VEHICLE CONTROL APPARATUS

• US 20120197496A1
• Filed: 10/05/2010
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Limpibunterng, Theerawat, Nitta, Hirofumi, Asai, Shoji, Tsuchiya, Yoshiaki
• Granted Patent: US 9,327,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/42
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/286 Systems for interrupting non-mechanical steering due to driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/025 Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation B62D1/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/04 responsive only to forces disturbing the intended course of the vehicle, e.g. forces acting transversely to the direction of vehicle travel

Abstract

A vehicle control apparatus that controls a vehicle provided with a steering force applying device capable of applying steering force to induce a change in a steering angle of a steered wheel to the steered wheel, includes a difference detecting device that detects a positional difference that determines a relative positional relationship between a target running path to be maintained and the vehicle; a determining device that determines a control amount of the steering force applying device based on the detected positional difference; a controller that maintains a running path of the vehicle on the target running path by controlling the steering force applying device according to the determined control amount; a steering input detecting device that detects a steering input to a steering input device by a driver; and a correcting device that corrects a determining reference of the control amount of the steering force applying device such that, when a steering input is detected while the running path is maintained on the target running path, this steering input is reflected.

Claims

1. A vehicle control apparatus that controls a vehicle provided with a steering force applying device capable of applying steering force to induce a change in a steering angle of a steered wheel to the steered wheel, comprising:

a difference detecting device that is configured to detect a positional difference that determines a relative positional relationship between a target running path to be maintained and the vehicle;

a determining device that is configured to determine a control amount of the steering force applying device in order to maintain a running path of the vehicle on the target running path, based on the detected positional difference;

a controller that is configured to maintain the running path on the target running path by controlling the steering force applying device according to the determined control amount;

a steering input detecting device that is configured to detect a steering input to a steering input device by a driver; and

a correcting device that is configured to correct a determining reference of the control amount in accordance with the detected steering input, when the steering input is detected while the running path is maintained on the target running path.

2. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the positional difference includes at least one of a yaw angle difference and a difference in a lateral position of the vehicle with respect to the target running path.

3. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the steering force applying device includes a variable steering angle device capable of changing a relationship between a steering angle of the steering input device and the steering angle of the steered wheel, and the controller changes the steering angle of the steered wheel independently of a steering input by the driver via the variable steering angle device.

4. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determining reference is a condition that determines the positional difference.

5. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the condition that determines the positional difference is an allowable range of the positional difference, and the correcting device expands the allowable range when the steering input is detected compared with when the steering input is not detected.

6. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the steering input detecting device is capable of detecting a degree of the steering input, and the correcting device increases a correction amount of the determining reference as the detected steering input increases.

7. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correcting device changes a correction amount of the determining reference according to a running condition of the vehicle.

8. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correcting device corrects the determining reference within a predetermined limited range that is determined by an upper limit value.