FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to providing predicted vehicle incident warnings and/or evasive maneuvering and, more particularly, to outputting warnings and/or conducting a vehicle evasive maneuver based on the likelihood that a vehicle incident is predicted to occur.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally, driver assistance systems have been used in vehicles to warn and assist drivers based on a presently-existing state or condition, such as through the use of lane departure warning systems, distance following systems, parking assistance systems and the like. However, such prior art systems are limited in that they are solely reactive to a then-present state or condition, and therefore do not provide the driver with an advanced opportunity to be proactive in avoiding a possible future incident.

For example, one system that is solely reacting to a present state is a lane departure warning system that uses the “Time to Line Crossing” measure. This measure works by measuring the lateral velocity of a vehicle relative to the lane marking, calculating how much time is left until the line is reached (=distance remaining/lateral velocity), and warning when this time is smaller than some value (e.g., 0.5 seconds).

Another example is “brain to vehicle” technology in which a driver's brainwaves are monitored such that a vehicle is able to react between 0.2 and 0.5 seconds sooner than without such monitoring. Moreover, an electrical contact with the scalp is required for this brainwave measurement, which is a disadvantage. A typical time headway for both the lane department warning (LDW) and brain driven technologies is ˜0.5 seconds.

In contrast, one aspect of the invention is to provide a much larger amount of time (e.g., multiple seconds to multiple minutes) to warn or assist the driver prior to the occurrence of an incident.

As such, there is a need in the art for a system and method for providing predicted incident warning and evasion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment of the invention, an in-vehicle data collection and processing device is configured to provide predicted incident warning and evasion. The device includes at least one of a plurality of sensors and a signal interface to the plurality of sensors, and a memory configured to store a plurality of instructions and a pre-trained pattern recognition algorithm. A processor, which is coupled to the plurality of sensors via the signal interface and to the memory, is configured to execute the plurality of instructions to receive real-time data from the plurality of sensors relating to at least one of a current vehicle condition and a current driver condition. The processor is also configured to execute the plurality of instructions to predict, by processing at least a portion of the real-time data through the pre-trained pattern recognition algorithm (or analogous method), a likelihood of occurrence of at least one of a plurality of incidents involving the vehicle, output a first warning type if the likelihood is predicted to be above a first threshold but not above a second threshold, and output a second warning type and/or conducting a vehicle evasive maneuver if the likelihood is predicted to be above the second threshold.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

