LANE CHANGE ASSIST DEVICE

• US 20180350242A1
• Filed: 05/29/2018
• Published: 12/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: FUJII, Shota
• Granted Patent: US 10,600,324 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/008 for anti-collision purposes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/20 Direction indicator values
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/207 Steering angle of wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/12 Lane keeping
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18163 Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0255 Automatic changing of lane, e.g. for passing another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A first limiter limits a first target steering angle correspondence value by a first steering angle correspondence value guard which defines the upper limit value of the steering angle correspondence value and is larger than a steering angle correspondence value guard at lane change time and limits a first target steering angular velocity correspondence value by a first steering angular velocity correspondence value guard which defines the upper limit value of the steering angular velocity correspondence value and is larger than a steering angular velocity correspondence value guard at lane change time. An actuator controller for first yaw angle return control which is configured to control an actuator to operate a steering wheel so that steering angle correspondence value becomes a first target steering angle correspondence value and a steering angular velocity correspondence value becomes a first target steering angular velocity correspondence value.

Claims

1. A lane change assist device comprising:

a surrounding monitor configured to monitor a surrounding of a own vehicle;

a lane recognition device configured to recognize a compartment line defining a side edge portion of a lane on which the own vehicle is traveling, and to detect a relative position of the own vehicle in a lane width direction with respect to the lane on which the own vehicle is traveling and detect a yaw angle with respect to an extension direction of the lane on which the own vehicle is traveling based on a positional relationship between the compartment line and the own vehicle;

an actuator configured to be capable of generating a driving force for changing a steering angle correspondence value which is a steering angle of a steering wheel of the own vehicle or is a torque corresponding to the steering angle and changing a steering angular velocity correspondence value which is a steering angular velocity being a change amount of the steering angle per unit time or a torque change rate being a change amount of the torque corresponding to the steering angular velocity per unit time;

a lane change assist controller configured to start lane change assist control at a predetermined lane change start time, wherein the actuator is controlled under the lane change assist control so that the own vehicle makes a lane change from an original lane on which the own vehicle is traveling to a target lane which is adjacent to the original lane based on the relative position detected by the lane recognition device;

a limiter at lane change time configured to limit the steering angle correspondence value when the lane change assist control is executed by a steering angle correspondence value guard at lane change time defining an upper limit value of the steering angle correspondence value and to limit the steering angular velocity correspondence value when the lane change assist control is executed by a steering angular velocity correspondence value guard at lane change time defining an upper limit value of the steering angular velocity correspondence value;

a first interruption condition determiner configured to make the lane change assist controller interrupt the lane change assist control when a predetermined first interruption condition is established after the lane change assist control is started, the first interruption condition being established when it is determined that a probability of the own vehicle colliding with another vehicle travelling on the target lane is high based on a monitoring result of the surrounding monitor;

a first target value calculator configured to calculate a first target steering angle correspondence value which is a target value of the steering angle correspondence value and a first target steering angular velocity correspondence value which is a target value of the steering angular velocity correspondence value, both the first target steering angle correspondence value and the first target steering angular velocity correspondence value being used for executing first yaw angle return control, the first yaw angle return control being started at a predetermined first start time when the first interruption condition is established, wherein the actuator is controlled under the first yaw angle return control so that the yaw angle at a first finish time becomes a value closer to the yaw angle at the lane change start time compared with the yaw angle at the first start time, the first finish time coming when a predetermined first control execution time passes from the first start time;

a first limiter configured to limit the first target steering angle correspondence value by a first steering angle correspondence value guard which defines the upper limit value of the steering angle correspondence value and is larger than the steering angle correspondence value guard at lane change time and to limit the first target steering angular velocity correspondence value by a first steering angular velocity correspondence value guard which defines the upper limit value of the steering angular velocity correspondence value and is larger than the steering angular velocity correspondence value guard at lane change time; and

an actuator controller for first yaw angle return control configured to control the actuator to operate the steering wheel so that the steering angle correspondence value becomes the first target steering angle correspondence value and the steering angular velocity correspondence value becomes the first target steering angular velocity correspondence value, wherein the first target steering angle correspondence value and the first target steering angular velocity correspondence value are limited by the first limiter.

2. The lane change assist device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a second interruption condition determiner configured to make the lane change assist controller interrupt the lane change assist control when a predetermined second interruption condition is established after the lane change assist control is started, the second interruption condition being established when the lane recognition device cannot detect the relative position;

a second target value calculator configured to calculate a second target steering angle which is a target value of the steering angle and a second target steering angular velocity which is a target value of the steering angular velocity, both the second target steering angle and the second target steering angular velocity being used for executing second yaw angle return control, the second yaw angle return control being started at a predetermined second start time when the second interruption condition is established, wherein the actuator is controlled under the second yaw angle return control so that the yaw angle at a second finish time becomes a value closer to the yaw angle at the lane change start time compared with the yaw angle at the second start time, the second finish time coming when a predetermined second control execution time which is longer than the first control execution time passes from the second start time;

a second limiter configured to limit the second target steering angle by a second steering angle guard which defines an upper limit value of the steering angle and is smaller than the first steering angle correspondence value guard and to limit the second target steering angular velocity by a second steering angular velocity guard which defines an upper limit value of the steering angular velocity and is smaller than the first steering angular velocity correspondence value guard; and

an actuator controller for second yaw angle return control configured to control the actuator to operate the steering wheel so that the steering angle becomes the second target steering angle and the steering angular velocity becomes the second target steering angular velocity, wherein the second target steering angle and the second target steering angular velocity are limited by the second limiter.