Unobtrusive driving assistance method and system for a vehicle to avoid hazards

1. A computer implemented method of providing unobtrusive driving assistance to a driving module of a vehicle to avoid and handle hazards, the vehicle having a computer, one or more positioning sensors connected to said computer, one or more rangefinder sensors connected to said computer, said driving module being one or more persons or a computer system that issues driving commands to the vehicle and interfaced with said computer, said method comprising:

acquiring raw sensor data from said one or more positioning sensors and said one or more rangefinder sensors;

estimating a state of said vehicle from said raw data from said one or more positioning sensors;

identifying hazards to said vehicle from said raw data from said one or more rangefinder sensors;

computing a range of safe driving commands for all said hazards;

receiving driving commands from said driving module and comparing them with said range of safe driving commands; and

when said driving commands fall outside of said range of safe driving commands, adjusting said driving commands from said driving module with a minimal correction, to produce driving commands that are within said range of safe driving commands and within the velocity and inclination limits of said vehicle and considers constraints on the vehicle's speed and turning rate to avoid generating infeasible or non-smooth motion commands so that the driving module's intention is respected to the maximum extent possible, which is perceived as unobtrusive to the driving module and not as interfering behavior, otherwise when said driving commands fall within said range of safe driving commands, passing said driving commands to said vehicle without modification.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said one or more positioning sensors and said one or more rangefinder sensors are interfaced with said computer and said computer is interfaced with the vehicle's actuation system and driving module.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the state of the vehicle includes velocity of said vehicle, which is generated by using said raw sensor data from said one or more positioning sensors and a kinematics model of the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the state of the vehicles includes velocity and attitude of said vehicle, which are generated by using, said raw sensor data from said one or more positioning sensors and a kinematics model of the vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein said hazards are characterized for their traversability by the vehicle using said raw data from the rangefinder sensors.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of computing said range of safe driving commands is done by using the locations of said hazards, characteristics of said hazards, a kinematic model of said vehicle, said vehicle's geometric shape, state, and a safety clearance between hazards and the vehicle.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein said safety clearance can be specified by a user.

8. The method according to claim 6 wherein said safety clearance can be adjusted during runtime according to said vehicle's state and said hazards' distribution.

9. An unobtrusive driving assistance system mounted on a vehicle for detecting and avoiding hazards, said system comprising:

one or more positioning sensors mounted on the vehicle, one or more rangefinders mounted on the vehicle, and a computer on board the vehicle, said one or more positioning and vehicle state sensors and one or more rangefinders being interfaced with said computer, said computer being interfaced with the vehicle's actuation system;

a driving module being one or more persons or said computer that issues driving commands to the vehicle;

said computer being programmed with instructions for computing a range of safe driving commands including

computing a range of all safe trajectories for said vehicle to avoid any hazards in the environment of said vehicle detected by said one or more rangefinders, and

converting said range of safe trajectories into a range of safe driving commands by using an inverse kinematic model of said vehicle;

said computer being programmed with instructions for adjusting said driving module's driving commands including:

comparing the driving commands from said driving module with said range of safe driving commands,

adjusting the driving commands from said driving module if they are outside the range of safe driving commands with a minimal correction, to produce driving commands that are within said range of safe driving commands and within the velocity and inclination limits of said vehicle and considers constraints on the vehicle's speed and turning rate to avoid generating infeasible or non-smooth motion commands so that the driving module's intention is respected to the maximum extent possible, which is perceived as unobtrusive to the driving module and not as interfering behavior and passing said driving commands to said vehicle;

otherwise when said driving commands fall within said range of safe driving commands, passing said driving commands to said vehicle without modification; and

said computer being programmed with instructions for notifying said driving module of said command adjustment and hazard information.

10. The system according to claim 9 wherein said computer is the driving module and is interfaced with the vehicle's throttle and engine system through a drive control means to adjust a speed of travel of said vehicle and the vehicle's steering system through a steering control means to adjust a direction of travel and turning rate of said vehicle.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions, which when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to execute a method for providing unobtrusive driving assistance to a driving module of a vehicle to avoid and handle hazards, the vehicle having a computer, one or more positioning sensors connected to said computer, one or more rangefinder sensors connected to said computer, said driving module being one or more persons or a computer system that issues driving commands to the vehicle and interfaced with said computer, said method comprising:

acquiring raw sensor data from said one or more positioning sensors and said one or more rangefinder sensors;

estimating a state of said vehicle from said raw data from said one or more positioning sensors;

identifying hazards to said vehicle from said raw data from said one or more rangefinder sensors;

computing a range of safe driving commands for all said hazards;

receiving driving commands from said driving module and comparing them with said range of safe driving commands; and

when said driving commands fall outside of said range of safe driving commands, adjusting said driving commands from said driving module with minimal correction, to produce driving commands that are within said range of safe driving commands and within the velocity and inclination limits of said vehicle and considers constraints on the vehicle's speed and turning rate to avoid generating infeasible or non-smooth motion commands so as the driving module's intention is respected to the maximum extent possible, which is perceived as unobtrusive to the driving module and not observed as interfering behavior, otherwise when said driving commands fall within said range of safe driving commands, passing said driving commands to said vehicle without modification.

12. The computer-readable media in accordance with claim 11 , wherein said one or more positioning sensors and said one or more rangefinder sensors are interfaced with said computer and said computer is interfaced with the vehicle's actuation system and driving module.

13. The computer-readable media in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the state of the vehicle includes velocity of said vehicle, which is generated by using said raw sensor data from said one or more positioning sensors and a kinematics model of the vehicle.

14. The computer-readable media in accordance with claim 13 , wherein the state of the vehicles includes velocity and attitude of said vehicle, which are generated by using, said raw sensor data from said one or more positioning sensors and a kinematics model of the vehicle.

15. The computer-readable media in accordance with claim 11 , wherein said hazards are characterized for their traversability by the vehicle using said raw data from the rangefinder sensors.

16. The computer-readable media in accordance with claim 11 , wherein said step of computing said range of safe driving commands is done by using the locations of said hazards, characteristics of said hazards, a kinematic model of said vehicle, said vehicle's geometric shape, state, and a safety clearance between hazards and the vehicle.

17. The computer-readable media claim 11 wherein said step of adjusting said driving commands from said driving module produces driving commands that are within said range of safe driving commands and within the velocity and inclination limits of said vehicle.

18. The method according to claim 16 wherein said safety clearance can be specified by a user.

19. The method according to claim 16 wherein said safety clearance can be adjusted during runtime according to said vehicle's state and said hazards' distribution.

20. The method according to claim 1 wherein the driving module is one or more persons who controls the vehicle's motion by using a hand controller that is wirelessly interfaced with the vehicle.

21. The method according to claim 1 wherein the driving module is one or more persons who drives the car directly with the vehicle, controlling its speed, heading and rate of change of heading with the steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brake pedal.

22. The method according to claim 1 wherein the driving module is a computer system that runs a way-point following algorithm, causing the vehicle to track a path between the way-points.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions, according to claim 11 wherein the driving module is one or more persons who controls the vehicle's motion by using a hand controller that is wirelessly interfaced with the vehicle.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions, according to claim 11 wherein the driving module is one or more persons who drives the car directly with the vehicle, controlling its speed, heading and rate of change of heading with the steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brake pedal.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions, according to claim 11 wherein the driving module is a computer system that runs a way-point following algorithm, causing the vehicle to track a path between the way-points.

26. The system according to claim 9 wherein the driving module is a human.