Travel safety system for vehicle

• US 20050004760A1
• Filed: 04/27/2004
• Published: 01/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Kodaka, Kenji, Otabe, Makoto, Urai, Yoshihiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,412,329 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9318 Controlling the steering
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93185 Controlling the brakes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9325 for inter-vehicle distance regulation, e.g. navigating in platoons

Abstract

In a travel safety system for a vehicle: a preceding vehicle V1 in a travel direction of a subject vehicle V is detected by a radar device; an overlap amount δ (smaller one of δ(L) and δ(R)), at which the preceding vehicle V1 overlaps a predicted course for the subject vehicle V, is calculated; and when time for which the over lap amount δ exceeding a predetermined value exceeds a predetermined period, it is determined that there is a possibility that the subject vehicle V comes into contact with the preceding vehicle V1, and a safety system comprising a warning or an automatic braking is actuated. Thus, if it is determined that there is a possibility of contact between the subject vehicle V and the preceding vehicle V1 due to course change of the subject vehicle V or the preceding vehicle, it is possible to prevent the safety system from being unnecessarily actuated to provide a sense of discomfort to a driver.

Claims

1. A travel safety system for a vehicle, comprising:

an object detecting means for detecting an object existing in a travel direction of the vehicle;

a correlation calculating means for calculating a correlation including a relative position of the object to the vehicle based on a result of the detection by the object detecting means; and

a safety system operation control means for determining presence or absence of possibility of contact between the vehicle and the object based on the correlation calculated by the correlation calculating means, and controlling the operation of the safety system,

wherein, when there is the possibility of contact, the safety system operation control means controls the safety system based on time for which the object exists in a predetermined region where there is the possibility of contact with the vehicle.

2. A travel safety system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the safety system further includes a course predicting means for predicting a future course of the vehicle based on a motional state of the vehicle;

wherein the correlation calculating means calculates an overlap amount in a vehicle-width direction in which the object situates in the predicted course; and

wherein the safety system operation control means construes that the object exists in the predetermined region, when the overlap amount is equal to or larger than a predetermined value.

3. A travel safety system for a vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the safety system is any of a warning means for the driver of the vehicle, a decelerating means for the vehicle and a steering means for the vehicle.

4. A travel safety system for a vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the safety system operation control means actuates the safety system, when the time is equal to or larger than a predetermined period.

5. A travel safety system for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the warning means comprises a primary warning means, and a secondary warning means which is adapted to be actuated when there is a possibility of contact higher than that for the operation of the primary warning means, and the predetermined period is set such that the predetermined period for the operation of the primary warning means is longer than that for the operation of the secondary warning means.

6. A travel safety system for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the decelerating means comprises a primary decelerating means, and a secondary decelerating means which is adapted to be actuated when there is a possibility of contact higher than that for the operation of the primary decelerating means, and the predetermined period is set such that the predetermined period for the operation of the secondary decelerating means is longer than that for the operation of the primary decelerating means.

7. A travel safety system for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the steering means comprises a primary steering means, and a secondary steering means which is adapted to be actuated when there is a possibility of contact higher than that for the operation of the primary steering means, and the predetermined period is set such that the predetermined period for the operation of the secondary steering means is longer than that for the operation of the primary steering means.