Unintended standstill response in an assisted hitching operation

A vehicle, comprising:

• an imaging system outputting image data;
• a vehicle-human machine interface having a display screen;
• a control system including at least one vehicle sensor outputting a signal including information related to a vehicle movement state;
• and
• a hitch assistance system:
• controlling the vehicle using the vehicle control system to move the vehicle into an aligned position, where a hitch ball mounted on the vehicle is aligned with a coupler of a trailer, including monitoring the signal from the vehicle sensor and tracking a position of the coupler relative to the hitch ball in the image data;
• and
• when the information related to the vehicle movement state indicates an unintended stopped vehicle state, determining a distance from the hitch ball to the coupler, if the distance is above a predetermined threshold, controlling the vehicle brake system and the vehicle powertrain control system to cause the vehicle to move, and, if the distance is below a predetermined threshold, indicating the unintended stopped vehicle state to a driver of the vehicle by causing a message to be displayed on the display screen.

A method for moving a vehicle to align a hitch ball mounted on the vehicle with a coupler of a trailer, comprising:

• controlling a vehicle control system, including using a vehicle brake system, a vehicle powertrain control system, and a vehicle steering system within the vehicle control system, to move the vehicle toward the trailer;
• tracking a position of the coupler relative to the hitch ball in image data received from a vehicle imaging system;
• monitoring a signal from a vehicle sensor including information related to a vehicle movement state;
• and
• when the information related to the vehicle movement state indicates an unintended stopped vehicle state, determining a distance from the hitch ball to the coupler, if the distance is above a predetermined threshold, controlling the vehicle brake system and the vehicle powertrain control system to cause the vehicle to move, and, if the distance is below a predetermined threshold, indicating the unintended stopped vehicle state to a driver of the vehicle.