Vehicle and steering control device for vehicle

• US 8,340,866 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2006
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Unoura, Kiyozumi, Aoki, Tomoyoshi, Hanzawa, Daisuke, Ikeda, Tetsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Winner, Tony H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): KNUTSON, JACOB D
• Application Number:
  US12/159,102
• Publication Number:
  US 20100228437A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,233 Days
• Field of Search: 180/167, 180/168, 180/169, 701/41, 701/23, 701/28
• US Class Current: 701/41
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/28 non-mechanical , e.g. following a line or other known markers
• 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

Abstract

A steering control device for a vehicle has a steering assistance means (7) which performs steering assistance processing for driving an actuator (6) so that a vehicle (1) travels along a lane recognized by a lane recognition means (5) from an image acquired by an image acquisition means (4); a side displacement amount calculation means (8) which calculates a displacement amount in the lane width direction between the position of the vehicle (1) and the center of the recognized lane; a complexity calculation means (10) which calculates the complexity of the acquired image; and a steering assistance inhibition means (11) which inhibits, according to the displacement amount in the lane width direction calculated based on the lane recognized from the acquired image at a given time point and the complexity of the acquired image, steering assistance processing based on the lane by the steering assistance means (7). This prevents inappropriate steering control based on an incorrectly recognized lane when performing the steering control of the vehicle so that the vehicle travels along the lane recognized from the road image.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

an imaging means;

an image acquisition means which acquires an image of a road via the imaging means;

a lane recognition means which detects a lane mark on the road from the image acquired by the image acquisition means and recognizes a lane along which the vehicle travels from the detected lane mark;

an actuator which drives a steering mechanism capable of steering a steering wheel of the vehicle;

a steering assistance means which performs steering assistance processing for driving the actuator so that the vehicle travels along the lane recognized by the lane recognition means;

a side displacement amount calculation means which calculates a displacement amount in the lane width direction between the position of the vehicle and the center of the lane recognized by the lane recognition means by dividing a distance in the lane width direction between the position of the vehicle and the center of the lane recognized by the lane reconition means by a lane width of the recognized lane; and

a steering assistance inhibition means which inhibits the steering assistance processing based at least in part on the calculated displacement amount.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the steering assistance inhibition means inhibits the steering assistance processing upon determining the calculated displacement amount at a time point is greater than a predetermined value representing the lane is recognized incorrectly.

3. A vehicle comprising:

an imaging means;

an image acquisition means which acquires an image of a road via the imaging means;

a lane recognition means which detects a lane mark on the road from the image acquired by the image acquisition means and recognizes a lane along which the vehicle travels from the detected lane mark;

an actuator which drives a steering mechanism capable of steering a steering wheel of the vehicle;

a steering assistance means which performs steering assistance processing for driving the actuator so that the vehicle travels along the lane recognized by the lane recognition means;

a complexity calculation means which calculates the complexity of the image acquired by the image acquisition means by using at least one of a value indicatin the density of edge points obtained by performing an edge extraction process for the image and a value indicating the number of edge points constituting a straight line among the edge points; and

a steering assistance inhibition means which inhibits the steering assistance processing by the steering assistance means based at least in part on the calculated complexity of the acquired image.

4. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the steering assistance inhibition means inhibits the steering assistance processing by the steering assistance means upon determining the calculated complexity of the acquired image at a time point is greater than a predetermined value representing a structure in a vicinity of the lane mark and incorrectly recognized as a part of the lane.

5. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity by multiplying a value indicating the density of edge points obtained by performing an edge extraction process for the image by a value indicating the number of edge points constituting a straight line among the edge points.

6. The vehicle according to claim 3, further comprising a range specifying means which specifies a detection range of the lane mark in the image acquired by the image acquisition means,

wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity for the detection range specified by the range specifying means in the image acquired by the image acquisition means.

7. A vehicle comprising:

an imaging means;

an image acquisition means which acquires an image of a road via the imaging means;

a lane recognition means which detects a lane mark on the road from the image acquired by the image acquisition means and recognizes a lane along which the vehicle travels from the detected lane mark;

an actuator which drives a steering mechanism capable of steering a steering wheel of the vehicle;

a steering assistance means which performs steering assistance processing for driving the actuator so that the vehicle travels along the lane recognized by the lane recognition means;

a side displacement amount calculation means which calculates a displacement amount in the lane width direction between the position of the vehicle and the center of the lane recognized by the lane recognition means by dividing a distance in the lane width direction between the vehicle and the center of the lane recognized by the lane recognition means by lane width of the recognized lane;

a complexity calculation means which calculates the complexity of the image acquired by the image acquisition means; and

a steering assistance inhibition means which inhibits the steering assistance processing based on the calculated displacement amount and the calculated complexity of the acquired image.

8. The vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the steering assistance inhibition means inhibits the steering assistance processing upon determining at a time point:

the calculated displacement amount is greater than a first predetermined value representing the lane is recognized incorrectly, and

the calculated complexity of the acquired image is greater than a second predetermined value representing a structure in a vicinity of the lane mark and incorrectly recognized as a part of the lane.

