Process for determining state of a vehicle

1. A process for robustly determining a stationary state of a vehicle equipped with a driver assistance system, said process comprising:

providing a camera comprising a lens and a photosensor array;

said photosensor array comprising a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in a matrix that comprises multiple columns of photosensor elements and multiple rows of photosensor elements;

disposing said camera at or proximate to an in-cabin portion of a windshield of an equipped vehicle;

wherein said camera has a forward field of view to the exterior of the equipped vehicle through the windshield of the equipped vehicle;

operating said camera to capture image data;

providing a control comprising an image processor;

providing image data captured by said camera to said image processor;

operating said image processor to process captured image data to determine lane delimiters present in the field of view of said camera;

connecting said control to a vehicle communication bus of the equipped vehicle;

receiving vehicle data at said control via said vehicle communication bus;

wherein vehicle data is provided to said control via said vehicle communication bus by an accelerometer of the equipped vehicle and by at least one of (i) a transmission sensor of the equipped vehicle and (ii) a speed sensor of the equipped vehicle;

executing at said control a vehicle stationary detection routine wherein longitudinal acceleration of the equipped vehicle is provided by said accelerometer over a selected duration of time to said control;

determining at said control a rate of change of acceleration of the equipped vehicle to establish a jerk value;

at least one of (i) receiving at said control speed of the equipped vehicle as sensed by said speed sensor and (ii) receiving at said control transmission status of the equipped vehicle as sensed by said transmission sensor; and

determining that the equipped vehicle is stationary when at least one of (i) said control determines a jerk value that is approximately zero for the selected duration of time and said control receives vehicle data indicating that the speed of the equipped vehicle was approximately zero kilometer/hour for the selected duration of time and (ii) said control determines a jerk value that is approximately zero for the selected duration of time and said control receives vehicle data indicating that the transmission of the equipped vehicle was in ‘Park’ for the selected duration of time.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the selected duration of time is 0.5 seconds.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein said camera is part of at least one of (i) a collision avoidance system of the equipped vehicle, (ii) a collision mitigation system of the equipped vehicle and (iii) a stability control system of the equipped vehicle.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein said camera is part of at least one of (i) a lane departure warning system of the equipped vehicle, (ii) a lane keeping system of the equipped vehicle, (iii) a vehicle detection system of the equipped vehicle, (iv) an object detection system of the equipped vehicle, (v) a traffic sign recognition system of the equipped vehicle, (vi) a distance measurement system of the equipped vehicle and (vii) a headlamp control system of the equipped vehicle.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein, responsive at least in part to processing of captured image data by said image processor, the heading of the equipped vehicle is determined.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the number of rows of photosensor elements of said photosensor array is at least about 480 rows and wherein the number of columns of photosensor elements of said photosensor array is at least about 640 columns.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein said control determines, at least in part, that the equipped vehicle is moving straight responsive to processing of captured image data by said image processor determining that lane delimiters present in the field of view of said camera are straight.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein said control, responsive at least in part to processing of captured image data by said image processor, detects colored lane markers present in the field of view of said camera.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein said vehicle communication bus comprises a controller-area network.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein said vehicle communication bus comprises a local interconnect network.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein said image processor comprises one of (i) an EyeQ2 image processing chip and (ii) an EyeQ3 image processing chip.

12. A process for robustly determining a stationary state of a vehicle equipped with a driver assistance system, said process comprising:

providing a camera comprising a lens and a photosensor array;

said photosensor array comprising a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in a matrix that comprises multiple columns of photosensor elements and multiple rows of photosensor elements;

wherein the number of rows of photosensor elements of said photosensor array is at least about 480 rows and wherein the number of columns of photosensor elements of said photosensor array is at least about 640 columns;

disposing said camera at or proximate to an in-cabin portion of a windshield of an equipped vehicle;

wherein said camera is part of at least one of (i) a lane departure warning system of the equipped vehicle, (ii) a lane keeping system of the equipped vehicle, (iii) a vehicle detection system of the equipped vehicle, (iv) an object detection system of the equipped vehicle, (v) a traffic sign recognition system of the equipped vehicle, (vi) a distance measurement system of the equipped vehicle and (vii) a headlamp control system of the equipped vehicle;

wherein said camera has a forward field of view to the exterior of the equipped vehicle through the windshield of the equipped vehicle;

operating said camera to capture image data;

providing a control comprising an image processor;

providing image data captured by said camera to said image processor;

operating said image processor to process captured image data to determine lane delimiters present in the field of view of said camera;

connecting said control to a vehicle communication bus of the equipped vehicle;

receiving vehicle data at said control via said vehicle communication bus;

