Trailer assist system with enhanced beam length estimation

A vehicular trailering assist system, the vehicular trailering assist system comprising:

• a camera disposed at a rear portion of a vehicle and having a field of view exterior and at least rearward of the vehicle, the vehicle having a hitch configured for hitching a trailer at the vehicle, the hitch being at a location spaced from a rear axle of the vehicle, the field of view of the camera including at least a portion of a trailer hitched to the vehicle at the hitch of the vehicle;
• a steering wheel angle sensor operable to determine a steering wheel angle of the vehicle;
• a wheel revolutions per minute (RPM) sensor operable to determine an RPM of a wheel of the vehicle;
• a control comprising electronic circuitry and associated software;
• wherein said electronic circuitry of said control comprises at least one data processor for processing image data captured by the camera and sensor data captured by (i) the steering wheel angle sensor and (ii) the wheel RPM sensor;
• wherein the control, responsive to processing at the control of image data captured by the camera, determines a trailer angle of the trailer relative to the vehicle;
• wherein the control determines the steering wheel angle of the vehicle via sensor data provided to the control from the steering wheel angle sensor;
• wherein the control determines the wheel RPM of the wheel of the vehicle via sensor data provided to the control from the RPM sensor;
• wherein the control, based on the determined steering wheel angle, determines a wheel angle of a front wheel of the vehicle;
• wherein the control estimates a trailer beam length of the trailer based on at least (i) the determined trailer angle relative to the vehicle, (ii) the determined wheel angle of the front wheel of the vehicle, (iii) the determined wheel RPM of the wheel of the vehicle and (iv) a hitch location of the hitch relative to the rear axle of the vehicle;
• wherein the control determines a relative trailer angle velocity, and wherein the relative trailer angle velocity represents a speed of change of the determined trailer angle relative to the vehicle;
• and
• wherein, when the determined relative trailer angle velocity is greater than or equal to a threshold, the control further estimates the trailer beam length of the trailer based on the determined relative trailer angle velocity, and wherein, when the determined relative trailer angle velocity is less than the threshold, the control estimates the trailer beam length of the trailer without the determined relative trailer angle velocity.

A vehicular trailering assist system, the vehicular trailering assist system comprising:

• a camera disposed at a rear portion of a vehicle and having a field of view exterior and at least rearward of the vehicle, the vehicle having a hitch configured for hitching a trailer at the vehicle, the hitch being at a location spaced from a rear axle of the vehicle, the field of view of the camera including at least a portion of a trailer hitched to the vehicle at the hitch of the vehicle;
• a steering wheel angle sensor operable to determine a steering wheel angle of the vehicle;
• a wheel revolutions per minute (RPM) sensor operable to determine an RPM of a wheel of the vehicle;
• a control comprising electronic circuitry and associated software;
• wherein said electronic circuitry of said control comprises at least one data processor for processing image data captured by the camera and sensor data captured by (i) the steering wheel angle sensor and (ii) the wheel RPM sensor;
• wherein the control, responsive to processing at the control of image data captured by the camera, determines a trailer angle of the trailer relative to the vehicle;
• wherein the control determines the steering wheel angle of the vehicle via sensor data provided to the control from the steering wheel angle sensor;
• wherein the control determines the wheel RPM of the wheel of the vehicle via sensor data provided to the control from the RPM sensor;
• wherein the control determines a relative trailer angle velocity, and wherein the relative trailer angle velocity represents a speed of change of the determined trailer angle relative to the vehicle;
• wherein the control, responsive to the determined relative trailer angle velocity being non-zero, estimates an unsteady state trailer beam length of the trailer based on at least (i) the determined trailer angle relative to the vehicle, (ii) the determined steering wheel angle of the vehicle, (iii) the determined wheel RPM of the wheel of the vehicle and (iv) the determined relative trailer angle velocity;
• and
• wherein the control, responsive to the determined relative trailer angle velocity being zero, estimates a steady state trailer beam length of the trailer without the determined relative trailer angle velocity and based on at least (i) the determined trailer angle relative to the vehicle, (ii) the determined steering wheel angle of the vehicle and the determined wheel RPM of the wheel of the vehicle.