DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING TRAVELING OF VEHICLE

• US 20110178689A1
• Filed: 10/30/2009
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advics Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Advics Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Kodama, Hiroyuki, Yasui, Yoshiyuki, Tanaka, Manabu, Koto, Hideaki, Suzuki, Motoshi, Noro, Kazutake, Miyajima, Yakayuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,139,173 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/70
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0066 responsive to vehicle path curvature
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0075 responsive to vehicle steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0083 responsive to centrifugal force acting on vehicle due to the path it is following
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/16 Curve braking control, e.g. turn control within ABS control algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/12 for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/1755 Brake regulation specially adapted to control the stability of the vehicle, e.g. taking into account yaw rate or transverse acceleration in a curve road vehicle drive control systems for control of driving stability otherwise than by controlling a particular sub-unit B60W30/02
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/125 Lateral acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/30 Road curve radius
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/02 Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/045 Improving turning performance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/14 Adaptive cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/143 Speed control B60W30/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18145 Cornering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/072 Curvature of the road
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/076 Slope angle of the road
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments

Abstract

After a vehicle has entered a curve, a deviation (Sch) between a target turning state quantity Td and an actual turning state quantity Ta is computed. In a stage in which Sch does not reach a predetermined value after the vehicle has entered the curve, the possibility of the vehicle traveling in the curve is judged to be low, and the reliability of the curve information Rc, Pc is judged to be low. In this case, a determination for prohibiting execution of control (So=0) is made. In a stage after Sch has reached the predetermined value, the possibility of the vehicle traveling in the curve is judged to be high, and the reliability of the curve information Rc, Pc is judged to be high. In this case, a determination for permitting execution of the control (So=1) is made. Deceleration control is started and executed only when a control start condition is satisfied, and the determination for permission is made. Accordingly, even when the control start condition is satisfied, the deceleration control is not started, if the prohibition determination is made. Thus, the reliability of the curve information based on map information on the vehicle is evaluated reliably, and the deceleration control within the curve can be prevented from being unnecessarily executed on the basis of curve information whose reliability is low.

Claims

1. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:

vehicle position acquisition means for acquiring a position of the vehicle;

curve information acquisition means for acquiring information of a curve of a road on which the vehicle is traveling;

vehicle speed acquisition means for acquiring a speed of the vehicle; and

deceleration control means for executing deceleration control which decreases the speed of the vehicle when the vehicle passes through the curve, on the basis of the position of the vehicle, the curve information, and the speed of the vehicle, the traveling control apparatus being characterized by comprising;

actual turning state quantity acquisition means for acquiring an actual turning state quantity which represents an actual turning state of the vehicle; and

first execution judgment means for determining, on the basis of the actual turning state quantity, whether execution of the deceleration control is to be permitted or prohibited and for outputting, as a result of the determination, an output which is brought into an enabled state in which execution of the deceleration control is enabled or a disabled state in which execution of the deceleration control is disabled,

wherein the deceleration control means executes the deceleration control when the determination result of the first execution judgment means is in the enabled state, and does not execute the deceleration control when the determination result of the first execution judgment means is in the disabled state.

2. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the deceleration control means comprises target vehicle speed computation means for computing, on the basis of the position of the vehicle and the curve information, a target vehicle speed at which the vehicle is to travel through the curve, wherein the deceleration control means starts the deceleration control when the determination result of the first execution judgment means is in the enabled state and the speed of the vehicle is in excess of the target vehicle speed.

3. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the deceleration control means interrupts the deceleration control when the determination result of the first execution judgment means is changed from the enabled state to the disabled state in a state in which the deceleration control is being executed.

4. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the first execution judgment means comprises heading angle computation means for computing a heading angle of the vehicle on the basis of the actual turning state quantity, and performs the determination on the basis of the heading angle.

5. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the heading angle computation means resets the heading angle to zero when the actual turning state quantity is equal to or less than a predetermined value.

6. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the first execution judgment means comprises:

turning direction computation means for computing a turning direction of the vehicle on the basis of the actual turning state quantity; and

curve direction computation means for computing a direction of the curve in relation to the traveling direction of the vehicle on the basis of the position of the vehicle and the curve information,

wherein the first execution judgment means makes the determination by determining whether or not the turning direction and the direction of the curve coincide with each other.

7. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the first execution judgment means comprises:

actual turning index computation means for computing, on the basis of the actual turning state quantity, an actual turning index representing the degree of actual turning of the vehicle; and

calculative turning index computation means for calculating a calculative turning index corresponding to the actual turning index on the basis of the position of the vehicle and the curve information,

wherein the first execution judgment means performs the determination on the basis of the result of comparison between the actual turning index and the calculative turning index.

8. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the first execution judgment means performs the determination on the basis of a change in the result of the comparison up to a point in time when at least one of the actual turning index and the calculative turning index reaches a predetermined value after the vehicle has entered the curve.

9. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the first execution judgment means brings the determination result into the enabled state when a state in which the difference between the actual turning index and the calculative turning index is equal to or less than a predetermined value continues over a predetermined range.

10. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the first execution judgment means performs the determination while the vehicle is traveling in an approaching transition curve section of the curve, and, when the determination result of the first execution judgment means is set to the enabled state, the deceleration control means starts the deceleration control while the vehicle is traveling within the approaching transition curve section.

11. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the calculative turning index computation means judges a relation between position within the curve and curvature radius of the curve on the basis of the curve information, computes the curvature radius of the curve at the position of the vehicle on the basis of the judged relation and the position of the vehicle, and computes the calculative turning index on the basis of the computed curvature radius.

12. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the actual turning state quantity acquisition means acquires an actual steering angle of the vehicle as the actual turning state quantity;

and the actual turning index computation means uses the actual steering angle as the actual turning index.

13. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the actual turning state quantity acquisition means obtains two or more actual turning state quantities;

the actual turning index computation means computes the actual turning index on the basis of the two or more actual turning state quantities; and

the calculative turning index computation means computes, on the basis of the position of the vehicle and the curve information, two or more calculative turning state quantities corresponding to the actual turning state quantities, and computes the calculative turning index corresponding to the actual turning index on the basis of the two or more calculative turning state quantities.

14. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the deceleration control means comprises wheel brake control means for controlling a braking torque applied to wheels of the vehicle, wherein the wheel brake control means controls the braking torque such that a changing gradient of the braking torque with respect to time does not exceed a predetermined value.

15. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising second execution judgment means which differs from the first execution judgment means and which judges, on the basis of the actual turning state quantity, whether execution of the deceleration control is to be permitted or prohibited and for outputting as a result of the determination, an output which is brought into an enabled state in which execution of the deceleration control is enabled or a disabled state in which execution of the deceleration control is disabled, wherein the deceleration control means executes the deceleration control when the determination result of the first execution judgment means is in the enabled state, and the determination result of the second execution judgment means is in the enabled state.

16. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:

vehicle position acquisition means for acquiring a position of the vehicle;

curve information acquisition means for acquiring information of a curve of a road on which the vehicle is traveling;

vehicle speed acquisition means for acquiring a speed of the vehicle;

turning detection means for detecting turning of the vehicle for the curve; and

deceleration control means, operable when turning of the vehicle for the curve is detected, for executing deceleration control which decreases the speed of the vehicle when the vehicle passes through the curve, on the basis of the position of the vehicle, the curve information, and the speed of the vehicle.