Driving assist apparatus

• US 8,027,762 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2009
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Otake, Yukio, Kindo, Toshiki
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen; Shelley
• Application Number:
  US12/480,169
• Publication Number:
  US 20090326751A1
• Time in Patent Office: 841 Days
• Field of Search: 701/25
• US Class Current: 701/23
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/22 initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle , or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/60 Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/10 Path keeping cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles

Abstract

A driving assist apparatus 1 that performs driving assist on the basis of a traffic rule of a mobile object includes a traffic rule acquisition unit 11, 12, and 13 acquiring a traffic rule which a mobile object is highly likely to observe in an arbitrary region, and performs driving assist on the basis of the traffic rule acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit. In particular, the driving assist apparatus includes a region acquisition unit 13 acquiring a traffic rule deviation region where a defined traffic rule in an arbitrary region does not conform to the traffic rule acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, or a traffic rule correction unit correcting the traffic rule acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit when a defined traffic rule in an arbitrary region does not conform to the traffic rule acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit.

Claims

1. A driving assist apparatus that performs driving assist on the basis of a traffic rule for mobile objects including a host-vehicle,

wherein driving assist is performed on the basis of whether or not a predefined traffic law in a specified region including a region, in which a road intersects with a road, conforms to an applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied due to a specified road condition or road structure unique to the specified region.

2. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a traffic rule acquisition unit acquiring the applicable traffic rule actually being applied in the specified region,

wherein driving assist is performed on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit.

3. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a region acquisition unit acquiring a traffic rule deviation region where the predefined traffic law in the specified region does not conform to the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit.

4. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a traffic rule correction unit correcting the predefined traffic law in the specified region to the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit when the predefined traffic law does not conform to the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit.

5. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a traffic rule correction unit correcting the predefined traffic law in the specified region to the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit when the predefined traffic law does not conform to the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit.

6. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a host-vehicle travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle on the basis of the selected travel path of the host-vehicle.

7. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a host-vehicle travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle on the basis of the selected travel path of the host-vehicle.

8. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

a host-vehicle travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle on the basis of the selected travel path of the host-vehicle.

9. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a host-vehicle travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle on the basis of the selected travel path of the host-vehicle.

10. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a mobile object travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of a mobile object other than the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle in accordance with the selected travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle.

11. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a mobile object travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of a mobile object other than the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle in accordance with the selected travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle.

12. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

a mobile object travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of a mobile object other than the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle in accordance with the selected travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle.

13. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a mobile object travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of a mobile object other than the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle in accordance with the selected travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle.

14. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a mobile object travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of a mobile object other than the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle in accordance with the selected travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle.

15. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a mobile object travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of a mobile object other than the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle in accordance with the selected travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle.

16. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a mobile object travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of a mobile object other than the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle in accordance with the selected travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle.

17. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising:

a mobile object travel path acquisition unit acquiring a plurality of travel paths of a mobile object other than the host-vehicle,

wherein a travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle is selected from among the plurality of travel paths of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle on the basis of the applicable traffic rule that is actually being applied in the specified region and is acquired by the traffic rule acquisition unit, and driving assist is performed with respect to the host-vehicle in accordance with the selected travel path of the mobile object other than the host-vehicle.