Driving assisting apparatus

• US 8,838,371 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2010
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sakai, Katsuhiro, Kindo, Toshiki
• Primary Examiner(s): OBAID, FATEH M
• Application Number:
  US12/714,728
• Publication Number:
  US 20100235099A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,660 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

There is a driving assisting apparatus capable of reducing a feeling of discomfort of a driver by respecting the driver'"'"'s operation as much as possible in a range where an obstacle can be reliably avoided by intervention control. An ECU 2 of a driving assisting apparatus 1 includes an obstacle detecting section 22, a control course calculating section 23, a determination section 24, and an intervention control executing section 25. The obstacle detecting section 22 detects an obstacle region around a vehicle. The control course calculating section 23 calculates an intervention control course, which can be taken by the vehicle, when the intervention control is executed after the driver'"'"'s operation is allowed for a predetermined time. The determination section 24 determines whether the number of intervention control courses, which do not overlap the obstacle region, is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number from the obstacle region transmitted from the obstacle detecting section 22 and the intervention control course transmitted from the control course calculating section 23. The intervention control executing section 25 executes intervention control along the intervention control course when the number of intervention control courses is the predetermined number.

Claims

1. A driving assisting apparatus which performs driving assistance so that collision with an obstacle around a vehicle is avoided by a pre-intervention control which is an intervention control executed before a driver'"'"'s operation is allowed for a predetermined time, comprising:

an obstacle detecting unit that detects a region including an obstacle around the vehicle;

a course calculating unit that calculates a plurality of post-intervention control courses, which can be taken by the vehicle, when a post-intervention control is executed after a driver'"'"'s operation is allowed for the predetermined time, the post-intervention control is the intervention control executed after the driver'"'"'s operation is allowed for the predetermined time;

a determination unit that determines a degree of overlap of each of the post-intervention control courses with respect to the region including the obstacle on the basis of the region including the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting unit and the plurality of post-intervention control courses calculated by the course calculating unit, and the determination unit determines the degree of overlap in consideration of vehicle information on the vehicle; and

an intervention control executing unit that executes the pre-intervention control along an intervervention control course when the determination unit determines that the number of post-intervention control courses not overlapping the region including the obstacle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value.

2. The driving assisting apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the obstacle detecting unit detects a plurality of regions including obstacles around the vehicle, and

the determination unit determines the degree of overlap of each of the post-intervention control courses with respect to the plurality of regions including the obstacles.

3. The driving assisting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a travel state acquisition unit that acquires a travel state of the vehicle,

wherein the course calculating unit calculates the plurality of post-intervention control courses, which can be taken by the vehicle when the post-intervention control is executed, on the basis of the travel state of the vehicle acquired by the travel state acquisition unit.

4. The driving assisting apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the obstacle detecting unit, the course calculating unit, the determination unit, the intervention control executing unit, and the travel state acquisition unit are formed by an electronic control unit.