Method and apparatus for avoiding or mitigating vehicle collisions

1. A method for operating a collision avoidance or mitigation system of a vehicle, said method comprising:

detecting an existing driving space between the vehicle and a potential collision object;

activating at least one of a first warning function and an information function when a first threshold value is reached; and

activating a system intervention with autonomous partial braking combined with at least one further safety measure when a second threshold value is reached;

wherein, said partial braking is a braking that is limited such that a resulting deceleration does not exceed a predetermined maximum value,

wherein said partial braking is limited to a deceleration value that is less than a deceleration that is necessary to avoid a collision.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said further safety measure comprises carrying out a passenger fastening.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the partial braking is carried out with a braking acceleration which is limited to a maximum of 90% of a deceleration required for collision avoidance.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the braking acceleration of the partial braking is limited to a maximum limit, which is predetermined dependent upon speed.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:

the system intervention comprises at least one of braking intervention and autonomous steering intervention; and

said at least one of autonomous braking intervention and autonomous steering intervention is deactivated on demand by a vehicle driver.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the system intervention is deactivated by an emergency braking triggered by the vehicle driver.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a threshold value calculated from brake pedal travel and brake pedal speed is determined for the deactivation of the system intervention.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the system intervention is deactivated by an acceleration triggered by the vehicle driver.

9. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the system intervention is deactivated by high steering dynamics of the vehicle driver.

10. A method for operating a collision avoidance or mitigation system of a vehicle, said method comprising:

detecting an existing driving space between the vehicle and a potential collision object;

activating at least one of a first warning function and an information function when a first threshold value is reached; and

activating a system intervention with autonomous partial braking combined with at least one further safety measure when a second threshold value is reached;

wherein, said partial braking is a braking that is limited such that a resulting deceleration does not exceed a predetermined maximum value,

wherein the partial braking is carried out with a braking acceleration which is limited to a maximum of 90% of a deceleration required for collision avoidance,

wherein the braking acceleration of the partial braking is limited to a maximum limit, which is predetermined dependent upon speed, and

wherein at low driving speeds, a higher limit is set for the braking acceleration of the partial braking than at higher driving speeds.

11. A collision avoidance or collision mitigation system for a vehicle comprising:

means for detecting an existing driving space between the vehicle and a potential collision object;

means for activating at least one of a first warning function and an information function when a first threshold value is reached; and

means for activating a system intervention with autonomous partial braking combined with at least one further safety measure when a second threshold value that is less than said first threshold value is reached;

wherein, said partial braking is a braking that is limited such that a resulting deceleration does not exceed a predetermined maximum value,

wherein said partial braking is limited to a deceleration value that is less than a deceleration that is necessary to avoid a collision.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the means for detecting an existing driving space between the vehicle and the potential collision object comprises environment-detecting sensors.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the environment-detecting sensors comprise at least one 77-GHz radar sensor.

14. The system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the environment-detecting sensors comprise at least one 24-GHz radar sensor.