Daimler-benz Ag

Siegfried Reiniger

Wolfgang Lauer

Hans Spies

Horst Laucht

Martin Spies

Hans Albrecht

Horst Hahn

A method for displaying the impending danger due to speed associated with the driving situation of a vehicle and a display appliance for carrying out the method are described. In accordance with the method, a degree of danger is defined and calculated and displayed to the driver of a vehicle and, in fact, independently of whether the vehicle, as following vehicle, is driving too close to a vehicle in front or other obstacle (distance problem) or is driving too fast in fog (visual range problem). The signals necessary for this purpose are obtained from vehicle environment sensors, for example from a distance warning radar or distance recording radar and an infrared visual range measuring system, and are analyzed, together with vehicle condition signals, by a safety computer. On the basis of its specific programming, this computer determines and/or decides, for the respective current driving condition, which of the two degrees of danger is instantaneously predominant and indicates the condition which is respectively more critical to safety on a display. The display, as an indicating appliance, is produced in such a way that it makes it possible to recognize, in symbolic proportion, both the degree of difference between the instantaneous speed and the speed which is currently still safe and the current measure of the danger or freedom from danger in the manner of an analog display which reproduces trends.

Method and apparatus for displaying the impending danger due to speed

The device for visibility measurement is designed primarily for use in motor vehicles. A light emitter is arranged inside the driver's compartment preferably on the rear view mirror in front of the windshield. The light emitter generates light pulses or flashes radiating through the windshield. The light scattered back due to soiling on the inside and outside of the windshield or in scatter zones, formed by fog or smoke or the like, in front of the windshield, impinges a light sensor, preferably likewise arranged on the rear view mirror inside the driver's compartment. By utilizing light pulses of various wavelengths and processing of the output signals of the light sensor in predetermined or predeterminable time windows or intervals, not only the respective visibility but also the type of viewing impairment can be determined.

Device for visibility measurement for a motor vehicle

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Munich, Georgia

Siegfried Reiniger