Vehicle positioning and guidance system
A system for guiding a driver of a vehicle is disclosed. The system comprises a light sensor configured to detect light; and a processor configured to determine a position of vehicle on a roadway based on a characteristic of the detected light.
1. A system for guiding a driver of a vehicle on a roadway, the system comprising:
a light sensor located at the vehicle configured to detect light transmitted from a guiding device disposed along the roadway;
a processor configured to determine a position of the vehicleon the roadway based on the detected light;
wherein the guiding device comprises a plurality of guiding segments, each respective guiding segment is arranged to emit a respective light beam comprising a different respective light characteristic over a different respective angular range; and
wherein the processor is configured to perform said determination based on the different light characteristic of the light beams and the corresponding angular range of the light beams; and
wherein the processor further calculates the position of the vehicle on the roadway using a triangular relationship between two or more light beams and the corresponding angular ranges of two or more light beams and the guiding device.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit the wavelength of the detected light.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit the position of the vehicle.
4. A system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit the position of the vehicle from the vehicle to a receiver not in the vehicle.
5. A system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising an alarm device configured to provide the driver the position of the vehicle.
6. A system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the light is reflected.
7. A system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a wavelength of the detected light is dependent on an angle between the vehicle and the guiding device.
8. A system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising a location of a guiding device along the roadway.
9. A method of guiding a driver of a vehicle on a roadway, the method comprising:
receiving light at a light sensor located at the vehicle transmitted from a guiding device located disposed along the roadway;
based on the received light, determining a position of the vehicle on the roadway; wherein
the guiding device comprising a plurality of guiding segments;
each respective guiding segment is arranged to emit a respective light beam comprising a different respective light characteristic over a different respective angular range;
said determining a position of the vehicle on the roadway is performed based on the different light characteristic of the light beams and the corresponding angular range of the light beams; and
wherein the processor further calculates the position of the vehicle on the roadway using a triangular relationship between two or more light beams and the corresponding angular ranges and the guiding device.
10. A method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the one or more of said characteristics of the light is one or more polarization angles.
11. A method as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising, after the determining, transmitting the position of the vehicle.