Method and apparatus for activating a crash countermeasure in response to the road condition

Abstract

A system for sensing a potential collision of a first vehicle ( ) with a second vehicle ( ) that transmits a second position signal. The first vehicle has a pre-crash sensing system ( ) includes a memory ( ) that stores vehicle data and generates a vehicle data signal. A first global positioning system ( ) generates a first position signal corresponding to a position of the first vehicle. A first sensor ( ) generating sensor data signals from the first vehicle. A receiver ( ) receives a second position signal and a road condition signal from the second vehicle. A countermeasure system ( ) is also coupled within the first vehicle. A controller ( ) is coupled to the memory ( ), the global positioning receiver ( ) the first sensor ( ) and the counter measure system ( ). The controller ( ) determines a distance to the second vehicle in as a function of the second position signal. The controller determines a first vehicle trajectory from the sensor data signals and the position signal. The controller ( ) determines a threat level as a function of the distance, the first vehicle trajectory and the road condition signal and activates the counter-measure system in response to the threat level.