Lane departure prevention apparatus

• US 20050107939A1
• Filed: 10/08/2004
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Ozaki, Masahiro, Uemura, Yoshitaka, Sadano, On
• Granted Patent: US 7,444,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/70
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/08 Lane monitoring; Lane Keeping Systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/083 using active brake actuation
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/17557 specially adapted for lane departure prevention road vehicle drive control systems for lane keeping otherwise than by controlling a particular sub-unit B60W30/12
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0244 using reflecting strips

Abstract

A lane departure prevention apparatus is configured to conduct a course correction in a lane departure avoidance direction when the controller determines that there is a potential for a vehicle to depart from a driving lane. The lane departure prevention apparatus has a driving road detecting section and a lane departure avoidance control section. The driving road detecting section is configured to determine at least one of a road slope direction and a road curvature direction of a driving road upon which a host vehicle is traveling. The lane departure avoidance control section is configured to start lane departure avoidance control based on a driving direction of the host vehicle and at least one of a road slope direction and a road curvature direction detected by the driving road detecting section.

Claims

1. A lane departure prevention apparatus comprising:

a driving road detecting section configured to determine at least one of a road slope direction and a road curvature direction of a driving road upon which a host vehicle is traveling; and

a lane departure avoidance control section configured to start lane departure avoidance control based on a driving direction of the host vehicle and at least one of a road slope direction and a road curvature direction detected by the driving road detecting section.

2. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a yaw control amount calculating section configured to calculate a first braking force control amount such that a braking yaw moment is generated in a direction avoiding departure of the host vehicle from a driving lane;

and

a braking control amount calculating section configured to calculate a second braking force control amount such that a braking deceleration force is produced to decelerate the host vehicle,

the lane departure avoidance control section being configured to set deceleration by the second braking force control amount based on the road slope direction of the driving road.

3. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to set a start timing earlier when the road slope direction is a lateral cant with the host vehicle tending to depart on a downward sloping side of the road slope direction.

4. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to set a start timing later when the host vehicle tends to depart on an upward sloping side of the road slope direction.

5. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to control a braking force to at least one of impart a yaw moment to the host vehicle or decelerate the host vehicle.

6. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to control lane departure avoidance by setting vehicle deceleration based on the road slope direction of the driving road.

7. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to set the vehicle deceleration to a smaller value when the road slope direction is an uphill slope with respect to a driving direction of the host vehicle.

8. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to set the vehicle deceleration to a larger value when the road slope direction is a downhill slope with respect to a driving direction of the host vehicle.

9. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to maintain the deceleration of the host vehicle between a predetermined time or a predetermined distance when the road slope direction is a downhill slope with respect to a driving direction of the host vehicle and the host vehicle is decelerating downhill.

10. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the driving road detecting section is configured to determine the road curvature direction of the driving road;

and

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to change lane departure-avoidance control in accordance with that a lane departure direction towards an inside direction or an outside direction of the road curvature direction of the driving road.

11. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to impart at least one of a yaw moment to the host vehicle by a braking control and a deceleration braking force that decelerates the host vehicle to prevent the host vehicle from departing from the driving lane when the host vehicle tends to depart from the driving lane.

12. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to adjust a contribution of the yaw moment to the host vehicle when the host vehicle tends to depart towards the inside direction of the road curvature direction of the driving road.

13. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 12, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to prohibit the contribution of the yaw moment to the host vehicle when the host vehicle tends to depart towards the inside direction of the road curvature direction of the driving road.

14. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 13, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to prohibit the contribution of the yaw moment to the host vehicle when the host vehicle tends to depart towards the inside direction of the road curvature direction of the driving road as well as when no nearby vehicle traveling in approximately the same direction as the host vehicle is located at the rear of the host vehicle.

15. The lane departure prevention apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the lane departure avoidance control section is configured to decelerate the host vehicle after contributing the yaw moment to the host vehicle and avoiding the host vehicle from departing by imparting the yaw moment when the host vehicle tends to depart towards the inside direction of the road curvature direction of the driving road as well as when a nearby vehicle traveling in approximately the same direction as the host vehicle is located at the rear of the host vehicle.

16. A lane departure prevention apparatus comprising:

driving road detecting means for determining at least one of a road slope direction and a road curvature direction of a driving road upon which a host vehicle is traveling; and

lane departure-avoidance control means for starting lane departure avoidance control based on a driving direction of the host vehicle and at least one of a road slope direction and a road curvature direction detected by the driving road detecting means.

17. A method of avoiding lane departure of a host vehicle comprising:

determining at least one of a road slope direction and a road curvature direction of a driving road upon which a host vehicle is traveling; and

starting lane departure avoidance control based on a driving direction of the host vehicle and at least one of a road slope direction and a road curvature direction detected by the driving road detecting means.

18. The method of avoiding lane departure of a host vehicle according to claim 17, wherein

the determining of the road slope direction includes determining whether the driving road has a lateral cant of the driving road, and controlling the lane departure avoidance control based on the lateral cant.

19. The method of avoiding lane departure of a host vehicle according to claim 17, wherein

the determining of the road slope direction includes determining whether the driving road has an uphill/downhill inclination with respect to a driving direction of the host vehicle, and controlling the lane departure avoidance control based on the uphill/downhill inclination.

20. The method of avoiding lane departure of a host vehicle according to claim 17, wherein

the determining of the road curvature direction includes determining whether the driving road has an inside/outside road curvature direction, and controlling the lane departure avoidance control based a lane departure direction of the host vehicle with respect to the inside/outside road curvature direction.