Judgment line calculations for a vehicle safety system

Abstract

A vehicle has a safety system including at least one object sensor to detect a distance from an object in a path of the vehicle and the speed and acceleration of the object. The sensor data is input into a control to determine a desired braking judgment line and a steering judgment line between the vehicle and the object. The safety system then compares the vehicle and object acceleration. Following, the safety system calculates a judgment line between the object and the vehicle based upon equations for the determined scenario. The judgment line is then used to determine a warning distance and warn a vehicle operator.

1 . A safety system for a vehicle comprising:
 at least one object sensor configured to detect a distance from an object in a path of the vehicle and the speed and acceleration of the object;   at least one vehicle sensor configured to determine a speed and acceleration of the vehicle; and   a control to determine a first amount of time until the vehicle must begin braking to avoid contact with the object and a second amount of time until the vehicle must begin steering to avoid contact with the object, wherein the first amount of time and the second amount of time are based on the detected distance, the speed and acceleration of the object and the speed and acceleration of the vehicle.   
     
     
         2 . The safety system of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one vehicle sensor is a speedometer. 
     
     
         3 . The safety system of  claim 1 , wherein the first amount of time and the second amount of time are based upon a predetermined distance between the vehicle and the object when the braking and the steering are complete. 
     
     
         4 . The safety system of  claim 3 , wherein the first amount of time is based on a braking judgment line and the second amount of time is based on a steering judgment line. 
     
     
         5 . The safety system of  claim 1 , wherein the first amount of time and the second amount of time are each based on the vehicle speed and acceleration and the object speed and acceleration. 
     
     
         6 . The safety system of  claim 1 , at least one device configured to emit a warning signal for at least one of the first amount of time and the second amount of time. 
     
     
         7 . The safety system of  claim 6 , wherein the warning signal for the first amount of time is a different than the warning signal for the second amount of time. 
     
     
         8 . The safety system of  claim 6 , wherein the warning signal is one of a visual signal, an audio signal, and a combination thereof.