US-12617429-B2 - Road surface contact avoidance system

US12617429B2US 12617429 B2US12617429 B2US 12617429B2US-12617429-B2

Abstract

A road surface contact avoidance system includes a server apparatus and vehicles communicably coupled to the server apparatus via a network. The vehicles each include a road surface contact detector detecting contact between a bottom portion of a corresponding one of the vehicles and a road surface, a contact information transmitter transmitting contact information to the server apparatus, a contact determiner determining whether a possibility of the contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface is high based on vehicle information on the corresponding vehicle and vehicle information on another of the vehicles on which the contact has been detected, and a control processor performing control to avoid an occurrence of the contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface when the contact determiner determines that the possibility of the contact is high.

Inventors

Hideaki Kato

Assignees

Subaru Corporation

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240613
Priority Date: 20230628

Claims (15)

1 . A road surface contact avoidance system comprising: a server apparatus; and vehicles communicably coupled to the server apparatus via a network, wherein each of the vehicles comprises: a position information obtainer configured to acquire first position information indicating a first position of a corresponding vehicle of the vehicles; a road surface contact detector configured to detect contact between a bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and a road surface; a contact information generator configured to generate first contact information including (i) the first position information indicating the first position of the corresponding vehicle at a time of the contact and (ii) first vehicle information indicating one or both of (a) a first length that is an overall length of the corresponding vehicle and (b) a first height that is a lowest ground level of the corresponding vehicle; a communicator configured to: transmit the first contact information to the server apparatus; and receive, from the server apparatus, second contact information including (i) second position information indicating a second position of another vehicle of the vehicles and (ii) second vehicle information indicating one or both of a second length and a second height of the another vehicle; a display; a contact determiner configured to determine, based on the first vehicle information and the second vehicle information, whether there is a possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface at the second position; and a control processor configured, in response to determining that there is the possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface at the second position, to; perform control adapted to avoid an occurrence of the contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface at the second position; generate a control signal to cause the display to display information corresponding to the second position; and output the generated control signal to the display, and the server apparatus comprises: a storage configured to store the first contact information received from the communicator of each of the vehicles; and an information transmitter configured to transmit the first contact information stored in the storage to the vehicles.
2 . The road surface contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicles comprise a first vehicle and a second vehicle, the communicator of each of the vehicles is configured to transmit current position information indicating a current position of the corresponding vehicle to the server apparatus, and the information transmitter is configured to send, to the first vehicle, the first contact information on the second vehicle detected within a predetermined range from the current position information received from the first vehicle out of the first contact information stored in the storage.
3 . The road surface contact avoidance system according to claim 2 , wherein the control processor is configured to, in response to determining that there is a possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface at the second position, notify an occupant of the corresponding vehicle of the second position.
4 . The road surface contact avoidance system according to claim 2 , wherein the vehicles each comprise; a navigator configured to calculate a guidance route from a current position to a destination, display the guidance route, and perform route guidance along the guidance route, and a route determiner configured to determine whether the second position is on the guidance route calculated by the navigator; and the control processor is configured to send the navigator an instruction to calculate another guidance route to the destination that avoids the second position when: the contact determiner determines that there is a possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface at the second position; and the route determiner determines that the second position is on the guidance route calculated by the navigator.
5 . A road surface contact avoidance system comprising: a server apparatus; and vehicles communicably coupled to the server apparatus via a network, wherein each of the vehicles comprises: a display; one or more processors; and one or more memories communicably coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more processors are configured to: acquire first position information indicating a first position of a corresponding vehicle of the vehicles; detect contact between a bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and a road surface; generate first contact information including (i) the first position information indicating the first position of the corresponding vehicle at a time of the contact and (ii) first vehicle information indicating one or both of (a) a first length that is an overall length of the corresponding vehicle and (b) a first height that is a lowest ground level of the corresponding vehicle; transmit the first contact information to the server apparatus; receive, from the server apparatus, second contact information including (i) second position information indicating a second position of another vehicle of the vehicles and (ii) second vehicle information indicating one or both of a second length and a second height of the another vehicle; determine, based on the first vehicle information and the second vehicle information, whether there is a possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface at the second position; in response to determining that there is the possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface at the second position, (i) perform control adapted to avoid an occurrence of the contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface at the second position, (ii) generate a control signal to cause the display to display information corresponding to the second position; and (iii) output the generated control signal to the display, and the server apparatus comprises: a storage configured to store the first contact information received from the one or more processors of each of the vehicles; and a processor configured to transmit the first contact information stored in the storage to the vehicles.
6 . A vehicle comprising: a communicator configured to communicate with a server apparatus; an impact sensor disposed in a bottom portion of the vehicle; a GPS receiver; a display; and a first circuitry configured to: store first vehicle information indicating one or both of (i) a first length that is an overall length of the vehicle and (ii) a first height that is a lowest ground level of the vehicle; determine, based on a signal received from the impact sensor, whether an output of the impact sensor is greater than a predetermined threshold value; generate, based on a signal received from the GPS receiver, first position information indicating a first position of the vehicle at a time when a value of the output of the impact sensor is determined to be greater than the predetermined threshold value; in response to generating of the first position information, transmit first contact information to the server apparatus via the communicator, the first contact information including the first position information and the first vehicle information; periodically generate current position information indicating a latest position of the vehicle based on the signal received from the GPS receiver; in response to generating of the current position information, transmit the current position information to the server apparatus via the communicator; receive second contact information from the server apparatus via the communicator, the second contact information including (i) second position information indicating a second position and (ii) second vehicle information indicating one or both of a second length and a second height; in response to receiving of the second contact information, determine, based on the first vehicle information and the second vehicle information, whether there is a possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the vehicle and a road surface at the second position; in response to determining that there is the possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the vehicle and the road surface at the second position, perform control adapted to avoid an occurrence of the contact between the bottom portion of the vehicle and the road surface at the second position, and generate a control signal to cause the display to display information corresponding to the second position; and output the generated control signal to the display.