9. The vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity by using at least one of a value indicating the density of edge points obtained by performing an edge extraction process for the image and a value indicating the number of edge points constituting a straight line among the edge points.

10. The vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity by multiplying a value indicating the density of edge points obtained by performing an edge extraction process for the image by a value indicating the number of edge points constituting a straight line among the edge points.

11. The vehicle according to claim 7, further comprising a range specifying means which specifies a detection range of the lane mark in the image acquired by the image acquisition means,

wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity for the detection range specified by the range specifying means in the image acquired by the image acquisition means.

12. A steering control device for a vehicle, comprising:

an image acquisition means which acquires an image of a road via an imaging means mounted on the vehicle;

a lane recognition means which detects a lane mark on the road from the image acquired by the image acquisition means and recognizes a lane along which the vehicle travels from the detected lane mark;

an actuator which drives a steering mechanism capable of steering a steering wheel of the vehicle;

a steering assistance means which performs steering assistance processing for driving the actuator so that the vehicle travels along the lane recognized by the lane recognition means;

a side displacement amount calculation means which calculates a displacement amount in the lane width direction between the position of the vehicle and the center of the lane recognized by the lane recognition means by dividing a distance in the lane width direction between the position of the vehicle and the center of the lane recognize. by the lane recognition means by a lane width of the recognized lane; and

a steering assistance inhibition means which inhibits the steering assistance processing based at least in part on the calculated displacement amount.

13. The steering control device for the vehicle according to claim 12, wherein the steering assistance inhibition means inhibits the steering assistance processing upon determining the calculated displacement amount at a time point is greater than a predetermined value representing the lane is recognized incorrectly.

14. A steering control device for a vehicle comprising:

an image acquisition means which acquires an image of a road via an imaging means mounted on the vehicle;

a lane recognition means which detects a lane mark on the road from the image acquired by the image acquisition means and recognizes a lane along which the vehicle travels from the detected lane mark;

an actuator which drives a steering mechanism capable of steering a steering wheel of the vehicle;

a steering assistance means which performs steering assistance processing for driving the actuator so that the vehicle travels along the lane recognized by the lane recognition means;

a complexity calculation means which calculates the complexity of the image acquired by the image acquisition means by using at least one of a value indicating the density of edge points obtained by performing an edge extraction process for the image and a value indicating the number of edge point constituting a straight line among the edge points; and

a steering assistance inhibition means which inhibits the steering assistance processing by the steering assistance means based at least in part on the calculated complexity of the acquired image.

15. The steering control device for the vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the steering assistance inhibition means inhibits the steering assistance processing by the steering assistance means upon determining the calculated complexity of the acquired image at a time point is greater than a predetermined value representing a structure in a vicinity of the lane mark and incorrectly recognized as a part of the lane.

16. The steering control device for the vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity by multiplying a value indicating the density of edge points obtained by performing an edge extraction process for the image by a value indicating the number of edge points constituting a straight line among the edge points.

17. The steering control device for the vehicle according to claim 14, further comprising a range specifying means which specifies a detection range of the lane mark in the image acquired by the image acquisition means,

wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity for the detection range specified by the range specifying means in the image acquired by the image acquisition means.

18. A steering control device for a vehicle comprising:

an image acquisition means which acquires an image of a road via an imaging means mounted on the vehicle;

a lane recognition means which detects a lane mark on the road from the image acquired by the image acquisition means and recognizes a lane along which the vehicle travels from the detected lane mark;

an actuator which drives a steering mechanism capable of steering a steering wheel of the vehicle;

a steering assistance means which performs steering assistance processing for driving the actuator so that the vehicle travels along the lane recognized by the lane recognition means;

a side displacement amount calculation means which calculates a displacement amount in the lane width direction between the position of the vehicle and the center of the lane recognized by the lane recognition means by dividing a distance in the lane width direction between the position of the vehicle and the center of the lane recognized by the lane recognition means by a lane width of the recognized lane;

a complexity calculation means which calculates the complexity of the image acquired by the image acquisition means; and

a steering assistance inhibition means which inhibits the steering assistance processing based on the displacement amount the calculated complexity of the acquired image.

19. The steering control device for the vehicle according to claim 18, wherein the steering assistance inhibition means inhibits the steering assistance processing upon determining at a time point:

the calculated displacement amount is greater than a first predetermined value representing the lane is recognized incorrectly, and

the calculated complexity of the acquired image is greater than a second predetermined value representing a structure in a vicinity of the lane mark and incorrectly recognized as a part of the lane.

20. The steering control device for the vehicle according to claim 18, wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity by using at least one of a value indicating the density of edge points obtained by performing an edge extraction process for the image and a value indicating the number of edge points constituting a straight line among the edge points.

21. The steering control device for the vehicle according to claim 18, wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity by multiplying a value indicating the density of edge points obtained by performing an edge extraction process for the image by a value indicating the number of edge points constituting a straight line among the edge points.

22. The steering control device for the vehicle according to claim 18, further comprising a range specifying means which specifies a detection range of the lane mark in the image acquired by the image acquisition means,

wherein the complexity calculation means calculates the complexity for the detection range specified by the range specifying means in the image acquired by the image acquisition means.