Granted Patent B2

US 12,241,975 · App. 18/360,706 · Granted Mar 4, 2025

Inventors: Xiaoling Han (San Diego, CA); Charles A. Price (San Diego, CA); Todd Skinner (San Diego, CA); Kaixin Zheng (San Diego, CA)

Assignee: TUSIMPLE, INC.

G01S15/42G01S15/931B62D53/06B62D63/08G01S2015/937G05D1/0255

Abstract

Claims (54)

1. A system for determining a trailer angle between a trailer and a vehicle, comprising:

an ultrasonic control unit configured to determine an angle between the vehicle and the trailer based on a distance between an ultrasonic sensor of multiple ultrasonic sensors mounted on the vehicle and the trailer,

wherein the multiple ultrasonic sensors are mounted on a rear end of the vehicle in a non-linear pattern.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising determining a first angle corresponding to a first ultrasonic sensor, wherein the first angle is determined from:

a first neutral distance between the first ultrasonic sensor and a front-end of the trailer when the trailer is in line with the vehicle,

a first angled distance when the trailer is angled with respect to the vehicle, and

a first offset distance between a center of the first ultrasonic sensor and the center of the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first neutral distance is determined when a steering angle of the vehicle is about zero degrees and the first neutral distance is averaged or filtered over a period of time.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first neutral distance is determined when:

a steering angle of the vehicle is about zero degrees, and

the vehicle is travelling about 10 kilometers per hour or more.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distance is between the ultrasonic sensor mounted on the vehicle and a front-end of the trailer.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the trailer angle is an average angle of one or more angles weighted based on a standard deviation for distance values received at the ultrasonic control unit from each of the multiple ultrasonic sensors.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the ultrasonic control unit determines an error interval and a confidence level based on the standard deviation for distance values received at the ultrasonic control unit from each of the multiple ultrasonic sensors.

8. The system of claim 3 , wherein the ultrasonic control unit comprises:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing executable instructions that when executed by the at least one processor perform at least:

determining the first angle corresponding to a first ultrasonic sensor as:

A 1 =arctangent(( D 1-1 −D 1-2 )/Dis1),

wherein A 1 is the first angle between the vehicle and the trailer,

wherein D 1-1 is a first neutral distance between the first ultrasonic sensor and the front-end of the trailer, wherein the first neutral distance is determined when the trailer is in line with the vehicle,

wherein D 1-2 is a first angled distance between the first ultrasonic sensor and the front-end of the trailer, wherein the first angled distance is determined when the trailer is angled with respect to the vehicle, and

wherein Dis1 is a first offset distance, wherein the first offset distance is between the center of the first ultrasonic sensor and the center of the vehicle.

9. A method for determining a trailer angle between a trailer and a vehicle, comprising:

receiving, from an ultrasonic sensor of multiple ultrasonic sensors attached to the vehicle, information about a distance between the ultrasonic sensor and a front-end of the trailer attached to the vehicle,

wherein the multiple ultrasonic sensors are attached to a rear end of the vehicle in a non-linear pattern; and

determining an angle corresponding to the information about the distance received from the ultrasonic sensor, wherein the angle is an estimate of alignment between the vehicle and the trailer.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein a first angle corresponding to a first ultrasonic sensor is determined based on one or more geometrical relationships between a position of the first ultrasonic sensor and the front-end of the trailer.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the trailer angle is determined as an average angle of one or more angles.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the average angle is weighted based on a standard deviation for distance values received from each of the multiple ultrasonic sensors.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein an error interval and a confidence level is determined based on the standard deviation for the distance values received from each of the multiple ultrasonic sensors.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first angle is determined from:

a first neutral distance between the first ultrasonic sensor and the front-end of the trailer when the trailer is in line with the vehicle;

a first angled distance when the trailer is angled with respect to the vehicle; and

a first offset distance between a center of the first ultrasonic sensor and the center of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first neutral distance is determined when a steering angle of the vehicle is about zero degrees and the vehicle is travelling at about 10 kilometers per hour or more.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

determining the first angle corresponding to a first ultrasonic sensor as:

A 1 =arctangent(( D 1-1 −D 1-2 )/Dis1),

wherein A 1 is the first angle between the vehicle and the trailer,

wherein D 1-1 is a first neutral distance between the first ultrasonic sensor and the front-end of the trailer, wherein the first neutral distance is determined when the trailer is in line with the vehicle,

wherein D 1-2 is a first angled distance between the first ultrasonic sensor and the front-end of the trailer, wherein the first angled distance is determined when the trailer is angled with respect to the vehicle, and

wherein Dis1 is a first offset distance, and wherein the first offset distance is between a center of the first ultrasonic sensor and the center of the vehicle.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the multiple ultrasonic sensors are in a two-dimensional pattern in a plane that is perpendicular to an axis between the vehicle and the trailer.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable instructions for determining a trailer angle between a trailer and a vehicle that when executed by at least one processor perform at least:

receiving, from an ultrasonic sensor of multiple ultrasonic sensors, a distance between the ultrasonic sensor and a front-end of the trailer attached to the vehicle,

wherein the multiple ultrasonic sensors are attached to a rear end of the vehicle in a non-linear pattern;

determining an angle corresponding to a distance received from the ultrasonic sensor, wherein each angle is between the vehicle and the front-end of the trailer.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising determining a first angle corresponding to a first ultrasonic sensor, wherein the first angle is determined from:

a first neutral distance between the first ultrasonic sensor and the front-end of the trailer when the trailer is in line with the vehicle,

a first angled distance when the trailer is angled with respect to the vehicle, and

a first offset distance between a center of the first ultrasonic sensor and the center of the vehicle,

wherein a trailer angle is determined from one or more angles.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the first neutral distance is determined when a steering angle of the vehicle is about zero degrees and the vehicle is travelling about 10 kilometers per hour or more.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (353)