Automatic car door swing limiter

A computer system for controlling the opening of a door of a vehicle, comprising:

• one or more computer processors;
• one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media;
• program instructions, stored on the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, which when implemented by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to:
• predict that a moving object will move to be within a predetermined distance of the door of the vehicle at a future point in time;
• predict the distance the moving object will be from the door of the vehicle at the future point in time;
• determine a swing angle extent of an opening of the door at that future point in time that will avoid hitting the moving object based in part on the predicted distance;
• actuate a door controller prior to that future point in time to limit the swing angle of the door to the determined extent;
• continuously recalculate, as the door is opening, the predicted distance the moving object will be from the door of the vehicle;
• continuously recalculate, as the door is opening, the swing angle extent of the opening of the door that will avoid hitting the moving object based in part on the recalculated predicted distance;
• and
• re-actuate the door controller prior to that future point in time to limit the swing angle of the door to the recalculated swing angle extent.

A computer program product comprising:

• program instructions on a computer-readable storage medium for controlling the opening of a door of a vehicle, where execution of the program instructions using a computer causes the computer to:
• predict that a moving object will move to be within a predetermined distance of the door of the vehicle at a future point in time;
• predict the distance the moving object will be from the door of the vehicle at the future point in time;
• determine a swing angle extent of an opening of the door at that future point in time that will avoid hitting the moving object based in part on the predicted distance;
• actuate a door controller prior to that future point in time to limit the swing angle of the door to the determined extent;
• continuously recalculate, as the door is opening, the predicted distance the moving object will be from the door of the vehicle;
• continuously recalculate, as the door is opening, the swing angle extent of the opening of the door that will avoid hitting the moving object based in part on the recalculated predicted distance;
• and
• re-actuate the door controller prior to that future point in time to limit the swing angle of the door to the recalculated swing angle extent.