Running control apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising:
- a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and
a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, wherein the braking system actuates the brake to retard rotation of the wheel of the vehicle if a degree of a necessity to decelerate the vehicle, which is determined based on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle, is higher than a preset degree.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A running control apparatus and method control the state of running of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceeding vehicle. In a case where a brake is actuated if the deceleration deviation obtained by subtracting an actual deceleration from a target deceleration is at least a third threshold Δαs3, the brake is actuated provided that an object body detected by a laser radar device is a preceeding vehicle and that the same-lane probability that the preceeding vehicle is running in the same lane as the vehicle is at least a set probability. Thus, the brake is actuated when there is a high probability that braking is needed. Therefore, erroneous operation of the brake can be reduced.
34 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising:
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a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and
a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, wherein the braking system actuates the brake to retard rotation of the wheel of the vehicle if a degree of a necessity to decelerate the vehicle, which is determined based on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle, is higher than a preset degree. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
determining whether the object detected in the preset area is in a moving state or a stationary state, and determining whether the object is at least one of a vehicle running on an opposite lane and a vehicle passing an intersection.
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4. A running control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control system determines that the detected object is a vehicle when the detected object has a size larger than a preset size, and determines that the detected object is not the vehicle when the detected object has a size smaller than the preset size.
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5. A running control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control system determines that the detected object is a vehicle when the detected object has a size larger than a preset size, and determines that the detected object is not the vehicle when the detected object has a size smaller than the preset size.
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6. A running control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an object detector which detects an object in the preset area in front of the vehicle.
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7. A running control apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an actual deceleration detector which detects an actual deceleration of the vehicle, wherein the braking system actuates the brake if a deceleration deviation-related amount is equal to or greater than a preset deviation-related amount, the deceleration deviation-related amount being related to a value obtained by subtracting the detected actual deceleration from a target deceleration determined based on a desired relative positional relationship and an actual relative positional relationship detected by the object detector.
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8. A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative postional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising:
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a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and
a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, wherein if the relative positional relationship indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, the braking system controls at least one of a driving device that supplies power to drive the vehicle and a power transmitting device that is disposed between the driving device and the wheel of the vehicle such that the vehicle is decelerated, prior to actuation of the brake. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising:
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a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and
a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, further comprising;
a brake controller which is included in the braking system, and which actuates the brake and controls a brake operation state;
the control system permits or prohibits actuation of the brake based on at least one of a state of the brake controller and a running state of a vehicle, and an alarm which produces an alarm signal when actuation of the brake is prohibited by the control system. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising:
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a control command value determining controller which determines a control command value related to deceleration of the vehicle based on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle;
a brake controller which controls an operation state of a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle in accordance with the control command value received from the control command value determining controller; and
a control abnormality detector which detects a control abnormality based on logical consistency of contents of a plurality of pieces of information containing information transmitted between the control command value determining controller and the brake controller. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
(a) a case where a value corresponding to a slip state of the wheel of the vehicle is equal to or greater than a set value, or a case where there is a high possibility that the value corresponding to the slip state of the wheel of the vehicle becomes equal to or greater than the set value; and
(b) the brake controller is in a state in which actuation of the brake is undesirable.
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18. A running control apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the brake controller prohibits actuation of the brake if the control abnormality is detected by the control abnormality detector.
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19. A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding object ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising:
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a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the set area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and
a braking system which operates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding object indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding object indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability.
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20. A running control method for controlling a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising the steps of:
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determining a probability that an object detected in the set area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and
actuating a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when one of the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a predetermined probability. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. A running control method for controlling a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising the steps of:
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determining a control command value related to deceleration of the vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle;
controlling an operation state of a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle in accordance with the determined control command value; and
detecting a control abnormality based on a logical consistency of contents of a plurality of pieces of information containing a piece of information transmitted from or to a controller that produces the control command value.
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Specification