Trailer hitch ball and coupler compatibility detection system

A control system for a vehicle, comprising:

• a human machine interface positionable within the vehicle;
• a vehicle brake system;
• a vehicle powertrain system;
• and
• a controller:
• in communication with the vehicle brake system and configured to control a service brake included in the vehicle brake system;
• in communication with the vehicle powertrain system and configured to control a throttle included in the powertrain system;
• executing a hitching confirmation process, including causing the vehicle to move forward by control of the throttle, subsequently causing the vehicle to stop by control of the service brakes, and monitoring for relative motion of a coupler of a trailer connected with a hitch ball of the vehicle above a predetermined threshold;
• and
• responsive to detecting relative motion of the coupler and the hitch ball above the predetermined threshold, causing a mismatch indication to be issued by the vehicle via the human machine interface.

A method for controlling a vehicle, comprising:

• processing high-definition image data obtained from a high-resolution camera mounted on a rear of the vehicle using at least one of a trained machine learning model or an optical character recognition routine to determine a size of a hitch ball connected with the vehicle and identified in the image data;
• processing at least one of the high-definition image data or sensor data received from a sensor mounted to the vehicle to determine a size of a trailer coupler spaced from the vehicle and identified in the image data;
• determining a compatibility state of the hitch ball and the coupler based on the size of the hitch ball and the size of the coupler of the trailer;
• and
• responsive to the size of the hitch ball and the size of the coupler of the trailer being determined to be incompatible, causing a mismatch indication to be issued by the vehicle.