Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Luke Niewiadomski

Roger Arnold Trombley

Li Xu

Seyed Armin Raeis Hosseiny

Chen Zhang

Bo Bao

Douglas J Rogan

Kyle Simmons

Nikhil Nagraj Rao

Arnav Sharma

Erick Michael Lavoie

Bruno Sielly Jales Costa

Hamid M Golgiri

Shannon Brooks-Lehnert

Katherine Rouen

Lihui Chen

Kenneth Michael Mayer

Donald Jacob Mattern

Clay Cundiff

Vidya Nariyambut Murali

George Edmund Walley

Yu Ling

Eric Hongtei Tseng

Peter Ling

Benjamin Dion

Thomas Edward Pilutti

Steven Wayne Friedlander

Eric L Reed

Theresa Lin

Alexander Lee Hunton

Frederic Christen

Yi Zhang

Andrew D Niedert

Joseph F Stanek

Elliott Pearson

Joshua Rajasingh

Hemanth Yadav Aradhyula

Douglas Blue

Dongran Liu

Siyuan Ma

Chenhao Ma

Jacek Brauner

Robert Bell

Rudi Todd Ansbacher

John Michael Celli

Jens Kotte

Jiawei Liu

Gangarjun Veeramurthy

Robert D Klosek

Yangho Kim

Mohamed El-sawah

Aleksey Shepelev

Lucian K M Lippok

Rick Haubenstricker

Richard Campbell

Mark Bowers

Phillip Curtiss Couture

Steven Ivanics

Mark Allen Lippman

Christoph Kessler

Frank Golub

Craig Schmatz

Austin Moore

Anton L Rogness, Ii

A vehicle hitching assistance system includes a controller executing an initial alignment process including searching for a trailer within a specified area of image data that is less than a total field of the image data in directions corresponding with both a longitudinal distance between the vehicle and the trailer and a lateral direction perpendicular to the longitudinal distance, presenting an indication to a driver of the vehicle to reposition the vehicle when the trailer is not identified within the specified area, and removing the indication when the trailer is identified within the specified area. The controller further executes an automated backing process upon identifying the trailer within the specified area, including identifying a coupler of the trailer and outputting a steering signal to the vehicle to cause the vehicle to steer to align a hitch ball of the vehicle with the coupler of the trailer during reversing.

Application of auxiliary lighting in automatic hitch operation

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 system for assisting in aligning a vehicle for hitching with a trailer includes a controller that identifies at least one of the trailer or a coupling feature of the trailer within image data and determines that the at least one of the trailer or the coupling feature is outside of a target position area relative to the vehicle and outputs an instruction for movement of the vehicle determined to position the one of the trailer or the coupling feature within the target position area in response to identifying at least one indication of a user difficulty in positioning the one of the trailer or the coupling feature within the target position area.

Trailer hitching assistance system including trailer type identification and adaptive interface

For a vehicle at a first location, a blind zone is defined that is outside fields of view of available vehicle sensors. A path is determined that avoids the blind zone and moves the vehicle away from the first location. The path includes a straight portion having a first end at the first location, and a turning portion starting at a second end of the straight portion. The straight portion is defined such that, at the second end of the straight portion, the fields of view encompass the blind zone. The vehicle is determined to operate along the turning portion based on obtaining sensor data from the blind zone upon reaching the end of the straight portion.

Vehicle operation along planned path

Portion of a display screen with transitional graphical user interface

While an autonomous mode is activated, a vehicle is operated based on operating parameters for the autonomous mode. The operating parameters include at least one of a vehicle speed or a following distance. Upon detecting a user input to control vehicle operation, vehicle operation is transitioned to a nonautonomous mode, and a count of a number of received user inputs to control vehicle operation is incremented. Upon determining that the count of received of user inputs to control vehicle operation is greater than a threshold, the operating parameters for the autonomous mode are updated. Then, upon determining to transition from the nonautonomous mode to the autonomous mode, the vehicle is operated based on the updated operating parameters.

Vehicle autonomous mode operating parameters

A hitching assistance system for a vehicle includes a steering system including a vehicle steering wheel and a controller executing an automated hitching maneuver including controlling the steering system to back the vehicle toward a trailer, monitoring the hitching assistance system for an interruption event affecting execution of the automated hitching maneuver, detecting the interruption event and identifying the interruption event as one of a standard interruption event or an exception interruption event, upon identifying the standard interruption event, causing the steering wheel to move to a centered position and ceasing control of the steering system, and upon identifying the exception interruption event, ceasing control of the steering system without causing the steering wheel to move to the centered position.

Assisted hitching system with handoff process for interrupted operation

Display screen with graphical user interface

While operating a host vehicle in an area, a target vehicle is identified in a sub-area based on detecting a visual cue from the target vehicle. A future location of the target vehicle is predicted to intersect a path of the host vehicle. A stop position of the host vehicle is determined based on the future location of the target vehicle. At least one of the target vehicle is determined to have moved or the path of the host vehicle is updated. Then, the host vehicle is operated to the stop position or along the updated path.

Vehicle control system

A computer includes a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to actuate movement of a vehicle at a first speed, identify a potentially available parking space in a vehicle direction of travel based on data received from at least one camera, then reduce a speed of the vehicle to a second speed that is less than the first speed while receiving data from at least one proximity sensor about the parking space, and actuate movement of the vehicle to a parking position in the parking space upon determining that the parking space is available based on the data from the at least one proximity sensor.

Vehicle parking control

A hitch assist system for a vehicle comprises an imaging system that receives image data of a hitch ball and trailer coupler, and a controller. The controller estimates a distance between a point on each of the hitch ball and trailer coupler. The points are parallel to a plane defined by a surface beneath the hitch ball and trailer coupler. The controller tracks the distance with a pixel-domain comparison between each of the points responsive to the distance being less than a first threshold, and maneuvers, via steering and braking systems, the vehicle along a path such that the distance is indicative of the points being coaxial.

Prevention of trailer coupler tracking jump during hitch assist operation

The disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for directing a parked autonomous vehicle to travel autonomously from a parking spot to a pickup spot. In one example scenario, a user of a user device such as a smartphone, may launch a software application in the smartphone for summoning the autonomous vehicle that is parked in a parking lot or a road, for example. The software application displays a graphical rendering of the parking area together with an icon that can be dragged and dropped by the user at any convenient pickup spot in a valid drivable area shown on the graphical rendering. The user places the icon upon a desired pickup spot and the smartphone transmits a command to the autonomous vehicle to travel to the pickup spot. A real-time representation of a progress of the autonomous vehicle towards the pickup spot may be displayed on the user device.

Systems and methods for directing a parked vehicle to travel from a first parking spot to a second parking spot

A system for assisting in aligning a vehicle for hitching with a trailer includes a steering system that adjusts a steering angle of the vehicle, a braking system that adjusts a speed of the vehicle, an imaging system that receives image data of a trailer disposed in an area proximate the vehicle, and a controller. The controller detects, within a threshold distance defined from a stationary point on the vehicle and the trailer, a position of a coupler from the image data, and, responsive to the position being less than the threshold distance, a status of the trailer based on the image data being indicative of a position of a hitch ball relative to the coupler within a second threshold. The controller maneuvers, via the steering and braking systems, the vehicle based on the status.

Differentiating between near trailer and connected trailer

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Dearborn, MI, United States of America

Luke Niewiadomski