Vehicle control system adjustable in accordance with driver's age and characteristic
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorHiroshi Takahashi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A control system for a vehicle such as an automobile comprises a device for storing data for determining a driver's age, a group of various sensors for sensing driver's operations and a controlling system which estimates a driver's characteristic from information supplied from the sensors, and which modifies a response characteristic of any one or more of steering system, brake system and accelerating system of the vehicle in accordance with the driver's age and the estimated driver's characteristic in order to make the vehicle easier for aged or unskilled drivers to control. When the driver is aged or unskilled, the controlling system advances the phase of the response characteristic.
Claims26
A control system for a vehicle, comprising:
- an input means for producing an input signal representing a driver's command in accordance with a driver's operation;
- an actuator means for receiving a control signal and varying a manipulated variable to control motion of said vehicle in response to said control signal;
- an age determining means for producing an age signal representing a driver's age;
- a sensing means for sensing said driver's operation;
- and
- a controlling means for producing said control signal from said input signal according to a predetermined control characteristic, estimating a driver's characteristic from a signal supplied from said sensing means, and adjusting said control characteristic in accordance with said driver's characteristic and said driver's age.
A vehicle comprising:
- a chassis system which comprises an engine system for accelerating said vehicle by responding to an accelerator input produced by a driver of said vehicle, a brake system for braking said vehicle by responding to a brake input produced by the driver, and a steering system for steering said vehicle by responding to a steering input produced by the driver, one of said engine system, brake system and steering system being a controlled system whose response characteristic between a response of said controlled system and said input of said controlled system is variable;
- an age determining means for producing an age signal representing a driver's age;
- a sensing means for sensing a first vehicle operating condition which is an operating condition of said controlled system, a second vehicle operating condition which is an operating condition of a monitored system which is one of said engine system, brake system and steering system and which is distinct from said controlled system, and a third vehicle operating condition which is a vehicle speed of said vehicle;
- and
- a controlling means for estimating a driver's characteristic from said first, second and third conditions sensed by said sensing means, and adjusting said response characteristic of said controlled system in accordance with said driver's characteristic and said driver's age.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.