Method and apparatus for prevention of unintended lane change maneuver in an assisted driving system

1. An apparatus comprising:

a sensor for detecting a driver engagement level in response to a first vehicle operator area of focus and an updated driver engagement level in response to a second vehicle operator area of focus;

a memory operative to store the driver engagement level;

a user interface for providing a user alert in response to an alert signal;

a selector operative to generate a request for a lane change operation; and

a processor operative to receive the request for the lane change operation, to compare the driver engagement level to a threshold engagement level, and to generate the alert signal in response to the driver engagement level being less than the threshold engagement level, the processor being further operative to compare the updated driver engagement level to the threshold engagement level in response to the generation of the alert signal and perform the lane change operation in response to the updated driver engagement level being greater than the threshold engagement level.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is further operative to perform the lane change operation in response to the driver engagement level being greater than the threshold engagement level.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the driver engagement level is detected in response to a vehicle operator area of focus over a duration of time.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor is a driver management system operative to monitor a vehicle operator area of focus and wherein the driver engagement level is detected by the driver management system in response to the vehicle operator area of focus over a duration of time.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the driver engagement level is determined in response to the first vehicle operator area of focus at a first time and the second vehicle operator area of focus at a second time.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the selector is a turn signal selector.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a vehicle controller for performing an assisted driving operation and wherein the driver engagement level is determined in response to the assisted driving operation being performed.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is further operative to ignore the request for the lane change operation in response to the driver engagement level being less than the threshold engagement level.

9. A method performed by a processor comprising:

performing an assisted driving operation in a vehicle;

detecting a first vehicle operator area of focus by a driver monitoring system;

establishing a driver engagement level in response to the first vehicle operator area of focus and an updated driver engagement level in response to a subsequent vehicle operator area of focus;

receiving a request for a lane change operation;

comparing the driver engagement level to a threshold engagement level in response to the request for a lane change operation;

generating a user alert in response to the driver engagement level being less than the threshold engagement level;

establishing an updated driver engagement level in response to a subsequent vehicle operator area of focus;

comparing the updated driver engagement level to the threshold engagement level in response to the generation of the alert signal; and

performing the lane change operation in response to the updated driver engagement level being greater than the threshold engagement level.

10. The method of claim 9 further including cancelling the request for the lane change operation in response to the driver engagement level being less than the threshold engagement level.

11. The method of claim 9 further including performing the lane change operation in response to the driver engagement level being greater than the threshold engagement level.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the driver engagement level is determined in response to the vehicle operator area of focus at a first time and a subsequent vehicle operator area of focus at a second time.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the detecting the vehicle operator area of focus is performed in response to performing the assisted driving operation.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the method is performed by an advanced driving assisted system equipped vehicle.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the assisted driving operation is a lane centering operation.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the request for a lane change operation is generated in response to an activation of a turn signal indicator.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the user alert is a high intensity audio visual alert for prompting a vehicle operator re-engagement.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein the driver engagement level is a driver engagement score calculated for a plurality of vehicle operator area of focus detections over a time duration.

19. An advanced driver assistance system for controlling a host vehicle comprising:

a driver monitoring system for detecting a first vehicle operator area of focus to generate a driver engagement level in response to the first vehicle operator area of focus, for detecting a second vehicle operator area of focus and to generate an updated driver engagement level in response to a second vehicle operator area of focus;

a turn signal selector operative to generate a request for a lane change operation;

a processor operative to receive the request for the lane change operation, to compare the driver engagement level to a threshold engagement level, to generate a user alert in response to the driver engagement level being less than the threshold engagement level, to compare the updated driver engagement level to the threshold engagement level in response to the generation of the user alert, and for generating a lane change control signal in response to the updated driver engagement level being greater than the threshold engagement level; and

a vehicle controller for performing an assisted driving operation, the vehicle controller being further operative to perform the lane change operation in response to the lane change control signal.

20. The advanced driver assistance system for controlling the host vehicle of claim 19 a user interface for providing a vehicle operator reengagement request in response to the user alert and wherein the lane change control signal is generated in response in response to a user response to the vehicle operator reengagement request.