Methods and Systems for Blind Spot Monitoring with Adaptive Alert Zone

A method comprising:

• monitoring a blind spot alert area of a subject vehicle with a blind spot monitoring system including a blind spot sensor;
• generating, with the blind spot monitoring system, an alert when a secondary vehicle is detected within the blind spot alert area of the subject vehicle;
• detecting, with an object detection system, an adjacent vehicle traveling in an adjacent lane to the subject vehicle;
• determining, with a controller, whether the subject vehicle has passed the adjacent vehicle;
• and
• expanding, with the controller, the blind spot alert area in response to determining that the subject vehicle has passed the adjacent vehicle.

A system comprising:

• a blind spot monitoring system including a blind spot sensor that monitors a blind spot alert area of a subject vehicle and that generates an alert when a secondary vehicle is detected within the blind spot alert area of the subject vehicle;
• an object detection system that detects an adjacent vehicle traveling in an adjacent lane to the subject vehicle with a camera of the subject vehicle and that determines a length of the adjacent vehicle;
• and
• a controller that determines whether the length of the adjacent vehicle is greater than a predetermined threshold, that determines whether the subject vehicle has passed the adjacent vehicle, and that expands the blind spot alert area in response to determining that the length of the adjacent vehicle is greater than the predetermined threshold and that the subject vehicle has passed the adjacent vehicle.