wherein vehicle data is provided to said control via said vehicle communication bus by an accelerometer of the equipped vehicle and by at least one of (i) a transmission sensor of the equipped vehicle and (ii) a speed sensor of the equipped vehicle;

executing at said control a vehicle stationary detection routine wherein longitudinal acceleration of the equipped vehicle is provided by said accelerometer over a selected duration of time to said control;

determining at said control a rate of change of acceleration of the equipped vehicle to establish a jerk value;

at least one of (i) receiving at said control speed of the equipped vehicle as sensed by said speed sensor and (ii) receiving at said control transmission status of the equipped vehicle as sensed by said transmission sensor; and

determining that the equipped vehicle is stationary when at least one of (i) said control determines a jerk value that is approximately zero for the selected duration of time and said control receives vehicle data indicating that the speed of the equipped vehicle was approximately zero kilometer/hour for the selected duration of time and (ii) said control determines a jerk value that is approximately zero for the selected duration of time and said control receives vehicle data indicating that the transmission of the equipped vehicle was in ‘Park’ for the selected duration of time.

13. The process of claim 12 , wherein said camera is part of at least one of (i) a collision avoidance system of the equipped vehicle, (ii) a collision mitigation system of the equipped vehicle and (iii) a stability control system of the equipped vehicle.

14. The process of claim 12 , wherein, responsive at least in part to processing of captured image data by said image processor, the heading of the equipped vehicle is determined.

15. The process of claim 12 , wherein said vehicle communication bus comprises a controller-area network.

16. A process for robustly determining a stationary state of a vehicle equipped with a driver assistance system, said process comprising:

providing a camera comprising a lens and a photosensor array;

said photosensor array comprising a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in a matrix that comprises multiple columns of photosensor elements and multiple rows of photosensor elements;

wherein the number of rows of photosensor elements of said photosensor array is at least about 480 rows and wherein the number of columns of photosensor elements of said photosensor array is at least about 640 columns;

disposing said camera at or proximate to an in-cabin portion of a windshield of an equipped vehicle;

wherein said camera is part of at least one of (i) a lane departure warning system of the equipped vehicle, (ii) a lane keeping system of the equipped vehicle, (iii) a vehicle detection system of the equipped vehicle, (iv) an object detection system of the equipped vehicle, (v) a traffic sign recognition system of the equipped vehicle, (vi) a distance measurement system of the equipped vehicle and (vii) a headlamp control system of the equipped vehicle;

wherein said camera has a forward field of view to the exterior of the equipped vehicle through the windshield of the equipped vehicle;

operating said camera to capture image data;

providing a control comprising an image processor;

providing image data captured by said camera to said image processor;

operating said image processor to process captured image data to determine lane delimiters present in the field of view of said camera;

processing captured image data by said image processor to determine that lane delimiters present in the field of view of said camera are straight;

connecting said control to a vehicle communication bus of the equipped vehicle;

receiving vehicle data at said control via said vehicle communication bus;

wherein vehicle data is provided to said control via said vehicle communication bus by an accelerometer of the equipped vehicle and by at least one of (i) a transmission sensor of the equipped vehicle and (ii) a speed sensor of the equipped vehicle;

executing at said control a vehicle stationary detection routine wherein longitudinal acceleration of the equipped vehicle is provided by said accelerometer over a selected duration of time to said control;

determining at said control a rate of change of acceleration of the equipped vehicle to establish a jerk value;

at least one of (i) receiving at said control speed of the equipped vehicle as sensed by said speed sensor and (ii) receiving at said control transmission status of the equipped vehicle as sensed by said transmission sensor; and

determining that the equipped vehicle is stationary when at least one of (i) said control determines a jerk value that is approximately zero for the selected duration of time and said control receives vehicle data indicating that the speed of the equipped vehicle was approximately zero kilometer/hour for the selected duration of time and (ii) said control determines a jerk value that is approximately zero for the selected duration of time and said control receives vehicle data indicating that the transmission of the equipped vehicle was in ‘Park’ for the selected duration of time.

17. The process of claim 16 , wherein said vehicle communication bus comprises a controller-area network.

18. The process of claim 17 , wherein said control, responsive at least in part to processing of captured image data by said image processor, detects colored lane markers present in the field of view of said camera.

19. The process of claim 17 , wherein said image processor comprises one of (i) an EyeQ2 image processing chip and (ii) an EyeQ3 image processing chip.

20. The process of claim 19 , wherein said camera is part of at least one of (i) a collision avoidance system of the equipped vehicle, (ii) a collision mitigation system of the equipped vehicle and (iii) a stability control system of the equipped vehicle.