TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to vehicle safely features.

BACKGROUND

Vehicle safety technology is used to improve the safety of vehicles. Vehicle safety technology may include passive safety measures, such as seat belts and disc brakes. Vehicle safety technology may include active safety measures, such as airbags and anti-lock brakes that are triggered in response to a particular input. Sensor-based vehicle safety technology may receive video images or other sensor input and a provide corrective vehicle control, such as in automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems and automated driver assistance systems (ADAS). Improvements in vehicle safety technology provide increasing levels of safety, but also require additional technological complexity to implement and maintain. What is needed is an improved solution for implementing and maintaining vehicle safety technology.

SUMMARY

Various sensors may be used for vehicle safety technology, such as cameras for lane assist or emergency braking. Following installation of these sensors during the manufacturing of a vehicle, the sensor-based vehicle safety technology undergoes a rigorous calibration to ensure the sensors and vehicle safety systems are operating as intended. However, the performance of the sensors may be reduced over the life of the vehicle. For example, a vehicle safety sensor may become misaligned while performing maintenance of the vehicle. This is particularly true when performing safety sensor repair or replacement following a vehicle collision. Even if the safety sensor itself is not repaired or replaced, each safety sensor that is affected by vehicle maintenance or repair must be identified and recalibrated. Additionally, different combinations of safety sensors may be used on each vehicle, further increasing the complexity and costs associated with identification and recalibration of each sensor.

The present subject matter provides various technical solutions to technical problems facing sensor-based vehicle safety technology. To address problems facing identification of safety features (e.g., safely sensors) for a particular vehicle, a vehicle safety sensor identification system may be used to identify a vehicle and the safety features, safety systems, and safety sensors that are installed on that vehicle. This vehicle sensor identification system may use a combination of sensor data available from the vehicle itself, general information (e.g., vehicle make, year, model), and vehicle-specific information from the manufacturer or original seller of that individual vehicle (e.g., sensors listed on the vehicle build sheet). To address problems facing identification of which sensors require maintenance, a vehicle sensor maintenance system may be used to identify vehicle safety features based on information received about one or more vehicle repairs, such as structural repairs following a vehicle collision. The vehicle sensor maintenance system may use image data or other inputs to identify a vehicle repair area, identify other vehicle components that must be removed or adjusted to complete the vehicle repair, and identify all vehicle safety features that will need to be repaired, replaced, or recalibrated. The list of vehicle safety features may include a combination of safety features that are generic to all vehicles of a given make and model, along with safety features that are specific to the individual vehicle.

