Zf Friedrichshafen Ag

Zf Marine Propulsion Systems Miramar, LLC

Lars Hoffmann

Stefan Traub

Andrew Orvieto

Gabriela Jager

A navigational system and method for guiding a boat onto a trailer, which comprises at least one marker mounted on the trailer; a camera located on the boat to assist the system with determining a longitudinal axis of the boat, and generating images of at least a front area of the boat and the at least one marker; an image processing unit for 1) receiving and processing the images to determine the at least one marker, 2) estimating the longitudinal axis of the trailer, 3) generating a desired boat trajectory for aligning the longitudinal axis of the boat with the longitudinal axis of the trailer; and 4) periodically generating guidance output commands to the user to assist the user with following the desired boat trajectory and facilitate loading of the boat on the trailer; and an image display for sequentially displaying the generated images of the camera to a user.

Camera based boat loading assistant

A navigational system for guiding a boat onto a trailer comprising at least a portion of a tow vehicle which forms a natural marker for the navigation system. A camera is located on the boat to assist the navigational system with aligning a longitudinal axis of the boat with a longitudinal axis of the trailer. A central vertical (mid) axis of the camera is aligned with the longitudinal axis of the boat. An image processing unit receives and processes images from the camera. The image processing unit, based upon a determination of a position of the central vertical (mid) axis of the camera relative to a target area of the detected natural marker, generating guidance commands to assist a user with alignment of the longitudinal axis of the boat with the longitudinal axis of the trailer and thereby facilitate proper loading of the boat onto the trailer.

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Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States of America

Lars Hoffmann