Method for checking whether a switch of a driving mode can be safely carried out

A method for operating a vehicle, wherein a check is carried out to determine whether a switch of a driving mode can be safely carried out and a corresponding output is provided, wherein an estimation is made as to whether the road class traversed by the vehicle corresponds to a target road class, comprising a control device adapted to perform:

• ascertaining the position of the vehicle using a satellite navigation system;
• comparing the ascertained position of the vehicle with a road map, wherein the road map comprises an allocation of roads according to road classes;
• determining whether a road of the target road class is located within a predetermined radius of the ascertained position of the vehicle on the road map, wherein the target road class comprises one of a highway, a highway having congestion or stop-go traffic, a highway having danger spots or construction sites, a country road, a country road having a risk of wild animals crossing, an urban road, or an urban roads having potholes;
• weighting, with weighting factors, indications regarding the road class traversed by the vehicle to refute or confirm by the indications that the road class traversed by the vehicle corresponds to the target road class, wherein the indications refuting that the road class traversed by the vehicle corresponds to the target road class comprise an infrastructure, a road structure, a road marking, or a road sign;
• distinguishing the indications according to whether the indications refute or confirm that the road class traversed by the vehicle corresponds to the target road class, wherein in the event of one or more indications refuting that the road class traversed by the vehicle corresponds to the target road class, an output is provided that a switch of the driving mode cannot be safely carried out;
• switching the driving mode of the vehicle to a driving mode having a different degree of automation from that of the current driving mode based on a result of the determining whether the road of the target road class is located within the predetermined radius of the ascertained position of the vehicle on the road map and based on the weighting, with the weighting factors, of the indications regarding the road class traversed by the vehicle, wherein it is ascertained based on an entirety of the weighted indications and based on a total of the weighting factors, whether the switch of the driving mode can be safely carried out, and wherein the driving mode having the different degree of automation comprises a driver-controlled driving mode, a partially driver-controlled driving mode, or a fully autonomous driving mode;
• wherein in the event that a road of the target road class is located in the specified area around the ascertained position on the road map, a check is carried out on the basis of the vehicle environment to determine whether an indication or a group of multiple indications regarding the road class traversed by the vehicle exist(s), wherein the check is performed by one or more sensors of the vehicle;
• and
• wherein the existence of the indication is not evaluated positively for one or more indications until the indication has been recognized multiple times by the one or more sensors of the vehicle.