Floodwater risk assessment system for a vehicle

A method for generating a notification by a floodwater risk assessment system for a vehicle, the method comprising:

• receiving, by one or more controllers, image data of floodwater located along a roadway the vehicle is traveling along collected by one or more cameras;
• estimating, by the one or more controllers, a flow speed of the floodwater at a plurality of target points located along the floodwater by analyzing the image data collected by the one or more cameras based on one or more video-based motion estimation algorithms;
• calculating a floodwater depth at the plurality of target points based on a time-of-flight difference between a first point in time when polarized backscattered laser light is received by a time-of-flight sensor system and a second point in time when depolarized backscattered laser light is received by the time-of-flight sensor system, wherein the time-of-flight sensor system directs a laser beam towards the plurality of target points disposed along the floodwater and receive the polarized backscattered laser light as the laser beam reflects from an upper surface of the floodwater and the depolarized backscattered laser light as the laser beam reflects from a floor of the floodwater;
• determining a risk associated with crossing the floodwater at each of the plurality of target points located along the floodwater based on the flow speed of the floodwater and the floodwater depth;
• and
• generating a notification indicating the risk associated with crossing the floodwater at the plurality of target points located along the floodwater.

A floodwater risk assessment system for a vehicle, the floodwater risk assessment system comprising:

• one or more cameras oriented to collect image data of floodwater located along a roadway the vehicle is traveling along;
• a time-of-flight sensor system that direct a laser beam towards a plurality of target points disposed along the floodwater, wherein the time-of-flight sensor system receives polarized backscattered laser light as the laser beam reflects from an upper surface of the floodwater and depolarized backscattered laser light as the laser beam reflects from a floor of the floodwater;
• an augmented reality head-up display system including a graphic projection device that generates images upon a windscreen of the vehicle;
• and
• one or more controllers in electronic communication with the one or more cameras, the time-of-flight sensor system, and the augmented reality head-up display, wherein the one or more controllers execute instructions to:
• estimate a flow speed of the floodwater at the plurality of target points by analyzing the image data collected by the one or more cameras based on one or more video-based motion estimation algorithms;
• calculate a floodwater depth at the plurality of target points based on a time-of-flight difference between a first point in time when the polarized backscattered laser light is received by the time-of-flight sensor system and a second point in time when the depolarized backscattered laser light is received by the time-of-flight sensor system;
• determine a risk associated with crossing the floodwater at each of the plurality of target points located along the floodwater based on the flow speed of the floodwater and the floodwater depth;
• and
• instruct the graphic projection device of the augmented reality head-up display system to generate a graphic upon the windscreen of the vehicle, wherein the graphic represents a notification indicating the risk associated with crossing the floodwater at the plurality of target points located along the floodwater.