TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to vehicle displays and, more specifically, to vehicle-rendering generation for vehicle display based on short-range communication.

BACKGROUND

Oftentimes, vehicles include a plurality of cameras that capture images of a surrounding area. In some instances, vehicle cameras capture images of a surrounding area to facilitate control (e.g., manual, autonomous, and/or semi-autonomous control) of motive functions of a vehicle. For instance, vehicle cameras may facilitate a vehicle in performing autonomous and/or semi-autonomous motive functions, such as adaptive cruise control, lane-assist blind-spot detection, etc. Some vehicles include a display that presents images captured by a vehicle camera to a vehicle operator. For instance, images captured by a rearview camera may be presented when the vehicle is in reverse. Further, in some instances, images captured by a plurality of cameras of a vehicle are stitched together to form a rendering of a surrounding area that is presented to an operator via a display. In such instances, a predefined rendering of the vehicle is overlaid onto the stitched-together rendering of the surrounding area.

SUMMARY

The appended claims define this application. The present disclosure summarizes aspects of the embodiments and should not be used to limit the claims. Other implementations are contemplated in accordance with the techniques described herein, as will be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description, and these implementations are intended to be within the scope of this application.

Example embodiments are shown for vehicle-rendering generation for vehicle display based on short-range communication. An example disclosed vehicle includes a communication module configured to wirelessly communicate with remote sensing devices, a display configured to present a vehicle rendering of the vehicle, and a controller. The controller is configured to, in response to detecting an activation event, collect sensing data via the communication module. The controller also is configured to determine whether an object is coupled to the vehicle based on the sensing data and, in response to detecting an object coupled to the vehicle, modify the vehicle rendering to include an object rendering of the object.

In some examples, the communication module is a dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) module. In some examples, the communication module is configured to collect the sensing data via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. In some examples, the communication module is configured to collect the sensing data via vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. In some examples, the sensing data collected via the communication module includes an image captured by a camera. In some examples, in response to detecting the activation event, the controller is configured to cause the communication module to transmit a request for the sensing data.

In some examples, the display is configured to present at least one of a bird's-eye, a side view, and an isometric view of the vehicle rendering.

In some examples, the activation event includes activation of at least one of an engine and a motor of the vehicle. Some examples further include a camera. In such examples, the activation event includes activation of the camera. In some such examples, the display is a touchscreen and the controller activates the camera in response to receiving a request via the touchscreen. In some such examples, the camera is a rearview camera and the controller activates the rearview camera in response to detecting that a transmission of the vehicle is in reverse. In some examples, the activation event includes a passive-entry passive-start (PEPS) event. Some examples further include an autonomy unit configured for park-assist. In such examples, the activation event includes a park-assist event.

In some examples, the controller is configured to fuse the sensing data collected from a plurality of remote sensing devices and determine whether an object is coupled to the vehicle based on the fused sensing data. In some examples, the controller configured to detect a lighting condition based on the sensing data and modify the vehicle rendering based on the lighting condition. In some examples, communication between the communication module and a remote sensing device includes location data. In such examples, the controller is configured to identify a location of the vehicle within the sensing data based on the location data.

In some examples, the object rendering includes a three-dimensional rendering and the controller is configured to generate the object rendering utilizing the sensing data. Some examples further include an onboard database of renderings. In such examples, the controller is configured to retrieve the object rendering from the onboard database upon identifying the object based on the sensing data. Some such examples further include a second communication module configured to communicate with a remote server. In such examples, the controller is configured to retrieve the object rendering from the remote server via the second communication module in response to determining that the onboard database does not include the object rendering.

Another example disclosed method for a vehicle includes detecting, via a processor, an activation event. The example disclosed method also includes, in response to detecting the activation event, generating a vehicle rendering of the vehicle and collecting sensing data from one or more remote sensing devices via a communication module. The example disclosed method also includes determining, via the processor, whether an object is coupled to the vehicle based on the sensing data and, in response to detecting an object coupled to the vehicle, modifying the vehicle rendering to include an object rendering of the object. The example disclosed method also includes presenting the vehicle rendering via a display of the vehicle.

