Trailer hitching assistance system with dynamic vehicle control processing

A system for assisting in aligning a vehicle for hitching with a trailer, comprising:

• a vehicle steering system;
• a vehicle brake system;
• a vehicle speed sensor;
• a detection system outputting a signal including scene data of an area to a rear of the vehicle;
• and
• a controller:
• receiving the scene data and identifying the trailer within the area to the rear of the vehicle;
• deriving a backing path to align a hitch ball mounted on the vehicle to a coupler of the trailer;
• and
• deriving a steering control signal to control the vehicle steering system to maneuver the vehicle, including reversing along the backing path, wherein the controller applies a rate limit to the steering control signal, the rate limit varying with at least one of a distance to the coupler derived from the scene data or a vehicle speed obtained from the vehicle speed sensor such that increasingly abrupt steering movement is allowed with one of a decreasing distance to the coupler or a decreasing vehicle speed.

A system for assisting in aligning a vehicle for hitching with a trailer, comprising:

• a vehicle steering system;
• a vehicle powertrain control system;
• a vehicle brake system;
• a detection system outputting a signal including scene data of an area to a rear of the vehicle;
• and
• a controller:
• receiving the scene data and identifying the trailer within the area to the rear of the vehicle;
• deriving a backing path to align a hitch ball mounted on the vehicle to a coupler of the trailer;
• and
• deriving a steering control signal, a powertrain control signal, and a brake control signal to respectively control the vehicle steering system, the vehicle powertrain control system, and the vehicle brake system to maneuver the vehicle, including reversing along the backing path, wherein the controller applies a filter to at least one of the steering control signal, powertrain control signal, and brake control signal, the filter varying according to a distance to the coupler derived from the scene data to allow increasingly more abrupt vehicle movement with one of a decreasing distance to the coupler or a decreasing vehicle speed.