7 . The vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the first vehicle information indicates the first length, wherein the second vehicle information indicates the second length, and wherein the first circuitry is further configured to: in response to the second contact information, determine whether the first length is greater than the second length; and in response to determining that the first length is greater than the second length, determine that there is the possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the vehicle and the road surface at the second position.
8 . The vehicle according to claim 7 , wherein the information corresponding to the second position includes information for notifying an occupant of the vehicle of the second position.
9 . The vehicle according to claim 7 , wherein the information corresponding to the second position includes information indicating a route from the latest position indicated by the current position information to a predetermined destination without passing through the second position.
10 . The vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the first vehicle information indicates the first height, wherein the second vehicle information indicates the second height, and wherein the first circuitry is further configured to: in response to receiving the second contact information, determine whether the first height is less than the second height; and in response to determining that the first height is less than the second height, determine that there is the possibility of contact between the bottom portion of the vehicle and the road surface at the second position.
11 . The vehicle according to claim 10 , wherein the information corresponding to the second position includes information for notifying an occupant of the vehicle of the second position.
12 . The vehicle according to claim 10 , wherein the information corresponding to the second position includes information indicating a route from the latest position indicated by the current position information to a predetermined destination without passing through the second position.
13 . The vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the information corresponding to the second position includes information for notifying an occupant of the vehicle of the second position.
14 . The vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the information corresponding to the second position includes information indicating a route from the latest position indicated by the current position information to a predetermined destination without passing through the second position.
15 . A server apparatus comprising: a second communicator configured to communicate with the vehicle according to claim 6 ; and a second circuitry configured to: receive the first contact information from the vehicle via the second communicator; store the received first contact information; receive the current position information from the vehicle via the second communicator; and in response to receiving the current position information from the vehicle, transmit, as the second contact information, the stored first contact information including first position information indicating a first position within a predetermined distance from a position indicated by the received current position information.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-106526 filed on Jun. 28, 2023, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. BACKGROUND The disclosure relates to a road surface contact avoidance system. An electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle provided with an accumulator battery that is chargeable by an external power source has recently become popular from the viewpoint of environmental protection. In general, an accumulator battery mounted on a vehicle has low resistance to impact or external stress. For example, a large impact applied to the accumulator battery can cause short circuiting or the like inside the accumulator battery, which can result in the generation of smoke, fire, or the like in some cases. It is therefore necessary for an electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle to avoid the occurrence of contact between a road surface and a bottom portion of the vehicle on which the accumulator battery is installed. As an example of a technique to avoid the occurrence of the contact, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2007-213143 discloses a technique to determine whether the bottom portion of the vehicle will come into contact with the road surface by analyzing data on the shape of the road surface acquired from an image of the road surface captured by another vehicle. SUMMARY An aspect of the disclosure provides a road surface contact avoidance system including a server apparatus and vehicles. The vehicles are communicably coupled to the server apparatus via a network. The vehicles each include a position information obtainer, a road surface contact detector, a contact information generator, a contact information transmitter, a contact determiner, and a control processor. The position information obtainer is configured to acquire position information on a corresponding one of the vehicles. The road surface contact detector is configured to detect contact between a bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and a road surface. The contact information generator is configured to generate contact information in which position information on a location of the contact is associated with vehicle information on the corresponding vehicle. The contact information transmitter is configured to transmit the contact information to the server apparatus. The contact determiner is configured to determine whether a possibility of the contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface is high based on the vehicle information on the corresponding vehicle and vehicle information on another of the vehicles on which the contact has been detected. The vehicle information on the other vehicle is included in the contact information received from the server apparatus. The control processor is configured to perform control adapted to avoid an occurrence of the contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface when the contact determiner determines that the possibility of the contact is high. The server apparatus includes a storage and an information transmitter. The storage is configured to store the contact information received from the contact information transmitter of each of the vehicles. The information transmitter is configured to transmit the contact information stored in the storage to the vehicles. An aspect of the disclosure provides a road surface contact avoidance system including a server apparatus and vehicles. The vehicles are communicably coupled to the server apparatus via a network. The vehicles each include one or more processors and one or more memories communicably coupled to the one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to acquire position information on a corresponding one of the vehicles, detect contact between a bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and a road surface, generate contact information in which position information on a location of the contact is associated with vehicle information on the corresponding vehicle, transmit the contact information to the server apparatus, determine whether a possibility of the contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface is high based on the vehicle information on the corresponding vehicle and vehicle information on another of the vehicles on which the contact has been detected, the vehicle information on the other vehicle being included in the contact information received from the server apparatus, and perform control adapted to avoid an occurrence of the contact between the bottom portion of the corresponding vehicle and the road surface when the possibility of the contact is determined to be high. The server apparatus includes a storage and a processor. The storage is configured to store the contact information received from the one or more processors of each of the vehicles. The processor