehicle state associated with the generated control signals is computed and a non-traditional suspension mode is selected. Based on the computed vehicle state and the selected suspension mode, a suspension height of the vehicle is adjusted.

Systems and methods for vehicle dynamics assignment

A vehicle having a drivetrain is controlled based on a difference between a torque transmitted by the drivetrain when the vehicle has constant non-zero speed and the torque transmitted by the drivetrain when the vehicle is accelerating. The drivetrain torque may be measured by a drivetrain torque sensor. The effective vehicle mass is computed from the torque difference. The computed mass of the vehicle is used to adjust the activation of a collision warning system or a collision avoidance system. A method of operating a vehicle where the activation of a collision avoidance system is adjusted based on a difference between a torque transmitted by a drivetrain when the vehicle has constant non-zero speed and the torque transmitted by the drivetrain when the vehicle is accelerating is disclosed. The torque difference is used to compute a vehicle mass that is used to adjust a collision warning distance.

Vehicle mass computation

A method of controlling a vehicle active suspension system may include, in response to an object being detected forward of the vehicle and a vehicle speed exceeding a threshold, identifying an object classification associated with the object. The method may further include actuating the active suspension system to induce a vibration signature in the vehicle based on the object classification such that a different identified object classification corresponds to a different vibration signature.

Method of controlling a vehicle active suspension system

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Canton, MI, United States of America

Eric Hongtei Tseng