Daimler Chrysler Ag

Harald Kroeger

Markus Hartlieb

Heinz-Werner Spaude

Michael Friederich

In a method for preventing a collision of a vehicle with an obstacle located on its front (such as preferably another vehicle traveling in front of the vehicle), the headway between the vehicle and the obstacle and the difference in speeds of the vehicle and of the obstacle (relative speed) and also the speed and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle are detected and a collision message and/or a braking operation is triggered as a function thereof. The driver's activity, the state of the road, the loading state and the degree of overlap of the vehicle relative to the obstacle are detected, and from this information, a first headway (D_brake) between the vehicle and the obstacle is calculated, which is the least necessary to avoid a collision of a vehicle with the obstacle by steering the vehicle past the obstacle. In addition, a second headway (D_steer) is calculated, which is the least necessary to avoid a collision by steering the vehicle past the obstacle. Automatic braking is initiated only when the detected headway is smaller than both the first and second calculated headway values, and when the degree of overlap

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Stuttgart, Germany

Harald Kroeger