Hands on steering wheel vehicle safety control system

摘要

The present invention provides a safety control system for a vehicle with controls located on the vehicle steering wheel. The controls may be arranged in a cluster on one or both sides of the upper half of the steering wheel or on a special flange mounted to the steering wheel. The contours are easily recognizable and accessible while driving without any distraction to the driver. The controls can be enhanced by varied coloring, shape, size, and texture to make them easily identifiable. The controls can be used with portable telematics devices, in a multi-modal process in conjunction with thumb gesture interpretation or speech recognition. A universal portable device docking station may be used in conjunction with the control system.

主权项

1. A driver operated vehicle control system, comprising:
i. one or more control clusters disposed on one or more portions of a vehicle steering member; said control clusters having a. one or more distinct shortcut actuators for selecting or activating one or more menu selections for one or more devices, wherein the menu selections include one or more submenus, options, or commands that are verbally or visually communicated to the driver by the control system, b. one or more response actuators for affirming, skipping or rejecting a control system communicated submenus, options, or commands; ii. a controller for communicating with the one or more shortcut actuators and the one or more response actuators;
wherein the shortcut actuators and response actuators are accessible by the driver of the vehicle while one or more hands of the driver remain in contact with the steering member; andfurther wherein the controller communicates with a vehicle communication bus or the devices.