Reconfigurable throttle-by-wire pedal subsystem for a vehicle and associated methods
AssigneeToyota Research Institute, Inc.
InventorManuel Ludwig Kuehner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The embodiments described herein concern a reconfigurable throttle-by-wire pedal subsystem for a vehicle and associated methods. One embodiment detects a pedal error in which a driver of the vehicle mistakenly actuates an accelerator foot pedal unit of the vehicle instead of a separate brake pedal of the vehicle, the accelerator foot pedal unit controlling a throttle of the vehicle, and performs the following in response to the detected pedal error: reconfiguring the accelerator foot pedal unit to control a braking subsystem of the vehicle instead of the throttle and reconfiguring a haptic feedback of the accelerator foot pedal unit from a throttle-by-wire mode to a brake-by-wire mode.
Claims20
A throttle-by-wire pedal subsystem for a vehicle, the throttle-by-wire pedal subsystem comprising:
- one or more processors;
- an accelerator foot pedal unit communicably coupled to the one or more processors, the accelerator foot pedal unit controlling a throttle of the vehicle;
- and
- a memory communicably coupled to the one or more processors and storing:
- a pedal error detection module including instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to detect a pedal error in which a driver of the vehicle mistakenly actuates the accelerator foot pedal unit instead of a separate brake pedal of the vehicle;
- and
- a control module including instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors, in response to the detected pedal error, to:
- reconfigure the accelerator foot pedal unit to control a braking subsystem of the vehicle instead of the throttle;
- and
- reconfigure a haptic feedback of the accelerator foot pedal unit from a throttle-by-wire mode to a brake-by-wire mode.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium for controlling a throttle-by-wire pedal subsystem of a vehicle and storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:
- detect a pedal error in which a driver of the vehicle mistakenly actuates an accelerator foot pedal unit of the vehicle instead of a separate brake pedal of the vehicle, wherein the accelerator foot pedal unit controls a throttle of the vehicle;
- and
- perform the following in response to the detected pedal error:
- reconfigure the accelerator foot pedal unit to control a braking subsystem of the vehicle instead of the throttle;
- and
- reconfigure a haptic feedback of the accelerator foot pedal unit from a throttle-by-wire mode to a brake-by-wire mode.
A method of controlling a throttle-by-wire pedal subsystem of a vehicle, the method comprising:
- detecting a pedal error in which a driver of the vehicle mistakenly actuates an accelerator foot pedal unit of the vehicle instead of a separate brake pedal of the vehicle, wherein the accelerator foot pedal unit controls a throttle of the vehicle;
- and
- performing the following in response to the detected pedal error:
- reconfiguring the accelerator foot pedal unit to control a braking subsystem of the vehicle instead of the throttle;
- and
- reconfiguring a haptic feedback of the accelerator foot pedal unit from a throttle-by-wire mode to a brake-by-wire mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.