Systems and methods for providing a warning to an occupant of a vehicle

#The subject matter described herein relates in general to systems and methods for providing warnings to occupants of a vehicle to avoid dangerous hazards when exiting the vehicle.

#The background description provided is to present the context of the disclosure generally. Work of the inventor, to the extent it may be described in this background section, and aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present technology.

#Vehicles may employ various safety systems to protect the occupants of the vehicle. These various safety systems may include safety systems such as airbags, active/passive restraints, automated control assistance (e.g., anti-lock braking systems (ABS)), and so on. While these systems improve the safety of the occupants, they do not generally function to improve the safety of occupants from external hazards. That is, the noted systems facilitate preventing crashes and/or protecting occupants against injury while inside the vehicle, but do not help the occupant when, for example, exiting the vehicle.

#The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various systems, methods, and other embodiments of the disclosure. It will be appreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one embodiment of the boundaries. In some embodiments, one element may be designed as multiple elements or multiple elements may be designed as one element. In some embodiments, an element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale.

#FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a configuration for a vehicle in which example systems and methods disclosed herein may operate;

#FIG. 2 illustrates one example of a system that is associated with warning an occupant about hazards when exiting a vehicle;

#Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with improving alerts to an occupant about hazards when exiting a subject vehicle are disclosed. As previously noted, external hazards, such as closely passing vehicles, may be difficult for an occupant to identify when exiting a vehicle. Moreover, circumstances where an alert system incorrectly activates an alert or fails to activate an alert for a hazard can represent further difficulties that may diminish trust in the alerting system, thereby diminishing safety overall.

#In one example, a system for determining when to activate an alert to notify an occupant of a vehicle that a potential hazard exists when exiting the vehicle generally includes a processor(s) and one or more sensors disposed within a vehicle. The sensors could include a variety of different sensors that can detect objects located in the environment in which the vehicle operates. Based on information received from the sensors, the processor(s) can determine a free space located adjacent to the vehicle. The free space may be located on the side of the vehicle that includes a door. The free space may be bounded on one side by the vehicle and by the other side by another vehicle or object. Alternatively, if there is no other object, the free space may be defined as a predefined area that extends from one side of the vehicle.

#The processor(s) also receives information from sensors regarding other moving objects, referred to as targets. The processor can receive information from the sensors, determine the general widths of the targets, and compare this to the width of the free space. In situations where the width of the target is greater than the width of the free space, the processor(s) may determine that the target will not enter the free space and adjust an activation threshold. The activation threshold indicates a likelihood that the target will enter the free space and present a possible hazard to an exiting occupant. Based on this adjustable threshold, the system may determine that the moving target poses no threat to an occupant exiting the vehicle and therefore does not provide any alert to the occupant on or before exiting the vehicle.