Autonomous braking system and method for offroad vehicles
AssigneeRobert Bosch GmbH
InventorKurt Person
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method of active brake control of an offroad vehicle, such as a snowmobile, having a tether port in electrical connection with a riding tether to indicate an occupancy of a rider for the vehicle. When the riding tether becomes disconnected from the tether port, a brake is applied until the measured velocity of the propulsion system—such as a tread—is measured to be at or below a threshold value and a validation cycle operation is completed to formally disengage and reengage a prime mover of the vehicle.
Claims20
A snowmobile control system comprising:
- a brake controller that engages a brake applied to a tread of the snowmobile;
- an occupancy sensor that generates a occupancy signal indicating whether a riding tether is electrically connected to a tether port of the snowmobile;
- a status sensor that generates a status signal indicating the operational state of a prime mover of the snowmobile, the status signal indicating either an active state or an inactive state;
- and
- a master controller in data communication with the occupancy sensor and the status sensor, the master controller activating the brake controller in response to receiving an occupancy signal indicating the riding tether is not electrically connected to the tether port and a status signal indicating an active state of the prime mover,
- wherein
- the occupancy sensor is in electrical communication with the tether port.
A method of snowmobile control during operation of the snowmobile while a rider tether is in electrical connection to a tether port of the snowmobile comprising:
- detecting that the riding tether is electrically disconnected with the tether port via an occupancy sensor;
- activating a brake controller to engage a brake of the snowmobile against a tread of the snowmobile in response to the removal of the riding tether;
- and
- maintaining the brake engagement until a disengagement condition is detected.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions thereon that cause a processor to, in response to the instructions, perform a method of snowmobile control during operation of the snowmobile while a rider tether is in electrical connection to a tether port of the snowmobile comprising:
- detecting that the riding tether is electrically disconnected with the tether port via an occupancy sensor;
- activating a brake controller to engage a brake of the snowmobile against a tread of the snowmobile in response to the removal of the riding tether;
- and
- maintaining the brake engagement until a disengagement condition is detected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.