DRIVING ASSISTANCE APPARATUS

• US 20100299000A1
• Filed: 05/29/2008
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Okada, Kiyokazu, Miura, Naoto, Nakamura, Masaki
• Granted Patent: US 8,600,673 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/00 Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/26 to the rear of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/302 combining image information with GPS information or vehicle data, e.g. vehicle speed, gyro, steering angle data
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/804 for lane monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/806 for aiding parking
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/8086 for vehicle path indication
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A driving assistance apparatus is configured such that, in a case in which determination has been made there is a road marking within a predetermined range from a vehicle, the road marking is detected based upon an image acquired by a rear-side camera. In a case in which there is a single control target solely associated with the road marking thus detected, or in a case in which there are multiple control targets associated with the road marking, and the difference in the marking-target distance is equal to or greater than a driving control threshold distance, the target-vehicle distance, which is the distance between the vehicle and the control target that is a target for guidance and vehicle control, is calculated. The driving assistance apparatus performs guidance and vehicle control according to the control target based upon the target-vehicle distance thus calculated.

Claims

1-7. -7. (canceled)

8. A driving assistance apparatus comprising:

a marking information storage section which stores position information with respect to road markings formed on a road, with the position of each road marking being stored associated with at least one marking-target distance which is the distance along the road between the road marking and a control target;

a image acquisition section which is mounted on the vehicle, and which acquires an image of the vehicle'"'"'s surroundings;

a road marking detection section which detects, based upon an image acquired by the image acquisition section, a road marking formed on the road on which the vehicle is traveling;

a marking-target distance acquisition section which acquires, by the marking information storage section, at least one marking-target distance between the road marking and the control target which is associated with the road marking detected by the road marking detection section;

a target-vehicle distance calculation section configured such that, in a case in which there is a single control target associated with a road marking, or in a case in which there are a plurality of control targets associated with a road marking, and the difference in the marking-target distance thus acquired by the marking-target distance acquisition section is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance, a target-vehicle distance, which is the distance along the road between the vehicle and the control target thus associated with the road marking, is calculated; and

a driving assistance section which assists the user to drive the vehicle based upon the calculation results calculated by the target-vehicle distance calculation section.

9. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a road information storage section which stores information with respect to the road; and

a road divergence determination section which determines, based upon the road information, whether or not the road diverges forward of the vehicle, wherein

the target-vehicle distance calculation section includes a target count determination section configured such that, in a case in which the road divergence determination section has determined that the road diverges ahead, the target count determination section determines whether or not there are a plurality of control targets associated with a road marking detected by the road marking detection section, and

in a case in which the target count determination section has determined that there are a plurality of control targets associated with the road marking, and in a case in which the difference in the marking-target distance acquired by the marking-target distance acquisition section is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance, the target-vehicle distance, which is the distance between the vehicle and the associated control target, is calculated.

10. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, before the vehicle passes through the divergence in the road, the driving assistance section assists the user to drive the vehicle based upon the calculation results calculated by the target-vehicle distance calculation section with respect to the control target positioned at the shortest marking-target distance between the road marking and the control target, and

after the vehicle passes through the divergence in the road, the driving assistance section assists the user to drive the vehicle based upon the calculation results calculated by the target-vehicle distance calculation section with respect to the control target formed on the branch road which the vehicle has entered.

11. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising

a subsequent route road determination section configured such that, in a case in which the road divergence determination section has determined that the current road diverges ahead, the subsequent route road determination section determines whether or not there is a branch road that has a subsequent route road relation with the current road, wherein,

in a case in which the subsequent route road determination section has determined that there is a branch road having a subsequent route road relation with the current road on which the vehicle is traveling, the driving assistance section assists the user to drive the vehicle based upon the calculation results calculated by the target-vehicle distance calculation section with respect to the control target formed on the branch road for which it has been thus determined that a subsequent route road relation exists with respect to the current road.

12. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising:

a guided route setting section which sets a guided route which is a target route for the driving guidance; and

a guided route determination section configured such that, in a case in which the road divergence determination section has determined that the current road diverges ahead, the guided route determination section determines whether or not there is a branch road that has been set to be the guided route, wherein,

in a case in which the guided route determination section has determined that there is a branch road that has been set to be the guided route, the driving assistance section assists the user to drive the vehicle based upon the calculation results calculated by the target-vehicle distance calculation section with respect to the control target formed on the branch road which has been thus determined to have been set to be the guided route.

13. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a vehicle control section which controls the vehicle, wherein

the driving assistance section controls the vehicle by means of the vehicle control section based upon the target-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the control target.

14. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a traveling guidance section which provides traveling guidance to the user, wherein

the driving assistance section provides guidance by means of the traveling guidance section based upon the target-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the control target.