Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Saijian Li

Nicholas Earl Merkel

Tomoaki Iida

Jose David Hernandez Cardenas

One embodiment of a trailer hitch assist system analyzes image data from a vehicle camera to detect a reference object on the ground in a first location and stores a first position, within the camera's field of view, of the reference object. The first location is directly beneath the hitch ball of the vehicle. The system analyzes additional image data to detect the reference object on the ground in a second location and stores a second position, within the camera's field of view, of the reference object. The second location is directly beneath the trailer coupler of a trailer. The system calculates a spatial relationship between the first and second locations based on the stored first and second positions and camera parameters. Based on the calculated spatial relationship, the vehicle backs autonomously to align the hitch ball and trailer coupler to permit the trailer to be hitched to the vehicle.

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Bethesda, MD, United States of America

Saijian Li