DRIVING SUPPORT APPARATUS FOR VEHICLE

• US 20170092133A1
• Filed: 09/21/2016
• Published: 03/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: KATO, Mitsuharu
• Granted Patent: US 9,824,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A driving support apparatus for a vehicle comprises a first determination part which determines whether a likelihood of a collision between an own vehicle and another vehicle exists based on information acquired by an autonomous sensor and outputs a first notification request when a notification for the likelihood of the collision is required, a second determination part which determinates whether the likelihood of the collision based on information acquired by an inter-vehicle communication device and GPS sensor and outputs a second notification request when the notification for the likelihood of the collision is required, a warning determination part which inhibits the output of the second notification request by the second determination part when a time at which starts outputting the second notification request for a notification device by the second determination part has come until the time period from a time treq1 at which starts outputting the first notification request for the notification by the first determination part. Consequently, the apparatus is less likely to bother and/or confuse a driver, since the notification contents are not switched in a short time.

Claims

1. A driving support apparatus comprising:

an autonomous sensor which acquires information including a position and a speed of another vehicle relative to an own vehicle;

a first determination part which uses the position and the speed of the another vehicle acquired by the autonomous sensor to determine whether a first notification point in time has come, the first notification point in time being a point in time at which a notification that a likelihood of a collision between the own vehicle and the another vehicle exists is provided, and which generates a first notification request when it is determined that the first notification point in time has come;

an inter-vehicle communication device which acquires, from the another vehicle through wireless communication, information including a position of the another vehicle which is acquired based on GPS signals received by the another vehicle and a speed of the another vehicle;

own vehicle position acquisition means for receiving GPS signals and acquiring a position of the own vehicle based on the GPS signals;

own vehicle speed detection means for detecting a speed of the own vehicle;

a second determination part which uses the position and the speed of the another vehicle acquired by the inter-vehicle communication device, the position of the own vehicle acquired by the own vehicle position acquisition means, and the speed of the own vehicle detected by the own vehicle speed detection means to determine whether a second notification point in time has come, the second notification point in time being a point in time at which a notification that a likelihood of a collision between the own vehicle and the another vehicle exists is provided, and which generates a second notification request when it is determined that the second notification point in time has come; and

notification means for providing a notification according to the first notification request at the first notification point in time, and providing a notification according to the second notification request at the second notification point in time,

wherein the notification means is configured not to provide the notification according to the second notification request at the second notification point in time, but to provide the notification according to the first notification request at the first notification point in time, if the second notification point in time has come in a period from a point in time earlier than the first notification point in time by a predetermined time length to the first notification point in time.

2. A driving support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the first determination part is configured to:

calculate a first time to collision which is a time until the own vehicle collides with the another vehicle based on the position and the speed of the another vehicle acquired by the autonomous sensor, and determine that the first notification point in time has come when the first time to collision becomes equal to or less than a predetermined first threshold time, and

the second determination part is configured to;

calculate a second time to collision which is a time until the own vehicle collides with the another vehicle based on the position and the speed of the another vehicle acquired by the inter-vehicle communication device, the position of the own vehicle acquired by the own vehicle position acquisition means, and the speed of the own vehicle detected by the own vehicle speed detection means, and determine that the second notification point in time has come when the second time to collision becomes equal to or less than a predetermined second threshold time.