Vehicle driving support apparatus

• US 10,654,481 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2018
• Issued: 05/19/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ide, Hirohito
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Robert T
• Application Number:
  US16/106,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20190061758A1
• Time in Patent Office: 637 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2031/0016 Identification of obstacles; Selection of a target vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2031/0025 Detecting position of target vehicle, e.g. vehicle driving ahead from host vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2031/0041 Detecting lateral speed of target vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2031/005 Selecting more than one target vehicle, e.g. using several preceding vehicles as target
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0008 including means for detecting potential obstacles in vehicle path
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/4041 Position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/80 Spatial relation or speed relative to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/801 Lateral distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/802 Longitudinal distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/803 Relative lateral speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/804 Relative longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/20 Steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/106 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2754/30 Longitudinal distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/165 Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar"

Abstract

A driving support ECU performs an inter-vehicle-distance control and a following-travel steering control. When an inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle and a following-travel steering target vehicle are the same specific other vehicle as each other, and there is a potential cutting-in vehicle between an own vehicle and the specific other vehicle, the driving support ECU newly specifies the potential cutting-in vehicle as the inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle at a first time point in a cutting-in period and newly specifies the potential cutting-in vehicle as the following-travel steering target vehicle at a second time point in the cutting-in period.

Claims

1. A vehicle driving support control apparatus comprising:

a peripheral monitoring sensor that acquires target object information including a longitudinal distance and a lateral position of each one or more of other vehicles with respect to an own vehicle, said other vehicles traveling in a front area of said own vehicle; and

an electronic control unit programmed to;

perform an inter-vehicle-distance control to specify a first vehicle from among one or more of said other vehicles as an inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle, and to control an acceleration of said own vehicle in such a manner that an inter-vehicle distance which is a longitudinal distance of said inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle with respect to said own vehicle is maintained at a predetermined inter-vehicle distance, and

perform a following-travel steering control to specify a second vehicle from among one or more of said other vehicles as a following-travel steering target vehicle, and to generate a traveling trajectory of said following-travel steering target vehicle to control a steering angle of said own vehicle in such a manner that said own vehicle travels along a target traveling line determined based on said traveling trajectory,

wherein,

when said first vehicle specified as said inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle and said second vehicle specified as said following-travel steering target vehicle are the same specific other vehicle as each other, and there is a potential cutting-in vehicle having a possibility of cutting in between said own vehicle and said specific other vehicle, the ECU is programmed to;

newly specify said potential cutting-in vehicle as said inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle at a first time point in a cutting-in period from a time point at which said potential cutting-vehicle starts cutting in to a time point at which said potential cutting-vehicle finishes cutting in; and

newly specify said potential cutting-in vehicle as said following-travel steering target vehicle at a second time point in said cutting-in period, wherein said second time point is set to arrive after said first time point arrives.

2. The vehicle driving support control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein,

said electronic control unit is programmed to:

specify a third vehicle as said potential cutting-in vehicle, when a longitudinal distance of said third vehicle with respect to said own vehicle is smaller than a longitudinal distance of said specific other vehicle with respect to said own vehicle, wherein said third vehicle is a vehicle which is traveling in said front area of said own vehicle and which is one of said other vehicles other than said specific other vehicle;

newly specify said potential cutting-in vehicle as said inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle, when a first condition becomes satisfied, said first condition including a condition to be satisfied when a determination distance becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined inter-vehicle-distance control threshold, wherein said determination distance is a distance in a lane width direction between said traveling trajectory of said specific other vehicle and said specified potential cutting-in vehicle; and

newly specify said potential cutting-in vehicle as said following-travel steering target vehicle, when a second condition is satisfied, said second condition including a condition to be satisfied when said determination distance becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined following-travel steering control threshold which is smaller than said inter-vehicle-distance control threshold.

3. The vehicle driving support control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein,

said electronic control unit is programmed to:

specify a third vehicle as said potential cutting-in vehicle, when a longitudinal distance of said third vehicle with respect to said own vehicle is shorter than a longitudinal distance of said specific other vehicle with respect to said own vehicle, wherein said third vehicle is a vehicle which is traveling in said front area of said own vehicle and which is one of said other vehicles other than said specific other vehicle;

newly specify said potential cutting-in vehicle as said inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle, when said potential cutting-in vehicle satisfies a predetermined condition; and

newly specify said potential cutting-in vehicle as said following-travel steering target vehicle, when a specific condition becomes satisfied after said potential cutting-in vehicle has already been newly specified as said inter-vehicle-distance target vehicle, said specific condition including a condition to be satisfied when a determination distance becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined following-travel steering control threshold, wherein said determination distance is a distance in a lane width direction between said traveling trajectory of said specific other vehicle and said specified potential cutting-in vehicle.

4. The vehicle driving support control apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein,

said peripheral monitoring sensor acquires a lateral relative speed of each one or more of said other vehicles with respect to said own vehicle, said other vehicles traveling in said front area of said own vehicle;

and

said electronic control unit is programmed to determine whether or not said predetermined condition is satisfied by using said lateral position of said potential cutting-in vehicle with respect to said own vehicle and said lateral relative speed of said potential cutting-in vehicle with respect to said own vehicle without using said determination distance.