Vehicle control device

• US 10,000,236 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2017
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2016
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Otake, Hirotada, Takano, Masaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cuong H
• Application Number:
  US15/661,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20180037260A1
• Time in Patent Office: 327 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23, 701 41, 701116, 701301, 340435
• 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 6/08 responsive only to driver input torque
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0055 with safety arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0257 using a radar radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

Abnormality determination for a driver is appropriately made in accordance with a peripheral state when lane keeping assist control is being carried out. When a no-driving operation state has continued for a period equal to or more than a set period, a driving support ECU determines whether or not a change inhibition condition set in advance in relation to a peripheral state of an own vehicle is satisfied. When the change inhibition condition is not satisfied, the driving support ECU sets a control mode of LKA to a “weaker mode” to decrease a control amount of the LKA. As a result, the own vehicle swerves in a lane, and a driver who has not fallen into an abnormal state can be prompted to carry out a steering wheel operation. Thus, it is possible to discriminate a driver who has fallen into the abnormal state and a driver who has not fallen into the abnormal state from one another. When the change inhibition condition is satisfied, the driving support ECU sets the control mode of the LKA to a “normal mode”.

Claims

1. A vehicle control device, comprising:

lane keeping assist means for recognizing a road ahead of an own vehicle to set a target travel line, calculating a lane keeping assist control amount for carrying out driving support for a driver so that the own vehicle travels along the target travel line, and carrying out steering control for the own vehicle based on the lane keeping assist control amount;

control amount change means for changing the lane keeping assist control amount so as to decrease lane keeping assist performance, which is performance of causing the own vehicle to travel along the target travel line, when such a set event set in advance that the driver is suspected to be in an abnormal state is detected;

reaction detection means for detecting a reaction of the driver after the lane keeping assist control amount is changed;

abnormality-time driving control means for carrying out, when the reaction of the driver is not detected by the reaction detection means, abnormality-time driving control, which is driving control for risk avoidance based on an assumption that the driver is in the abnormal state; and

control amount change inhibition means for acquiring peripheral state information on the own vehicle, determining whether or not a change inhibition condition set in advance in relation to a peripheral state of the own vehicle is satisfied based on the peripheral state information, and inhibiting the control amount change means from changing the lane keeping assist control amount so as to decrease the lane keeping assist performance when the change inhibition condition is satisfied.

2. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control amount change means is configured to finish changing the lane keeping assist control amount when the reaction of the driver is detected by the reaction detection means after the lane keeping assist control amount is changed.

3. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein:

the peripheral state information comprises information representing a curvature radius of a lane in which the own vehicle travels; and

the change inhibition condition is set to a condition that the curvature radius of the lane in which the own vehicle travels is less than a threshold value.

4. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein:

the peripheral state information comprises information representing a distance between left and right white lines of the lane in which the own vehicle travels; and

the change inhibition condition is set to a condition that the distance between the left and right white lines of the lane in which the own vehicle travels is less than a threshold value.

5. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein:

the peripheral state information comprises another vehicle information, which is information that enables prediction of whether or not another vehicle exists to a side of the own vehicle; and

the change inhibition condition is set to a condition that another vehicle is predicted to exist to the side of the own vehicle.

6. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control amount change means is configured to decrease, when the set event is detected, the lane keeping assist control amount with respect to the lane keeping assist control amount before the set event is detected.

7. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control amount change means is configured to change the lane keeping assist control amount so that a travel position of the own vehicle is offset in a road width direction with respect to the target travel line when the set event is detected.

8. A vehicle control device according to claim 7, wherein:

the peripheral state information comprises information representing a positional relationship between an own vehicle lane, which is a lane in which the own vehicle travels, and another vehicle lane, which is a lane neighboring the own vehicle lane;

the change inhibition condition is set to a condition that the another vehicle lane is provided on each of left and right sides of the own vehicle lane; and

the control amount change means is configured to select a direction toward which the another vehicle lane is not provided, and change the lane keeping assist control amount so that the travel position of the own vehicle is offset toward the selected direction with respect to the target travel line.